CEO letters, allegedly deceptive teller messaging and newspaper ads (click at left to expand) have all cropped up as Alabama One's board candidates campaigned in the shadows of equity losses and legal challenges.

The $602 million Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based cooperative has four candidates for three board seats. Balloting has begun and the election will close as of the March 28 annual meeting.

Alabama One's nominating committee has recommended three current directors for re-election: Edwin “Danny” Harrell, Richard Powell and Larry Sexton. However, member Jerry Logan collected enough signatures to run and has based his campaign on making the credit union accountable to its members again after what has been a difficult two or three years.

“I definitely understand that I am the outside candidate,” Logan said. “Even though I have been on the board before. But I think that things have just gotten so bad that someone has to get on the board to stand up for the member owners.”

Logan had been on the board in the early 2000s, when the credit union was the BF Goodrich Federal Credit Union and served the employees of the BF Goodrich Tire Plant. He left the board in 2004.

Logan's focus, combined with the ongoing wave of allegations of wrongdoing at the credit union has given the contest an energy rarely seen in a credit union board election.

Earlier this month, before members began to receive ballots, a few members also received a letter from Alabama One President/CEO, John Dee Carruth. 

Read more: What Carruth wrote …

Dated March 10 and addressed to Dear Friend, the letter defended the credit union's leadership and made a veiled attack on Logan, even as Carruth emphasized members had the right to vote for whomever they chose.

“This year, a candidate has submitted petitions to run for the board of directors,” Carruth wrote. “The membership may choose to elect him. Although I have my own opinion about what would be best for the credit union, it is not for me say, and I will respect my members' decision and pledge to work with whomever the membership chooses.”

Carruth also alluded to the difficulties the credit union has faced, calling the recent past a challenging year, and blaming state and federal authorities for Alabama One's refusal to answer questions.

“There are some things that we want to say, of course, but we are limited by state and federal rules and regulations about what specifically we can say about members. Unfortunately, this limitation is exploited by some people to take pot shots at the credit union in various articles and publications.”

Without naming any of the members who have sued the credit union for fraud, negligence and deceit, among other things, Carruth questioned the motives of the litigants.

“Some of the people making the attacks have been trying to get money from your credit union for wrongs they claim to have suffered, which are often just bad decisions they have made for which they do not want to take responsibility,” Carruth wrote. “I can assure you that we have fought all attempts by others to get something for which they are not entitled and we have been very successful in resolving disputes in the credit union's favor.”

The latest of the member lawsuits, filed on March 16, named as a defendant one of the recommended candidates, Board Chairman Edwin Harrell, charging he and Supervisory Committee Chair Martha Fincher with negligence.

Carruth has not yet responded to email seeking comment on the letter or confirming how many letters the credit union sent.

Read more: How many candidates make a ballot valid?

The arrival of the ballots provided more controversy. The ballot grouped three nominated candidates under the heading, “recommended for re-election by your nominating committee,” and placed Logan alone under the heading, “nominated by petition.” Members were instructed to vote for no more than three candidates.

The day after the ballots arrived, Logan said he began to receive calls from supporters who claimed Alabama One tellers had told them they must vote for three and suggested their ballots might not be counted if they voted for no more than one or two.

“Clearly this is designed to discourage members from voting for me,” observed Logan. “If there are three candidates together and members are being told they have to vote for three that just makes it easier, doesn't it?”

Lester, an Alabama One member who asked his last name be withheld, said tellers never told him he had to vote for three candidates. However, when he called several times to ask how many candidates he had to vote for, he received conflicting information.

“The first time I called down there they said they didn't know,” Lester said, adding that when he called again a couple of days later, they told him just to follow the instructions.

“I asked them again if I had to vote for three candidates to have my vote counted,” he said, “but all they said again as just to follow the instructions. They never told me I could just vote for one or two and have my vote counted.”

Sarah Moore, administrator of the Alabama Credit Union Administration, confirmed that otherwise valid ballots would remain valid if the member only voted for one or two candidates.

Finally, in response to the alleged tellers' misinformation and the letters from the credit union and Carruth, Logan supporters pooled resources and ran an advertisement in the Tuscaloosa News. 

“We ran the ad because it seemed like all the information was being out against me and we needed to answer with the issues,” Logan said. “How did all these things happen? Where were our leaders who are supposed to look-out for the member owners?”