No cooperative funds may be used, nor any stock issued, to promote, encourage, or publicly favor the candidacy, election, or reelection of any member to any elective office within the cooperative. No employee of a cooperative may promote, encourage or publicly favor the candidacy, election, or reelection of any member to any elective office within the cooperative, provided that this shall not be construed to deprive employees, who are also members, of the right to vote in cooperative elections.
Directors and officers of any cooperative who knowingly permit such use of funds or employee activity are subject to a civil fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each offense.