First of all... Welcome to the forums, AstroGlide!
So many want to assume that the player reps are "the few elite" ...I can assure you and everybody else and their dogs that the players reps do not feel "elite" and are not "elite" and spend as much time helping the community and possibly even more time than playing.
Posted again from Post #6, but in bold for emphasis...
ALL tiers of players are represented, from the heaviest gold spenders to free/light gold users. Most reps need to represent a variety of tiers because any more than 7 or 8 reps and the info gets cluttered, meetings become unfocused and inefficient, and too many stirring the pot is not a good thing.
Also, none of the reps were "friends" before joining... this is not a clique in any way. The reps might have known each other, but I wouldn't call any of them "buddy-buddies" before being invited to rep... they were all vetted and independently chosen from other players' suggestions and for their ability to reach out to the community: relay feedback, suggestions, concerns, issues, etc... from the community to Deca and info from Deca to the community.
No one tier or type of player has more influence over another. In the end, the Deca Team decides what to do and how to do it.