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How
do utilities pay off some regulators?
Consumer
advocates like the Citizen Utilities Board's former director Martin
Cohen are a rarity on PUCs, a survey by the Center for Public Integrity
found.
Only eight appointees in the last
year have had consumer affairs backgrounds, the survey found (www.publicintegrity.org/telecom/iys.aspx).
Cohen's nomination to head
the Illinois Commerce Commission was defeated by two votes this
month.
Most commonly commissioners
are politically well connected with 42% having served as state legislators,
legislative staffers or governors' appointees.
The next biggest group (13%)
held jobs in the industries they regulate.
More than one-fifth of those
who filed financial disclosure forms revealed they received income
from energy or communications companies, the survey found.
Twenty-five commissioners reported
accepting $69,000-worth of travel, gifts and speaking fees from
outside sources, including regulated utilities.
These jobs are "nice work
if you can get it," the Center found, with an average salary
of $92,561 -- more than legislators' average pay.
Annual pay ranges from $30,000
at the Delaware PSC to $135,297 at the Virginia State Corporation
Commission though one Connecticut commissioner gets $138,043.
All states ban or limit income
commissioners can earn from regulated companies but financial reporting
and public disclosure rules vary widely.
The Center flunked more than
half the states on its financial disclosure test that measured whether
commissioners are required to disclose their financial interests
and make the data available to the public.
Only Washington State scored
an "A" grade.
Texas, Arizona and New Jersey
earned Bs.
States getting Cs were Alabama,
Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts,
New York and Rhode Island.
Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky,
Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota and
Wisconsin squeaked by with Ds on public disclosure.
The rest flunked.
Some states that require financial
disclosures scored low because they make it difficult for the public
to look at them.
Massachusetts and Wisconsin
tell commissioners the names of those wanting to examine their financial
filings while Maryland commissioners can ask for more information
about data seekers.
New Yorkers have to copy information
by hand since they aren't allowed to photocopy forms they can see
only by traveling to Albany.
The Center is an independent,
non-profit group that researches and reports on public policy issues.
Originally
published in Restructuring
Today on November 21, 2005
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