Maurice Crommie's E-mail and Attached Letters to What Now?!

Editor's note: Below are the June 26, 2003, e-mail Maurice Crommie sent to What Now?! togehther with his two letters addressed to Bill Ahern, one dated May 15, 2003, and the other May 29, 2003.

From: <mcrommie@olemis.edu>
To: <saigobe@lanset.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 1:53 PM
Subject: Ahern letters

Dear Sir,

Attached are copies of two letters I recently mailed to the newly appointed CPUC Executive Director, Dr. William Ahern.

My first letter, on May 15, 2003, asks for Dr. Ahern's help to correct an injustice perpetrated on me by a former Chief Counsel of the CPUC, Mr. Peter Arth, during the time when Dr. Ahern was Director of the Public Staff Division of the CPUC. Dr. Ahern answered my request by scrawling an indignant reply on the bottom of my letter(copy attached).

My second letter, on May 29, 2003, is my response to Dr. Ahern's unprofessional indignant reply. It is exceedingly unbecoming for a high Public Official in an important position such as the one occupied by Dr. Ahern to act and reply to a legitimate request in such a childish manner out of pique.

The subject matter in question is extremely important to me. Dr. Ahern is personally acquainted with the details of my discrimination suit against the CPUC, which I won in 1993. Although I won a discrimination damage award of close to $200,000 during the trial, Mr. Peter Arth, the CPUC Chief Counsel during the trial, squandered more than $10,000,000 of State and CPUC funds by his inept handling of my complaint. Subsequent to the trial, Mr. Arth, with the help of the CPUC Personnel Department, illegally arranged a reduction in my retirement pay.

I complained bitterly to several State Agencies, including CalPERS, CSEA, DPA, the Attorney General's Office, the Governor's Office and the State Auditor, but I was constantly referred back to the CPUC as the only agency that could correct the illegal reduction, vindictively made by Mr. Peter Arth to reduce my retirement pension.

When Dr. Ahern was reappointed as top Executive Director of the CPUC after a ten year absence, I thought I could appeal to him to direct the CPUC Personnel Department to correct the illegal vindictive order given to them by the former inept Chief Counsel, Mr. Peter Arth. Dr. Ahern's reply to my request, however, was disappointing and unprofessional as shown above.

In his new position as Executive Director, Dr. Ahern has the authority to correct the past injustice of a former Chief Counsel by simply ordering the CPUC Personnel Department to disregard the illegal instructions of the former inept Counselor and correct the record of my promotion to PURA V. I have been assured by the Office of CalPERS that disseminates retiree paychecks that this would be sufficient for them to make the correct adjustment to my retirement pension.

Dr. Ahern, however, chooses to be as vindictive as former Chief Counsel, Mr. Peter Arth, in denying me my correct pension in retribution for my having defeated both of them in a fair court trial, which ultimately cost the CPUC over $10,000,000 due to Mr. Arth's ineptness. My lawyers fees alone were over $2,000,000. Other court costs and out of court settlements of individual and class action discrimination suits related to mine, and inspired by my victory, added several more millions of dollars to CPUC trial costs. Mr. Arth should have been fired for his total ineptness in conducting a settlement to my complaint. Instead, however, he was rewarded for reducing my pension by a small amount, less than 1% of what he ineptly squandered on the direct and related costs of the trial.

Dr. Ahern left the CPUC shortly after my trial. He was gone for ten years until his recent appointment as Executive Director. There are few punishments for offending and disreputable high ranking Public Officials.

The accompanying plaintiff in my trial, Mr. Arthur Mangold, received his correct pension pay for his court ordered promotion during my trial. I was the only one denied, since I was the chief architect of mine and related discrimination suits. I bore the brunt of CPUC directed venom.

Yours truly,