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What
Now?! June 14, 2006 Arnold Schwarzenegger Subject: Alleged Managerial incompetence at the California Public Utilities Commission Dear Governor Schwarzenegger: Members of the Concerned Staff Committee of the CPUC think that the May 31, 2006, Los Angeles Times report “Proposed Water Rate Rules Are Dropped: Consumer advocates complain after learning regulators used a draft by an industry group.” (attached), claiming that the Director of the Water Division of CPUC, Kevin Coughlan, blundered and violated the independence of the Commission by accepting rate-making rules provided by lawyers employed by the Water Industry, did not go deeply into the underlying forces involved in that malfeasance. The Concerned Staff Committee requests that your office investigate why Kevin Coughlan, who is perceived by many at the Commission as one of the few competent and honest senior managers, would make such a “stupid mistake”. It is the common view at the commission that many managers are not allowed to act according to their professional judgment and competence because they are pressured by the Executive Division and some commissioners to act inappropriately. The Concerned Staff Committee states that this is not a rare incidence of malfeasance, as Larson and Peevey portrayed the event to the Los Angeles Times. Both Peavey and Larson failed to exercise due diligence when they joined the Commission a few years ago. Had they exercised the appropriate oversight, they would have discovered that the commission was racked with a major scandal when the newspapers and TV media reported that the staff attorney of Pacific Bell (became SBC and now AT&T) spent the whole night at the executive office of the CPUC writing the Telco Decision for the Commissioners to approve. It was a big scandal, but none of those involved were demoted or fired. Instead, all of those involved were later promoted. The Concerned Staff Committee believes that an independent investigation is needed here to establish whether the Director of the Water Division, Kevin Coughlan, is really that incompetent or he was pressured into doing something that undermined his own professional competence.
cc: Susan Kennedy,
Chief of Staff |