Sunday, September 20, 2015

How corrupt is the AZ Corporation Commission these days? Let me count the ways.

First, there's current Commission chair Susan Bitter Smith. I've covered the story, but here's a nice succinct video clip that drives the point home.





By the way, among the evidence of Bitter Smith's conflicts of interest, her family business, Technical Solutions' website has been scrubbed, evidence of those conflicts all but removed -- since Tom Ryan filed the complaint on September 1st. Here's a screenprint shot from the site before scrubbing.



Then we have the letters the APS-owned commissioners filed regarding other commissioners' audacity to initiate proceedings to get APS/Pinnacle West to open their accounting records. Even the very minute action taken apparently freaked out *Tommy Little Stump. If APS has to open its books, we will be able to determine the extent to which the utility has purchased the (new) three stooges. Shouldn't the people of Arizona be able to find out how extensive the net has been cast around the three commissioners?

Arizona's corporate journalists are still skittish about and hedge when they talk about the Corporation Commission. But really, if APS had NOT spent profusely on electioneering, wouldn't they have already denied it and volunteered to open the financial books?

It's almost certain already that the utility invested heavily in the 2014 election, and likely they also played in 2012 when Bitter Smith and Burns were first elected and Stump was re-elected. Not to mention the fact that APS has not denied involvement in the 2013 publicity campaign leading up to the imposition of the dubious $5/month fee now being charged to homeowners with rooftop solar.

Next we learned (well, I just learned this week) about Stump's "short story" published in a utility industry newsletter. The story is ironically titled, George B. Green Rediscovers Self-Reliance and Independent Thought. My next blog entry will address the numerous problems I see with Stump's cheap shot at the solar industry.


* NOTE: I refer to Commissioners Thomas Forese, Doug Little and Bob Stump collectively as Tommy Little Stump.

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