Florida Public Service Commission under investigation for ties to utilities

> Sep 2 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Julie Patel Sun Sentinel,
> Fort
> Lauderdale, Fla.
>
> The Public Service Commission was notified this week that it's
> being
> investigated by a state law enforcement agency that reports to Gov.
> Charlie
> Crist and the Cabinet.
>
> Commissioner Nancy Argenziano said Tuesday that she was told the
> Florida Department of Law Enforcement will be conducting interviews
> with PSC
> officials this week. A spokeswoman from the Florida Department of Law
> Enforcement confirmed that it is investigating the commission but
> said she
> doesn't know the details.
>
> The inquiry comes amid allegations that commissioners and staff
> improperly communicated and occasionally socialized with officials
> from FPL
> as they were preparing to weigh its proposed $1.3 billion base rate
> increase.
>
> "I assume this was for everyone who have been accused of all
> kinds of
> things," Argenziano said.
>
> Several PSC employees have hired an attorney for the inquiry.
> Roberta
> Bass, the chief advisor to Commissioner Lisa Edgar, told the Sun
> Sentinel
> Tuesday she hired an attorney because "it's in my interest and it's
> one of
> my rights."
>
> Bass, who has been spotted mingling with FPL employees in
> Tallahassee,
> said she occasionally has lunch with an FPL employee or two but it's
> not
> work-related.
>
> "Off the top of my head, maybe three or four times over the
> past 9 to
> 12 months. It's not something we regularly do," Bass said.
> "Generally we
> just visit. I know about their families, they know about mine. Have we
> occasionally talked about [PSC matters]? Yes, and I'm not prohibited
> in any
> way from doing that."
>
> "They're people I see regularly through the course of working
> at the
> hearing. I have several times had lunch with one ore more of them. I
> would
> not consider it socializing. We don't go to parties together."
>
> The commission's Inspector General is also investigating
> whether it
> was improper for Ryder Rudd, a PSC governmental affairs director, to
> attend
> a private Kentucky Derby party in May at the home of FPL executive Ed
> Tancer.
>
> After a phone interview with the Sun Sentinel last month, Rudd
> told
> commissioners about the incident and they launched an internal
> investigation
> and removed Rudd from his duties related to FPL's base rate case and
> its
> proposed $1.5 billion gas pipeline.
>
> "My job is to know what these guys are up to," Rudd had told
> the Sun
> Sentinel. Rudd said he didn't discuss PSC matters.
>
> State law bars commissioners from speaking with a utility's
> employees
> -- without including consumer advocates and other stakeholders -- when
> they're preparing to weigh a proposal from the utility but the law
> doesn't
> restrict commission employees.
>
> That said, several commissioners have also been accused of
> improperly
> talking to utility officials.
>