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Fete of Corruption for California Public Utilities Commission

by ntuit
Criminals and those who are supposed to protect the public (also criminals) will gather for an orgy of self congratulation and corruption on Thursday
California Penal Code 192(b) PC defines "involuntary manslaughter" as an unlawful killing that takes place

1. during the commission of an unlawful act (not amounting to a felony), or
2. during the commission of a lawful act which involves a high risk of death or great bodily harm that is committed without due caution or circumspection.

According to the legal definition of involuntary manslaughter in the State of California, it would appear that both PG&E and it’s wholly owned subsidiary, the California Public Utilities Commission, should be brought up on involuntary manslaughter charges possibly for both unlawful and lawful acts which resulted in the death of Eight people and destruction of 38 homes in San Bruno, California on September 9th, 2010. Instead, according to Matier & Ross in the Wednesday edition of The San Francisco Chronicle, PG&E and other corporations will hold a “fundraiser” for the CPUC on Thursday evening, January 27th.

This cesspool of corruption and total disregard for the protection of public over corporate interests will be attended by none other than our recently elected Governor, Jerry Brown. The foundation created by the CPUC is an example of their distorted thinking and how they are using the contributions of those they regulate to benefit themselves. It is corruption and scandal plainly open to the public. They obviously don’t care. Anyway, they appear to have gotten away with murder – or involuntary manslaughter – so why should they care about anything. They are above the laws that apply to everyone else.

Matier & Ross column in SF Chronicle (Wed. Jan 26, 201):

The California Public Utilities Commission is running a bit short on cash, so it has blessed the creation of a foundation to solicit money from the very companies it is supposed to be keeping an eye on.

The idea behind the CPUC Foundation is to have a pool of money to reward deserving staffers, host foreign guests and generally brush up the commission's image - in other words, to pay for activities not covered by agency coffers. Organizers plan to kick off the fundraising with a big dinner Thursday night coinciding with the commission's 100th anniversary.

Companies buying $20,000 tables for the dinner at San Francisco's Julia Morgan Ballroom include Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric Co. "Basically, every utility will be contributing - so if it's a conspiracy, it's a massive conspiracy," said former PUC Commissioner Bill Bagley, one of a half-dozen agency alums named to a committee setting up the foundation.

Even Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to speak at the dinner. Guests also include commission staffers and reps from consumer, labor and environmental organizations.The foundation was the brainchild of commission President Michael Peevey and is patterned after the 42-year-old California State Parks Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money for state parks. "But I'm not seeking the money or promoting anything," said Peevey, insisting that all the fundraising is being done by outside boosters.

The dinner is being organized by former commission Executive Director Steve Larson, now with the Sacramento powerhouse lobbying firm California Strategies - where he specializes in energy and utility policy.

According to the foundation's filings, it's being set up in part to "educate the public ... and to ensure that the public is well-informed about the actions the commission and its staff take." "It doesn't look right," Mark Toney, executive director of the consumer watchdog group The Utility Reform Network, first told us a couple of weeks back.

Nonetheless, with news Tuesday that the governor had just appointed TURN's longtime attorney Mike Florio and a second consumer advocate, Catherine Sandoval, to the commission, Toney said he had decided to attend after all.

"We believe the commission is going to be very different," Toney said.

However, state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who chaired a legislative hearing last year on the San Bruno pipeline blast - and who plans to introduce legislation to tighten the commission's oversight practices of PG&E - called the dinner "rather unseemly."

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Lowell Landowski
Sun, Aug 5, 2012 9:45PM
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Tue, Feb 15, 2011 9:59AM
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