There seems to be some schizophrenia going on at the Arizona Republic today. The editorial board endorsed two candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission in the GOP primary who are on opposing sides.
Lucy Mason and Vernon Parker bill themselves as friends of the solar industry. By the way, the real “solar team” are Democrats Sandra Kennedy and Jim Holway.
Tome Forese and Doug Little are in the pocket of APS, a member of ALEC which has spent tons o’ money to change the net metering rules in its favor as well as the “APS property tax” rule on leased solar panels in its favor.
APS has also dropped tons o’ dark money into this primary race on behalf of Forese and Little. Political Insider: APS’ hand in dark money – Brahm Resnik News 12 video.
The geniuses at The Republic endorsed Lucy Mason and Tom Forese, so they can cancel out each others vote (actually it was to prevent two pro solar members from being elected to the ACC – The Republic believes that Democrats are “irrelevant,” which explains its reasoning). Ignore the slates for corporation commission. The Republic is not going to upset one of its biggest advertisers, APS.
Laurie Roberts must have cast a losing vote on these endorsements. Her opinion today is spot on. Will dark money affect your future electric bill?:
Everybody’s favorite incognito electric company appears to be at it again.
This time, with a six-figure ad campaign aimed at making sure that you Absolutely Positively Seriously should not — no way, no how — put Vernon Parker or Lucy Mason on the Arizona Corporation Commission.
To do so would be an Astonishingly aPpalling cataStrophe.
From a certain utility’s point of view, that is.
Of course, I can’t say for sure which utility that might be because it’s all dark money, which our Legislature has thus far found no reason to force into the sunshine.
Where you can see it.
And evaluate who it is that’s pulling out all the stops to get you to vote a certain way.
The Corporation Commission traditionally is one of those races that produces more yawns than yikes. Not much money and not much excitement in the five-person board that regulates utilities in this state.
This year, however, someone is anonymously pouring big money — $400,000 as of mid-week – to make sure that he (or it) calls the shots on who will sit on that commission.
Somebody really, really, really wants to see that Republicans Tom Forese and Doug Little are installed on the all-Republican commission — and that Republicans Vernon Parker and Lucy Mason aren’t. (Presumably, they also don’t want Democrats Jim Holway and Sandra Kennedy but that’s a fight for the fall.) Little and Forese are considered to be pro-utility candidates while Parker and Mason are pro-solar.
So will the deep pockets Acknowledge their Participation in this Surreptitious campaign?
Arizona Public Service officials have curiously and repeatedly dodged questions about whether they’re secretly slipping big money into the race in hopes of selecting who will regulate them.
It seems like an easy yes or no answer.
Me: Did APS or its parent company directly or indirectly put up the money for the Parker and Mason attack ads?
Hal Pittman, APS director of external communications: “APS continues to provide equal access to information to all candidates regarding energy policies and issues, and we are committed to working with the ACC to plan for Arizona’s energy future. Nothing we have done or would do by way of advocacy conflicts with these priorities. Because of tactics some organizations are using to misrepresent important regulatory issues, we may need to respond to set the record straight on issues of importance to Arizona, our customers, and our company.”
In other words, APS doesn’t want to own up but it also doesn’t want to be caught with its wattage hanging out. Again, that is.
Last year, APS officials flat-out denied that the utility was secretly funding a pair of dark-money non-profits that waged a public campaign supporting the utility’s goal of making rooftop solar customers pay higher bills. Imagine their chagrin when it became public that APS’ parent company, Pinnacle West, was secretly shuttling millions to those non-profits to battle rooftop-solar subsidies.
That might explain why mum’s the word now over at APS HQ.
And why one of this year’s non-profit front groups has poured an astonishing $186,000 thus far into another independent campaign supporting Justin Pierce for secretary of state – a thank you gift, it seems, to his father, Corporation Commissioner Gary Pierce, who supported APS in its war against rooftop solar.
The two non-profits that are spending the money – the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Save Our Future Now – won’t say where they’re getting the cash to mount all these independent campaigns. In all, the two groups had spent nearly $600,000 by midweek to push Pierce into the state’s No. 2 political job and Forese and Little onto the board that regulates APS. (That is, $267,000 to support Forese and Little and now, $133,000 to attack Parker and Mason.)
With five weeks left until the Aug. 26 primary, look for these to be multi-million-dollar campaigns — ones that could well have an impact on your future utility bills.
Not bad for a pair of nonprofits that at best have spent a few thousand dollars in the past elections – mostly on legislative races and never on Corporation Commission candidates.
It really is Aggravating, Painful and downright Scandalous, to think that a certain utility can legally go undercover to pull one over on Arizona voters.
For a company dedicated to providing light, these people seem awfully comfortable operating in the darkness.
In November, elect Sandra Kennedy and Jim Holway to the ACC. Give The Republic and one of its biggest advertisers, APS, some heartburn.
Well said indeed! Shared to my FB with the following comment. Great Blog on the Arizona Republic’s unholy alliance with APS. No surprise, APS has it’s fingers in virtually every entity in the State of Arizona including millions to the MIM (a very worthy cause but ratepayer money all the same), the Chamber of Commerce to every Arizona sports franchise, (ever wonder why APS signs have to circle Diamondback’s games at Chase Field? Again, ratepayer money. The bottom line is, APS cannot buy your vote! Mason and Parker in the Republican primary and Jim Holway and Sandra Kennedy in the general. I’d love to see these four pro-solar candidates have substitutive pro-solar, pro-renewables debates about the clean energy future in Arizona in the general instead of watching APS shills like Forese and Little argue for “clean coal”, something that only exist in the minds of people who believe in unicorns and flying pigs. Dumping Forese and Little in the primary will send a strong clear message to APS that we don’t like our regulatory agencies being bought and paid for by APS and ALEC. Barry Goldwater Jr. supports Mason and Parker in the primary. We’ll see how that works out for Forese and Little….