executive director of Toward Utility Rate Normalization (TURN), a consumer advocacy group, has asked California Gov. Pete Wilson for the vacant seat on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Krause has resigned her position with TURN after six years (em the same term that a member of the CPUC is allowed to serve.In a letter to Wilson, Krause lists her accomplishments at TURN, which include saving consumers an estimated $2 billion in proposed utility rate hikes, and raising public awareness of the CPUC's "routine violations of open meeting laws." Krause adds that she
believes her record at TURN compares favorably with those of two of the governor's initial appointees to the CPUC, Norman Shumway and Daniel Fessler. She notes that Shumway "resigned in disgrace earlier this year," announcing his departure only days after he was quizzed about regular racquetball games with a lobbyist from Southern California Edison Co.
Krause also notes that CPUC president Fessler is "widely perceived as being too close to Edison's top CPUC lobbyist," and that the CPUC staff has become increasingly "demoralized" under Fessler's leadership. t
Lori A. Burkhart is an associate legal editor of PUBLIC UTILITIES FORTNIGHTLY.
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