3 legislators make short list for powerful utility panel

TALLAHASSEE

Gov. Ron DeSantis was given four candidates to choose from Wednesday for his first appointment to the powerful board that regulates electricity, water and natural gas in Florida, and the list includes an incumbent commissioner on the Public Service Commission and three outgoing Republican legislators.

The 12 members of the Public Service Nominating Council interviewed five candidates and sent the names of four of them to the governor to fill the expired term of Donald Polmann, the current PSC commissioner who is seeking to be appointed to another four-year term. In addition to Polmann, the list includes Key Largo state Rep. Holly Raschein, St. Cloud state Rep. Mike La Rosa, Thonotosassa state Sen. Tom Lee.

The nominating council rejected only one candidate who made the interview list, Jonathan E. Shaw, a hydrogeologist for the South Florida Water Management District.

The job of PSC commissioner pays $132,036 with generous pension benefits and comes with access to a full staff and the power to decide how much profit utilities are allowed to keep and how much to charge customers for water, wastewater and electricity services.

DeSantis must choose among the four applicants and the candidate must then get Senate approval.

During interviews in Fort Myers on Wednesday, the nominating council, which is controlled by legislators and former legislative staff members, clearly favored elevating their colleagues. The council unanimously advanced the applications of Raschein and La Rosa. Polmann received 10 of the 12 votes. Lee, a Tampa home builder and former state Senate president, received eight votes and none of them were from his former Senate colleagues.

Polmann

Raschein

La Rosa

For the past decade, the nominating council has been heavily influenced by the utility industry as the power companies, led by Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy, have become some of the largest contributors to individual campaigns and to legislative political committees, which can accept unlimited amounts of cash.

PSC members who have opposed utility rate requests and infrastructure plans have been rejected by the nominating council for reappointment, or not confirmed by the Florida Senate, and applicants who are not friendly with utilities have generally not been nominated by the legislatively-controlled council.