Beleaguered utility board awaits significant reforms

No other political body in the state has as tarnished a reputation as the Arizona Corporation Commission.

A poll last year found that nearly two out of three Arizonans believe the commission that regulates public utilities and helps set consumer rates has been “corrupted” by outside influences and spending. A former commissioner, Gary Pierce, went on trial this year on accusations he took bribes to help a water company operator; the case ended in a mistrial because of a hung jury.

It is no surprise, then, that corruption and ethics drive both the Republican and Democratic primaries this year.

It is not a simple case, however, of tossing out the two GOP incumbents up for re-election and installing challengers.

Here’s why.

Incumbents took different paths

Corporation Commission Chairman Tom Forese and Commissioner Justin Olson are running as a team, but their paths to office differ. Olson was appointed to the office in October, after Doug Little left the post for a job with the Trump administration.

Since joining, Olson has pushed for reforms, including more-stringent standards that go beyond a watered-down code of ethics the commission adopted. He also joined other commissioners to oust the agency’s executive director in early July after questions were raised about work that the director’s wife was doing on behalf of APS.

Forese, along with Little, was elected in 2014 after anonymous, so-called “dark money” groups spent $3.2 million to help them defeat Democratic candidates Sandra Kennedy and Jim Holway. The electric utility giant APS and its parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corp., are believed to have been behind the spending; they neither denied nor affirmed having a role.

Forese has not helped to distance himself from the appearance of a conflict of interest. He declined to recuse himself from rate cases involving APS and has voted to approve them, including a 4.5 percent rate hike last August that thousands of consumers have complained about and pushed for a rehearing.

Moreover, he and Little fought fellow Republican Commissioner Robert Burns’ efforts to determine whether APS and Pinnacle West’s role, if any, in the 2014 election campaign spending.

What do the GOP challengers stand for?

The three Republican challengers share in their pointed criticism of the commission in general and of Forese in particular. All three say new blood is needed to restore integrity. All three also oppose the idea of setting mandates on the source or types of energy that utilities provide — they are against a cleanenergy ballot measure that call for utilities to get 50 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2030.

There are differences.

Glassman has the code of ethics

No other candidate frames ethics reforms better than Rodney Glassman. He wants the commission to adopt the Judicial Code of Ethics given that the office is a quasi-judicial body that must weigh competing interests of consumers and utilities that serve them.

That would mean commissioners abstain from campaign donations from utility executives, lobbyists and the like. That would also mean no food or trips paid for by those parties, as well.

Glassman also has the background, holding degrees that include arid land resource sciences and having championed innovative water conservation measures as a Tucson city councilman.

Glassman draws attacks over his change in political affiliation — he ran against Sen. John McCain as a Democrat and sought the chairmanship of the Arizona Democratic Party. Some say it’s convenient for him to adopt a no-campaign-money-from-industry-players philosophy given that he is independently wealthy and has gotten money from rich clients he represents.

He is a complex figure who takes pride in connecting people and getting things done. But he works with a zeal and assertiveness that can be off-putting. Some would call it ambitious. Others, pushy and manipulative.

O’Connor says he’ll serve 1 term

A longtime businessman dealing in securities and financial services, Jim O’Connor said he would favor toughening regulations on securities, which the commission also oversees. He is the only Republican in the race running as on public financing as a Clean Elections candidate, and pledges to serve one term — which he says would allow him to act independent of influence.

O’Connor advocates a rehearing on last year’s APS rate increase and routine auditing of public service companies, in particular water companies, in light of the service problems with Johnson Utilities in Pinal County. A big question remains how O’Connor’s decades in financial services would translate on largely a role of utility oversight as commissioner.

Sloan has his own ethical issues

Eric Sloan talks much like a legislative candidate, promoting himself as a “pro-life, constitutional conservative Republican” who wants “Arizona to continue our culture of low taxes, conservative values, and establish a culture of low utility rates.”

He opposes subsidies, mandates and seeks to work with the state Legislature to get rid of a telecommunications tax that local governments assess on landlines.

Sloan’s candidacy has its own ethical issues. He was fired in 2016 for harassing workers when he was at the Department of Gaming.

And while Sloan notes that the commission has an integrity and conflict-ofinterest problem, he served as chairman of an independent expenditure group in 2016 that helped Republicans get elected to the commission — a group that took $4 million from the parent company of APS.

What are the Democrats about?

Two of the three Democratic candidates — Sandra Kennedy and Bill Mundell — have served on the commission and are running as a team.

That leaves Kiana Maria Sears as the outsider looking in. Kennedy and Mundell have made an issue about Sears’ campaign treasurer, a longtime APS employee, a relationship they say calls into question Sears’ criticism that APS has corrupted the commission.

Kennedy and Mundell say that the proof of their integrity is in how independent expenditure groups funded by APS have targeted them in previous campaigns. They both point to their track record as demonstration of their commitment to consumers.

Sears is not without experience in the field, having worked as a staffer for six years in the commission, including on water and wastewater issues. She advocates revisiting policies to deter crops such as pecans and alfafa that require greater use of water.

Dems agree on lots of other issues

The three Democrats agree on many other positions, including increasing the use of solar and renewable energy through mandates by the commission and the belief that fossil fuels contribute to climate change.

They all favor the clean-energy ballot initiative that would impose benchmarks on renewable energy for utilities by 2030.

On the campaign trail, Kennedy and Mundell have accused Sears of supporting GOP Commissioner Andy Tobin’s proposal to require utilities get 80 percent of its energy by 2050 from “clean” resources — which Tobin defines to include nuclear energy.

Sears’ support of the 80 percent renewables standard — it’s on her website — does not mention nuclear power. But in voter guide questionnaire, she said energy from nuclear power plants should not be counted as renewables.

What’s the bottom line?

Of the eight candidates in the two races, Commissioner Forese was the only one who didn’t appear for a meeting with Editorial Board. That didn’t play into our decision to not back him.

But it leaves unclear key questions, including why he has refused to back efforts to reveal APS’ role in the 2014 election that got him elected and why he announced his bid for state treasurer and campaigned for months on it only to abandon it this year to jump back into the commissioners race.

Justin Olson has earned the right to be on the general election ballot.

Of the remaining GOP spot, voters should weigh for themselves whether Glassman or O’Connor should replace Forese.

On the Democratic side, Kennedy and Mundell offer the best experience to compete in the general election.