Poll: Nearly two-thirds of voters say Ariz. utility regulators are ‘corrupted’

Arizona voters are split along political lines on President Donald Trump, pardoning former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other issues. But they broadly agree on at least one thing: the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Most of Arizona’s likely voters say state utility regulators have been “corrupted,” according to an August poll by HighGround Public Affairs.

“Republicans are still strongly supportive of the president and the sheriff’s pardon, but they are not currently supportive of the activities of the Corporation Commission,” said Paul Bentz, vice president of research and strategy for HighGround.

The poll indicated 65.5 percent of voters overall say the five-member

commission that sets utility rates and policies has been corrupted by outside influences and spending.

The poll of 400 likely voters contacted people on both landline phones and cellphones, and has a margin of error of about 5 percent.

The commissioners, currently all Republicans, act in a quasi-judicial role, deciding what rates monopoly utilities can charge their customers for water, gas, electricity and sewer service, in addition to other duties. The commissioners are Chairman Tom Forese, Andy Tobin, Doug Little, Boyd Dunn and Robert Burns.

The commission issued a statement in response to the poll.

“The Arizona Corporation Commission and its staff are committed to transparency,” it said. “Not only do we work every day to fulfill our responsibility to the people of Arizona to ensure they have safe, reliable, and affordable utility services, we are also helping to grow Arizona’s economy as we help local entrepreneurs achieve their dream of starting a business and we are protecting Arizona citizens by enforcing an ethical securities marketplace.”

The state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service Co., spent millions last year supporting three winning candidates and is widely suspected of spending in 2014 to help the two candidates who won office that year.

APS officials don’t deny that involvement.

Last month, the commissioners unanimously agreed on a $95 million annual rate hike for APS.

“There really is a credibility crisis here,” Bentz said.

The commissioners clearly are aware of the cloud over their offices.

Dunn recently initiated a series of meetings he said he hopes will lead to the creation of ethics policies for the commissioners.

A smaller percentage of Republicans (63.9 percent) than Democrats (67.7 percent) said in the poll they believe the commission is corrupt. Slightly fewer independents (61.1 percent) said commissioners are corrupt.

“We couldn’t get the parties to agree on any other issue — Trump, the sheriff, the (Jeff) Flake-(Kyrsten) Sinema race,” Bentz said. “There hasn’t been acrossthe-board belief on anything else.”

HighGround did not represent any candidates for the commission in 2016 and is not representing any for 2018. The firm paid for the survey without outside sponsorship.

In addition to candidate campaigns, HighGround lists the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona and the Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association among its clients.

Besides APS spending money to help elect the commissioners, regulators have faced other recent scandals, including indictments of former Chairman Gary Pierce, his wife, lobbyist Jim Norton and water-utility owner George Johnson in connection with an alleged bribery scheme.

Also, in 2015, then-Chairwoman Susan Bitter Smith resigned amid a conflict-ofinterest controversy.