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Saturday, September 25, 2010
Ind. Gov't. - More on: Fallout from "Consumer group criticizes Indiana regulator's move to Duke Energy"
Supplementing yesterday's ILB entry is a long story today by Lesley Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier Journal headed "Daniels takes stronger ethics stand in utility case." Some quotes:
Gov. Mitch Daniels has essentially overruled a state ethics panel and sided at least in part with critics who complained last week about a state utility attorney leaving the government to join a company he helped to regulate.ILB: The CAC question is similar to that I raised at the end of yesterday's entry -- how far, realistically, to move back the line?Daniels told the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on Friday that the agency should have no contact with its outgoing chief counsel, Scott Storms, for one year to comply with the spirit of state ethics laws. * * *
[I]n a letter to the IURC on Friday [ILB - see letter here], the governor’s top attorney said that while the ethics panel’s decision “may be technically correct, the governor intended the ethics laws to reassure the public that state employees would not trade influence for personal gain.”
“Had Duke seen fit to assign him out of state, this would have been clear to all,” wrote the governor’s general counsel, David Pippen. “To be certain that the spirit of the laws are fully honored, the governor asks that the IURC not entertain communications or have contact with Mr. Storms for the next 12 months.”
The letter also instructed regulators to liberally construe an ethics panel ruling that Storm can’t participate in the cases he had worked on at the commission.
An IURC spokeswoman, Danielle McGrath, said Friday that the “commission will carefully review Counselor Pippen's letter, discuss it thoroughly and respond accordingly.” * * *
But Kerwin Olson, program director for the Citizens Action Coalition that first raised concerns about Storms’ move to Duke, said the governor’s actions don’t fully address the group’s concerns.
Olson said the CAC still has questions about Duke-related orders that Storms issued before he removed himself from the cases.
“It is also highly troubling that the State Ethics Commission ignored those orders and the role that Judge Storms played as general counsel and lead hearing officer at the utility commission on critical cases related to regulating new employer, Duke Energy,” Olson said. “What's the point of the law if the state doesn't enforce it?”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 25, 2010 07:03 PM
Posted to Indiana Government