PHOENIX — State utility regulators swore in a new member Tuesday and elected a new chairman amid what threatens to be open warfare on the panel.
In a ceremony filled with speeches and congratulations, Boyd Dunn, newly elected in November, was seated on the Arizona Corporation Commission as incumbents Bob Burns and Andy Tobin got new four-year terms. They join Tom Forese and Doug Little who were elected in 2014.
But Burns refused to support Forese for chairman, saying after the meeting that he and Tobin had improperly tried to fire a commission employee and effectively got another to quit. That, in turn, resulted in Jodi Jerich, who has the exclusive power of hiring and firing staff, being forced out.
She was replaced by former Tucson GOP legislator Ted Vogt.
"It sent a ripple through the commission,'' Burns said. "It ruined the morale of the whole place.''
Forese said that wasn't what happened but declined to go into specifics. But he acknowledged that he was part of the decision to replace Jerich, saying that's just what happens with a change of administration.
But the allegations come as Burns continues to pursue his bid to find out how much of the more than $3 million spent to elect Forese and Little in 2014 came from Arizona Public Service or Pinnacle West Capital Corp. He even has issued subpoenas which the companies are fighting in court.
Forese, for his part, said whatever happened in 2014 is history, what with a subsequent election having taken place, one in which APS admitted it spent $4.2 million to elect a slate of candidates of its choice. And he said that Burns is obsessed with the 2014 campaign.
"If I ask you, 'What do you think about the water crisis and its coming to Arizona,' and you respond, 'Dark money,' and I ask you about telecom regulation and the possibility for there to be potential money in the kitty that can be used for education, something people are talking about, and you respond 'APS,' we have a real communication problem,'' Forese said.
Burns, however, is not giving up in his bid to get public disclosure, what with APS officials refusing to confirm or deny their role in getting Forese and Little elected.
