PHOENIX — Calling it a “fishing expedition,” three state utility regulators quashed a bid by a fourth for an investigation into whether the panel has been or can be subject to improper outside influences.
The vote came late Thursday after more than an hour of accusations and arguing, with the majority on the Arizona Corporation Commission insisting that Bob Burns was trying to bring disrepute to the panel and to the reputations of his fellow commissioners Tom Forese and Doug Little.
Forese and Little were elected in 2014, in a race that featured $3.2 million in anonymous funds spent on their behalf, with Arizona Public Service, a utility regulated by the commission, refusing to deny it was the source of that money.
Burns insisted he wasn’t going after anyone but simply wanted someone to look at how the actions of the commission, which regulates investor-owned utilities, could be affected in ways hidden from the public — particularly the people who will have to pay the rates.
But Burns conceded he wanted an outside attorney to figure out whether APS was, in fact, the source of those dollars. That angered Little, who chairs the commission.
“There’s no evidence of improper behavior,” Little said.
“That’s because of no investigation,” Burns shot back. “If you don’t investigate, you don’t know.”
Burns said the investigator would look at all issues and determine if changes are needed in how the commission operates. Little, however, took the issue personally.
“You’ve been basically impugning our integrity for a year,” he told Burns.
“I have not,” Burns said.
Commissioner Bob Stump said it’s irrelevant even if APS did help get Little and Forese elected.
He said there’s no evidence that any votes of either regulator were affected.
Stump pointed out that the money, from whatever source, went to an independent expenditure committee, which is legally precluded from coordinating with any candidate.
“I don’t know who spent money in 2014,” Little said.
“Maybe we ought to find out,” Burns responded.
Little noted he was backed by various business interests. He suggested any of those groups could also have been the source of the dollars.
But Burns said it is APS that has repeatedly refused to deny the cash came from either the utility or Pinnacle West Capital Corp., its parent.
Forese said the inquiry is “blatantly political.”
Thursday’s move effectively voids a contract that Burns got Jodi Jerich, the commission’s executive director, to sign with outside attorney Scott Hempling. A commission staff attorney told the regulators they were free to override Jerich’s decision.
Burns had hoped to give Hempling the power to subpoena the records of APS.
