PHOENIX — State utility regulators voted Tuesday to quash a bid by one of their own to get Arizona Public Service to produce records he subpoenaed.
Officially, the vote of the Arizona Corporation Commission was to cut off the funds for the attorney it authorized Commissioner Bob Burns to hire.
That was when APS and Pinnacle West Capital Corp., its parent, asked a judge to block Burns’ subpoena.
Last week, however, the utility dropped its lawsuit, though it has not produced the additional records Burns contends he is entitled as a regulator to get.
These deal with the company’s political involvement financially in the 2014 commission race, as well as what it spends on lobbyists and charities.
So Burns filed his own legal action to compel compliance.
But the panel’s 3-1 vote Tuesday cuts off further funds for William Richards, Burns’ attorney.
Chairman Tom Forese said the funding authorization was solely to defend Burns, not for a pursuit of the records.
Commission records show Richards has so far been paid close to $15,200.
APS has repeatedly refused to comment on whether it was the source of funds spent by two “dark money” groups to help Forese and Doug Little win the 2014 election.
