PG&E and allies spend big bucks to fight public power
 	 		 		
| October 3, 2001 | SFBG News
 		 		 		 		
By Rachel Brahinsky
 						
Pacific Gas and Electric has so far spent a staggering $597,413 
against the public power campaigns in San Francisco and Brisbane, 
according to statements filed at the Department of Elections last 
week. Nearly half of those funds, $254,409, was spent between 
July 1 and Sept. 22.
 						
Another $100,000 has been donated to the effort by AT.
 						
But public power proponents, anticipating the financial 
onslaught, have marshaled hundreds of volunteer hours – for 
posting window signs and educating voters – in a huge grassroots 
effort to create a publicly managed power agency.
 						
PG's financial reporting was made by the Coalition for Affordable 
Public Services (CAPS), which paid for push polls, consultants, 
and campaign literature. This month the beleaguered utility is 
expected to launch an expensive and aggressive media blitz, even 
though it has filed for bankruptcy protection.
 						
It was PG's shaky finances and the continued threat of blackouts 
that prompted a groundswell of support for two Nov. 6 ballots 
measures: Proposition F (the municipal water and power authority) 
and Measure I (the municipal utility district).
 						
AT's $100,000 went to a committee called No on I, the Coalition 
to Stop the Billion Dollar Bill. That committee is managed by 
Nathan Nayman of the Committee on Jobs.
 						
Public power advocates have a smaller war chest. Campaign filings 
show that MUD Now, the lead campaign committee for Measure I, 
spent $17,139 during August and September, bringing the 
committee's total for the two-year campaign to $109,634, about 
one-sixth of PG's spending. The majority of the contributions 
have come from the Bay Guardian in the form of donated ad space.
 						
Public power campaign tacticians say their most potent weapon 
will be the face-to-face contact volunteers have with potential 
voters.
 						
Still, they are sure to face a slick, well-financed campaign.
 						
"Hundreds of thousands of dollars [have been raised against us], 
and yet this is before the anti campaign has even intensified," 
Ross Mirkarimi, director of the consolidated solar and public 
power campaign, told the Bay Guardian. "Theirs is going to be a 
blitzkrieg of major proportions."
 						
Recently, paid staffers of the International Brotherhood of 
Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1245 (the union that represents 
PG's employees) and representatives from the Communications 
Workers of America (CWA) have joined the cadre of lobbyists 
fighting public power. Nearly all of the lobbyists work for Solem 
and Associates, a longtime PG lobbying firm.
 						
Also, the lobbying firm Barnes Mosher Whitehurst is back in the 
fray. BMW worked for CAPS last year; now it is consulting for 
Nayman's group.
 						
And there's Jim Ross, a former Solem employee, who still declines 
to tell the Bay Guardian who he's working for. But at public 
events in the past, he said he represented the local garbage 
monopoly; more recently he has said he represents Pacific Bell 
and AT.
 						
Meanwhile, the county Local Agency Formation Commission voted 
Sept. 28 to officially cancel the contract for a public power 
sphere of influence study signed in July with utility consultant 
E.J. Simpson (see "LAFCO Beefs Up Public Power Feasibility 
Report," 9/26/01). The commission agreed to review other options 
for publishing a study in the coming weeks and discussed the 
possibility of holding a hearing with expert witnesses before the 
November election. 
						
P.S. Ralph Nader's rally in support of the public and solar 
campaigns has been moved to the Masonic Auditorium. Speakers are 
to be announced. Thurs/11, 7:30 p.m., 1111 California, S.F. $15 
suggested donation. (415) 864-6078. 
						
For more information go to  [http://www.democracyrising.org] . 
For more information on the public power campaign go to  
[http://www.sfbmud.org] . 
						
E-mail Rachel Brahinsky at  [rachel@sfbg.com] .
 						
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