Big money spent in last-minute pitch to fight public power 
 	 		
Down to the wire | November 7, 2001 | SFBG News                 
 		 		 		 		
[http://www.sfbg.com]                                                  
 						
By Rachel Brahinsky
 
In the week before the Nov. 6 vote on San Francisco's two public 
power initiatives, the state's most well-known public power 
advocate lent support to the measures, known as Proposition F and 
Measure I. Meanwhile, local news outlets began to pay attention 
to the campaign – after months of a mainstream media blackout. 
But voters were blitzed with last-minute mailers urging them to 
vote against the measures. 

S. David Freeman, Gov. Gray Davis's power czar, told reporters at 
a Nov. 2 press conference that his agency would sell power to a 
new San Francisco public power agency at low prices. Freeman said 
the offer would help a new agency make good on its goal of 
charging low electricity rates. 

As the election approached, the San Francisco Chronicle ran 
several stories in a row on the issue for the first time. The 
Sacramento Bee, by contrast, ran an in-depth piece Nov. 4 on the 
front page that delved into the nuances of the fight over public 
power. 

The AT-sponsored San Francisco News Hour show on cable TV also 
covered the story. On Nov. 1 the show featured a balanced 
discussion on public power. Chronicle reporter Rachel Gordon 
hosted the show and disclosed that AT has contributed to the 
campaign against public power. 

Records filed with the Department of Elections show that in the 
13 days leading up to the election, Pacific Gas Co. and Electric, 
AT, and their corporate allies (including the Pacific Telesis 
Group and the Committee on Jobs) poured in at least another 
$416,000 on ads and mailers aimed at derailing the grassroots 
public power measures. The San Francisco Giants contributed 
$2,000. That brings the total spent to kill the measures to about 
$1.9 million. Additional financial disclosures will be available 
at the end of the year. 

Though PG filed for bankruptcy in May, its parent corporation 
this week announced a dramatic increase in profits in the third 
quarter of 2001. In a press release PG Corp. publicized profits 
of $771 million between the beginning of July and the end of 
September. That's more than three times its profit during the 
same quarter of 2000. The Chron treated the news to a short clip 
on the business page – with no mention of the impact the 
announcement could have on the election. 

E-mail Rachel Brahinsky at  [rachel@sfbg.com] . 

[http://www.sfbg.com]