Pacific Gas & Electric Co. sole contributor to-- & main beneficiary of-- Prop. 16

By GottaLaff

This is one example of how an uninformed electorate can make (potentially) an uninformed decision that would negatively impact my own very state of California:

Under Prop. 16, a one-third minority of voters could thwart the vast majority of disgruntled consumers who want to switch electricity providers and get a rate cut.

And because public entities are barred from spending money to advocate their side but a private utility can fork out unlimited millions, the two-thirds hurdle would be nearly insurmountable.

"The more competition in the electricity industry the better," says Jack Stewart, president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn., which opposes Prop. 16. "There's no reason to make it harder for local utility districts to get started if they can provide electricity at a lower cost than investor-run utilities."

PG&E's two allies in its brazen move are the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Taxpayers' Assn. The utility sits on the board of each group.

The two-thirds vote, they note, is what's required for local special tax increases and bond issues. (School bonds need only 55%.) But that's irrelevant. Taxes aren't an issue in electricity service.

And city or school bonds generally are repaid by all residents through sales or property taxes. Utility borrowing is financed by revenue bonds tied to electricity rates.

PG&E's clever campaign consultants are trying to exploit the public's current mistrust of government and anger about budget deficits.

Unlimited funding, misleading talking points: Yep, all the ingredients for a lopsided campaign. This will, and has, become all too commonplace.

As a people, we better learn to read, educate others, and fight back. Stat.

SCOTUS decision on corporations: "Going to be worse than you can possibly imagine"

By GottaLaff

Michael Hiltzik has a must-read column in today's L.A. Times that explains why the Supreme Court decision morphing corporations into people is, as he says, "worse than you can possibly imagine":

Speculation has been raging over whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent junking of federal campaign spending limits on corporations will be very bad for democracy, or not so bad.

As with many important trends in American society, California was there first, and we have the answer. Thanks to a nakedly cynical $6.5-million ballot campaign launched by our biggest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, we can say this: It's going to be worse than you can possibly imagine. [...]

Corporations can't vote or run for office, and "their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters," [Justice John Paul Stevens] observed. [...]

Proposition 16, in any case, is written broadly to apply to all public power systems. By undermining all competition from public power agencies, it will benefit no one except PG&E and other private utilities. [...]

In reality, it's profoundly anti-democratic: A two-thirds vote is nothing but a tool to thwart the will of the voters by giving an extreme minority an outsized voice.

S. David Freeman, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation's largest municipal utility:

"This is just another attempt by a private utility to inhibit the right of public power to be a competitive yardstick. It's so hurtful of consumers that it would be laughable, except that PG&E's ability to put up brainwashing ads makes it a real threat."
Worse, state law prohibits elected officials and public agencies from spending public funds to oppose a ballot measure. That means any effort to counteract PG&E's bankroll will be crippled from the start.

This is only the beginning, just one example of what we're up against.

Please go read the whole thing.

Pacific Gas & Electric to U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Global Warming is Real. Buh-bye.

By GottaLaff

My earlier Chamber of Commerce post here.

Saddle up your dinosaurs, things seem to be heating up in the global warming arena:

Today, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced that it is quitting the Chamber over its “extreme position” on climate change:

PG&E Corp. (PCG) said Tuesday it is leaving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over objections to what its top executive called the chamber’s “extreme position on climate change.”

In a letter to the U.S. Chamber published on PG&E’s blog, www next100.com, PG& E Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Darbee wrote that company employees “find it dismaying that the Chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored.”

[...] Yesterday, Nike, one of the co-founders of the climate change action coalition Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP), circulated a statement denouncing the Chamber’s efforts to attack the science surrounding climate change:

Nike fundamentally disagrees with the US Chamber of Commerce’s position on climate change and is concerned and deeply disappointed with the US Chamber’s recently filed petition challenging the EPA’s administrative authority and action on this critically important issue.

Nike believes that climate change is an urgent issue affecting the world today and that businesses and their representative associations need to take an active role to invest in sustainable business practices and innovative solutions to address the issue. It is not a time for debate but instead a time for action and we believe the Chamber’s recent petition sets back important work currently being undertaken by EPA on this issue.

The right-wing trade organization National Association of Manufacturers has similarly experienced a disbandment of its membership over the climate change issue.

On behalf of the Marxist Commie Climate Czar, I welcome the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the 21st century. Here's hoping we make it to the 22nd.