(The following letter was addressed to Governor Gray Davis
Referencing the below:
1) Maybe we can’t get our money back from these overpaid CEOs, but perhaps we can hold them personally and financially responsible as well as criminally liable for every car crash, injury, lost hour of work, item of spoiled food, incident a resident has to spend time resetting his/her automatic sprinklers, thermostats, burglar alarms, etc. due to black-outs.
Remember personal responsiblity? We applied it to welfare recipients, so let’s apply it to people with real capacity to do damage. Arrest and extradite to California those responsible. Charge them each with at least three felonies so we can get some mileage out of the three-strikes law.
2) Don’t let Edison International play shell games by saying Southern California Edison is bankrupt. The only thing that’s bankrupt is Edison International’s morals.
3) The corporations and their apologists may not want this, but the people of California want electricity re-regulated. Power supply is too important to leave vulnerable to the financial shenanigans of multi-billion-dollar corporations that have no qualms putting human beings at risk and violating the law in their pathological persuit of profits.
(4) If necessary, the state of California should engineer a take-over of the wayward power suppliers. You said in your state of the state address you would use the state’s power of eminent domain if necessary. I doubt I am alone when I say that rolling blackouts imposed by this artificial energy “shortage” is more than sufficient reason to use that power. It’s time to walk the walk, Gov. Davis.
Thank you for your consideration of these views.
Chris Ford
He adds the following: Southern California Edison’s CEO, Mr. John E. Bryson’s salary for 1999 was $999,000. His bonus for 1999 was $1,260,000. Robert D. Glen, CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric earned well over $2,000,000. in salary and bonuses for 1999. The parent company of Southern California, Edison International, has $71,800,000.00 in assets. (Reference: L.A. Times 12/30/00) Edison and PG&E want an increase of 79% in electricity rates starting January 4, 2001. In California we are paying more than the national average for electricity.The California Public Utilities will likely grant PG&E and Edison the increase of 79 to 80 percent increase
Editor’s note:Chris Ford is the former editor of The Malibu Times and clearly has not mellowed with age.