Schwarzenegger’s First Role As Governor-Elect of California: The Deregula

[King Bush II]

Just as his worst critics feared, Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to settle the state's pending lawsuits against several price-gouging power companies. "For three years, California has been engaged in a costly legal battle against dozens of energy companies it said ripped off the state by purposely withholding much-needed electricity from consumers, creating an artificial shortage while boosting the companies' profits. Federal regulators ordered electricity refunds for California totalling about $3.3 billion, but Davis said the state deserves at least $9 billion and 'not a penny less.' ... Schwarzeneggeer aides said the lawsuits are deterring energy companies from building power plants in California, which could lead to another energy crisis in 2006, and the legal wrangling alone is costing the state millions of dollars. 'It's time to settle and move on,' a top aide to Schwarzenegger said. 'We don't want to inherit litigation.'"

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0310/S00087.htm

[jpgray]

1. Everyone called this, I think.

Pretty disgusting to see it, though.

[arcane1]

2. I am totally surprised by this

NOT!!!

:grr::mad::grr:

his first goddamn thing to improve our economy is to let his friends get away with STEALING money from us, EQUAL to the @#$%*& DEFICIT!!!


eggs are too good for this bastard, he needs to be hit with human excrement next time

[DoveTurnedHawk]

3. A Fucking Outrage

Wonder if our wonderful local press will pick up on this story?

:grr:

DTH, Not Holding His Breath

[Redleg]

56. My thoughts exactly- except I used "fuck" a few more times

I don't suppose this will even make the god-damned news. No story here folks, just go on your way.

[denverbill]

4. Fuck. Palast called this one.

The cajones of these assholes is amazing.

[jpgray]

7. Let's see if Bush bails CA out now

It would be pretty much a slap in the face to other Republican-controlled states (especially one where a convention is coming), but there isn't much that daunts this administration. The media won't report on it with a view of the context or basic logic, that's for sure.

[demgrrrll]

8. I listen to the Christian radio bot station to see what they are up to and

because I wanted to see if they would defend AS. As expected they railed against the LA Times for smearing AS. I almost had to pull over and catch my breath, their hypocrisy was that breathtaking. As far as I am concerned they have completely lost any religious moral authority they may have thought they had.
I don't know why anyone would be surprised by this. What the hell is going on in my? country. I wanna be Snake Plisken and just turn out the lights in California, I know that is wrong because everyone does not deserve to suffer but.....damn.

[rocktivity]

30. Well, since he had a meeting with Ken Lay that he won't talk about

(obstruction of justice?), California should RE-call this one!




rocknation

[Vitruvius]

42. Schwartznegger's job is to LOOT because that's what Rethugs do;

he's also slated to loot the CALPERS pension fund; see the DU thread at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=500856

All that campaign money that paid for wall-to-wall ads depicting Schickelgroper as some kind of a decent human being -- that money was an INVESTMENT. An investment that Schickelgroper will pay back a hundred-fold -- by looting CA like the Rethugnican he is.

Again, looting is what Rethugs do. It's their JOB -- as loyal employees of the kleptocratic rich.

[nolabels]

59. This is why I hate DU, you just know your reading the news...........

Before the most rest of world gets it (or a lot of time before it happens). I swear to Pete that most of the people here in California must have got a frontal lobotomy. As for the rest of the public pontificators Eff You. You religious bigots, scum lords of fascist oilygarkary, you mind numbed imbeciles of the waste land known as corporate mass media, your time is coming (Okay, does it sound like I am pissed off yet?)

Told a few fools (the ones with the "JOIN ARNOLD" bumper stickers at my work that voted for the Neanderthal Barbarian) that every body’s electric rates are going to go up, they ignored the warning. Thank goodness we have more than enough room to put up all solar panels up we could ever need at our house.

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping

http://www.mrsolar.com/kits/grid.htm

[Flubadubya]

5. The GOP's #1 intent and purpose...

is fulfilled in Arnold. This is is what the whole coup was all about... Period! :grr:

[MegaDeuse3080]

6. What is that music I hear

It California getting played like a fiddle. Maybe this will teach them who not to vote for. No matter how bad the economic situation is it can get a lot worse with an Enron man in charge

[Snellius]

9. Why is this on a New Zealand website?

Long way from Long Beach.

[Red_Viking]

10. He can be recalled, right after this is done

It's his only real task as Governator. Once he helps complete the rape of Cali by outside energy companies, the GOP won't care what happens to him. They'll leave him twisting in the wind.

Has anyone started the recall petition yet? Can he be impeached? I find it hard to believe the citizens of California would accept more energy shenanigans after what they've been through already.

This is absolutely insane. That's saying something, coming from a Texan, where politics is a freakshow without the tent. :-)

Canada is looking better all the time.

RV

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. ROFL

"where politics is a freakshow without a tent". And Bugman Delay is the head freak in charge of the rest of the freakshow. :crazy:

[okieinpain]

36. hell building proper power plants should be part of the 9 billion

payback. the moderates, and dems that voted for arnie are getting just what they deserve.

[VeniceBeat]

11. The Groping Stuff Made for Sexier Headlines

Great job, LA TIMES!

Jerks.

[Gin]

13. Cruz filed the suit...doesnt he have some say in this?

gin

[0rganism]

28. Sadly, no; that's not how it will go

FERC will settle with Gov. Schwarzenegger. After that, the judge of Cruz's case will most likely dismiss the suit.

[Vitruvius]

41. But Cruz has the power to raise an almighty STINK -- and I hope he does.

n/t

[0rganism]

57. If he does, it won't get any coverage.

Besides, it appears that many of Californias voters already think Cruz stinks.

[salin]

12. and we don't want to collect the money owed that might lower the

state deficit... and we don't want to send the message to the companies involved - cheating us is not a matter of a small fine which can be treated like a 'business expense'.

Big treat/payback to bushco for talking Issa into paying for the recall, and then for talking the other big pubs out of the race.

[peterh]

14. This must be the advice Key Lay gave him….

I can guarantee ya….If Arnold goes back to de-regulation, the merchant generators will have another field day at the expense of the State and consumers.

(sorry – can’t link to this)

LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones)--Electricity demand in California is rising steadily
and seems poised to continue doing so as conservation efforts lapse, population
expands and the economy revives, experts said.
Demand on the power grid run by the California Independent System Operator -
which covers about three-quarters of the state - exceeded 40,000 megawatts on 26
days this past summer, compared with just six days in the summer of 2002 and
zero days in 2001. The last time the state saw demand like this was summer 2000,
in the first blush of the energy crisis. There were 29 days above 40,000
megawatts that year.
The state did have a hot summer, but California energy officials and utilities
aren't chalking up the increase to unusual weather. Instead, they are expecting
further growth in demand, which has some power companies warning supplies could
be stretched again as early as 2005.

Some merchant generators have warned that supplies could thin in the state as
early as 2005, as aging power plants are retired and construction of new
generation falls off.

"No one is predicting a crisis in the next year or so," said Jan Smutny-Jones,
executive director of the Independent Energy Producers Association. "But I am
skeptical of 2005 and on out. We need to get busy getting more plants on line."

[dolstein]

15. Actually, isn't this the Attorney General's call?

I'm not sure the governor has the authority to settle these suits on his own, since the attorney general is an independently elected officer.

But if he does have this authority, then Arnold is the cheapest whore on Hollywood Boulevard. The energy companies will potentially save themselves billions of dollars for only a few million dollars of campaign contributions.

Arnold ought to be dragged over the coals for this. But the press will let him slide by. Still, it's kind of interesting how the terminator becomes a 98 lb weakling whenever industry is on the other side of the table.

[my_2_cents]

16. But didn't some regular posters here think there was no difference between

Davis and Schwartzenegger? Didn't they say Schwartzenegger was a progressive? Maybe they were mistaken :shrug: It seems to me that people can pretend to be progressive on this site and criticize Democratic candidates and defend Republicans with little or no consequence.

[Democat]

19. Where are the DU Arnold supporters now?

They same brilliant people who said there was no difference between Nader and Gore.

[Sequoia]

21. Cave in I'll bet

I've been moping (sp?) around all day. Everyone at work wonder's why I'm not perky and tell me AS might be okay after all since he's got Willie Brown on his side now. I just shake my head. Let time show what a true creep this terminator is. And now this story....I've been avoid the news but it's hard since I work in the news.

[Classical_Liberal]

31. There are no du arnold supporters

If Davis was so upset about this why didn't he bring up? He ignored this issue and did nothing to warn California.

[dad]

37. -

Seriously. Nader is far superior in every way.

[bahrbearian]

22. Wrong web site.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Emillereid]

33. My neighbor has worked at the Hotel Belair for 25 years and he knows many

celebrities -- He says that Ahhnuld is an egotistical bastard -- he apparently is the biggest narcissist ever. Comes driving up in his Hummer, a big stoggie sticking out of his mouth and struts in like it's his fiefdom and everyone is his surf. My neighbor hates him personally.

[Snellius]

17. Sacramento Bee: FERC on hot seat in court

There is a somewhat contradictory story in today's Sacramento Bee:

SAN FRANCISCO -- California's case against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, potentially worth billions of dollars in wholesale rate refunds from energy companies, found a receptive audience Thursday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The three-judge panel, drawn from Arizona, Montana and Hawaii, had more questions than answers during oral arguments, and it gave no indication when it would rule.

But the judges seemed skeptical of FERC's contention that it acted legally three years ago, when it relied on competition among energy wholesalers to determine the cost of California's power supply and did not require them to file the rates they would charge. Energy prices soared then, and blackouts rolled.

California, which sued the commission, claims it's due a refund of about $9 billion in gouged profits.

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/energy/story/7572672p-8513836c.html

[Democat]

18. Will Democrats fight this issue and make it a national news story

Or will they do the usual Democratic thing and cave in to the Republicans with a wimper?

[Snellius]

20. Remember Jason Leopold?

My Story – Shafted By The New York Times
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0210/S00063.htm

[dutchdemocrat]

39. Jason did it!!!

Great! He knows as much or more about this than anyone.

[fizzana]

23. Excuse me while I rant for a minute

Fuck Gray Davis and the Democrat leaders who ignored this issue throughout the campaign. You pathetic assholes.

There - now I feel a little better.

[hedda_foil]

24. kick!

[Guaranteed]

27. I just can't believe this.

I heard the stories before the recall and thought they were certainly plausible. But, now that's it's obviously true, I'm dumbfounded.
Those assholes did it again. AGAIN.
I'm going fucking insane here. WHEN WILL AMERICANS (AND THE MEDIA) WAKE THE FUCK UP???????

[ReadTomPaine]

43. The media is wide awake. They know exactly what they are doing to us

They have just chosen the other side.

[fizzana]

29. I mentioned this to a lawyer friend of mine who thought it would

be no problem to bring a class action suit if the state lawsuit gets killed.

[Guaranteed]

38. There ya go....

Good idea.

[Emillereid]

32. Like the greedy bastards couldn't wait until he's sworn in --

he gives them their pay back pronto. Davis and Bustamante and everybody should make a BIG STINK about this. We've got to get Greg Palast's expose of this covered by the mainstream press.

[okieinpain]

34. Hey cali people you're old news. SUCKERS!

.

[shanti]

61. exactly who are you referring to?

there are many of us here on DU from cali, and we resent being lumped in with the idiots!

[The_Casual_Observer]

35. This would be a very bold move

Perhaps this cabal feels emboldened to make this kind of move, considering what Bush has gotten away with. However, every move this guy makes is being watched carefully, and I doubt that Cruz would let this happen without a real fight.

[dutchdemocrat]

40. Funny

This is how DU can really work. Getting people together in the battle against Bushco.

I found Jason's first article online here.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=494203

and here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=497449

Then decided to email Leopold and send him Palast's article. He wrote back and said he had not seen it yet and was going to work on another article.

So I emailed him this

A couple of Links for the Arnold story

Schwarzenegger aims to repair Calif. power market

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger vows to put market economics to work to fix California's electricity market if he wins the recall election Tuesday, but critics warn his plan would merely repackage much of the state's failed deregulation law.

"I give his plans a grade of 'F'. Arnold would impose a failed policy on us. It's dangerous for our economy," said Loretta Lynch, former president of the California Public Utilities Commission appointed by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, the target of Tuesday's recall.

But the plan also contains elements that energy analysts advocate, including a more competitive marketplace, new power plants, upgrading the transmission grid, and closer coordination of power supplies with neighboring states.

http://www.forbes.com/business/energy/newswire/2003/10/07/rtr1102087.html

RESHAPE THE MARKET

The plan calls for reshaping California's wholesale power market by borrowing from market deregulation in Texas, New England and the Middle Atlantic states and adopting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's plan to revamp the nation's grid by creating super-regional transmission systems.

From www.joinarnold.com

What specific moves would you make to bring certainty to the energy market and to guard future blackouts?

I will restore stability to our energy system and stimulate private investment in electricity generation and transmission. The blackouts had a terrible impact on our economy and were yet another result of failed leadership in Sacramento. I have a six point plan that will prevent further blackouts. I will reform the state's 13 state agencies and create a uniform energy strategy that stimulates investment and ultimately produces more reliable and more affordable electricity for Californians. I will create a working regulatory structure based other states and the FERC standard market design; we will look towards replicating the successful regulatory models in other states to stimulate private investment in electricity generation and transmission while also eliminating incentives for gaming the regulatory system. I will invest in natural gas and electricity transmission capacity. This administration will encourage conservation by allowing large customers' rates to move up and down with changing electricity costs. I will create reserve requirements for power generators. I will address overpriced legacy power purchase agreements.


http://www.joinarnold.com/en/agenda/arnoldsviews.php#aa1

And he came throught with an excellent piece! I feel kinda' warm inside... in a good way.

:):):):):)

[radfringe]

44. San Francisco Chronicle article

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/11/MN20927.DTL
New push to deregulate energy
Schwarzenegger electricity plan fuels fears of another debacle

Zachary Coile, Chronicle Political Writer

Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing a push to deregulate the state's electricity markets -- a move embraced by business leaders and some energy analysts but criticized by many Democrats and consumer advocates as a return to the failed policies that sparked California's energy crisis.

Although the new Republican governor-elect will be consumed at first with tackling the state's budget woes, his advisers say he will push changes next year aimed at lowering energy costs for industry and large power users while encouraging energy firms to build more power plants to help meet rising demand.

---snip---

Schwarzenegger's energy strategy is being driven by some of the same members of former Gov. Pete Wilson's team who led the push for energy deregulation in the mid-1990s. The governor-elect, for example, picked for his transition team Jessie Knight, a former Wilson appointee to the Public Utilities Commission and a leading proponent of deregulation.

---snip---

"Deregulation has already cost the state $50 billion, give or take," said Mike Florio, senior attorney for The Utility Reform Network. "Why on earth anyone would want to do that again is mystifying to us."

Florio also said he was suspicious of Schwarzenegger's idea because former Enron Corp. Chairman and CEO Ken Lay met with the actor and others in the spring of 2001, when Lay was pushing deregulation in California. Schwarzenegger has said he doesn't remember details of the meeting.


---------------

Enron E-Mail Provides Interesting Reading

(near the end of article) And while much of the database merely satisfies the curious onlookers and provides moments of embarrassment for those who sent or received the messages, information of a more devastating nature lurks there as well. While running for governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger had to confront the public disclosure of a meeting he attended with former Enron president, Kenneth Lay. The incriminating message read: "Last May, Lay convened a meeting of mostly conservative Los Angeles notables in a bid to preserve deregulation in California and quash a nascent public-power movement. Among those in attendance were Arnold Schwarzenegger, former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan (now the Republican front-runner for governor), and, yes, Riordan's old business buddy, Mike Milken."

[dutchdemocrat]

45. Nice link.

Thanks...

[dusty64]

46. What a surprise.

Wasn't Willie Brown the Mayor of San Francisco supposed to be leading the charge to recall ahnold? I read yesterday he's the token "liberal" on his transition team, WTF.

[Jack Rabbit]

47. Let's use our time wisely

Arnold hasn't been inaguarated yet and won't be for about another month. Our duty is to advocate against any placating of the corporate pirates before he has a chance to move.

Enron, Reliant, Duke etc. robbed me and my fellow Californians of billions. It was a crime. We are entitled to get it back with interest and damages.

Californians recalled Governor Davis in part because they were outraged at the tripling of auto registration fees. The voters want the politicians to solve the state's budget crisis some other way.

Why should they not also remain outraged at the tripling of utility bills through fraud? My bet is that the same people who pay taxes and didn't want their auto fees raised are the same people who don't want to pay higher utility rates in a dysfuctional market; they will want the politicians to find another way to deliver water and power than deregulation.

No California politician should be able to say "Enron" while smiling and survive. That includes Arnold.

[ignatius]

48. This IS an outrage and all Californians on this board should print

this along with the Palast articles,make copies and put them in bookstores,supermarkets,laundrymats,universities, coffeeshoppes,churches etc... anyplace people gather.

The meeting with Rove,M.Milken(the Drexel banker from the 80's who began the hostile takeover trend by using staggering amounts of corporate debt) and Arnold definitely had a master plan.

We had a discussion about this a few days ago on another thread. A fellow DU'er said that only the Attorney General, who is a democrat could withdraw the litigation and that can't happen. I pointed out that the word can't does not exist with this band of thieves. They will make an offer that can't be refused just like the mafia that they are.

Davis and Bustamante might not have the style and charisma of the Boobinator, but by God they had the guts to stand up to Enron and for that I salute them.

Arnold is bought and fucking paid for.

I suspect that the CA budget will now be made a priority by Bush and Rove, and just like in the 70's NYC budget crisis, the government will allow them to issue municipal debt with the government's backing in order to provide cash flow until solutions can be worked out.

There is nothing wrong with doing that, it does have precedence, but the hypocrisy is once again stuuning and that Bush and Co have basically told the states(of which 48 are in deficit) tough shit. and totally ignored Davis. Of course they needed a repig in office in order for this scam to work.

Letting Enron off the hook is disgraceful. Ken Lay may soon be able to buy his 4th Aspen home back.

Greedy,slimy,bastards who continue to loot our country unchecked thus raping us all with our eyes wide open.

[realFedUp]

49. Nothing about this in LA Times

Maybe we'll see it in seven weeks...

[tom_paine]

50. Yawn. As predictable as Stalin collectivizing the Kulaks

EZ payoff to the Busheviks.

Slam dunk.

The first candidate in the history of Amerika (including the time when it was America) to say absolutely NOTHING and win.

Nothing. Not one question answered, not one policy laid out.

Orwell was absolutely correct in what would happen.

He just was 17 years too early with his title.

[dutchdemocrat]

52. Bump

Bump

[benfranklin1776]

60. So true.

A completely content free campaign. The apotheosis of emptiness. "Don't worry I will tell you later" was his central refrain.
The electorate ignored this message of nothingness because the the candidate offered "strong leadership." The cult of authoritarian personality in full cancerous bloom.

[reprobate]

51. Hey, californians. You're no better than the rest of us americans.

They screwed you just like they screwed the rest of us, and there's no way back. The media is firmly in the grip of the neocons and the mutant capitalists, and nothing we do will get the word out to the sheeple, who don't care anyway as long as they can watch 'Survivor' and their soaps.

I said it in Jan 2001 and I'll say it again. The United States of America is over. May she rest in peace.

Even a democrat sweep in '04 won't change much because the corporations will still own the politicians and we won't count any more than we do now.

The rich will continue to amass wealth and the rest of us will continue to grow poorer and there's nothing short of a revolution that will change that. And I don't see a revolution happening when the sheeple are too stupid and uneducated to even recognize that the door they're being led thru is the slaughterhouse entrance.

Russias move to the euro will accelerate the slide and the wealthy won't be hurt at all, they'll just move to the euro themselves, while we are stuck with a dollar headed for the tank.

The only question in my mind is what country to move to. It's going to be brutal here.

[realFedUp]

53. kick

coz I think this is more important than Rush.

[dutchdemocrat]

54. Kick again

Yes more important than Rushgate.

[dutchdemocrat]

55. Kick

Bump

[agincourt]

58. He is aiding,

and abetting coporate larceny of the California state treasury. That shows some pretty low scruples because he's practically overseeing theft to be in good graces with GWB. Makes you wonder if there were women who weren't able to come forward.