Utility intervenor has message about elected officials
l3wis This isn’t coming from your average Joe but a seasoned bureaucrat;
Wegman then headed back to the PUC as an analyst in the early 2000s. He has since retired but still does consulting work in renewable energy. He said his time in Pierre taught him an important lesson about elected officials.
“The only thing that matters to an elected official is that the public marks the box on the ballot,” Wegman said. “The unfortunate part is that no one follows up with those officials’ performance.”
He also touches on who butters the bread;
Wegman said the public should be aware that utility companies work hard to build relationships with elected regulators – for example, by sponsoring the Governor’s Hunt to get themselves invited, or hosting a dinner for the commission and lawmakers during the legislative session.
“Rule number one in business is that in order to have a relationship with the other party, you have to have a personal relationship,” Wegman said. “And that’s what those are. It is the company building a personal relationship with a commissioner. Whether they want to admit it or not, that’s what is happening.”
In this political climate it is either get involved or suffer the consequences because as we have seen locally with the 6th Street Bunker Bridge, the proposed mural and Sustainability Plan the ones in charge only listen to one audience, and it ain’t us.
