The commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Service defended himself Thursday against charges that he stripped self-critical language from a report submitted last month to the legislature.
Speaking in a crowded Statehouse committee room filled with energy activists and industry lobbyists, DPS Commissioner Chris Recchia said he made “no apologies for the process used, the resulting content or the recommendations ultimately presented” in a report addressing whether his department adequately represented ratepayers.
Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) had called Recchia before the Senate Finance Committee to address a recent Vermont Public Radio story suggesting that Recchia had overruled his staff in order to mute recommendations from the department’s critics. Quoting report drafts and emails obtained through public records requests, VPR’s Taylor Dobbs reported that the commissioner had removed reform recommendations after taking charge of the report.
Though DPS is charged with representing the public interest in the energy and telecommunications arenas, critics have long charged that it actually represents the views of the governor who appoints the department’s commissioner. Among the recommendations scrubbed from the report were those that sought to shield DPS’ public advocacy staff from political pressure.
Recchia told committee members that nothing “nefarious” had occurred in what he called a standard, if “messy and complicated” editing process, and he alleged that his department’s actions were “taken out of context” by the station. Calling his release of early drafts an “unprecedented” show of transparency, he urged the senators to avoid reading too much into what did — and didn’t — make it into the final cut.
“I think we all are, or need to be, mature enough to say, ‘This is how discussions and debate in an open society occur,'” Recchia said. “And if you want these documents and all to be transparent, better get used to the idea that there’s going to be some disagreements, and there’s not going to be a clear line from point A to point B.”
Elaborating to reporters after the hearing, Recchia said that VPR “came into the story with a particular bias” and ignored “lots of other evidence that could have been looked at to paint a completely different picture.”
“There was a preconceived desire to describe a particular scenario,” he said. “And I think, from the same data, one could reach multiple other scenarios that would have been more accurate.”
VPR news director John Dillon disputed that conclusion.
“I respect the commissioner’s viewpoint, but we did not come to the story with a preconceived idea,” he said. “We’ve posted many of the documents on our website and readers can judge for themselves.”
Recchia’s report came in response to legislation passed last year requesting an evaluation of “the pros and cons of various forms of ratepayer advocate offices.” Ashe, who drafted that legislation, said Thursday that his committee would look not only at DPS’ final report but at the earlier staff recommendations that were ultimately rejected.
“A number of us are already concerned that we need to be a little bit more aggressive on the ratepayer advocacy front,” he said.
After the hearing, during which senators took no action, Ashe said he had no reason to doubt Recchia’s story.
“When a person comes to the end of the table and tells us that he or she is telling the truth and giving an accurate representation of events, I am always inclined to believe the person is telling the truth,” he said, adding that only department staff members knew the exact nature of the process. “I’m going to take the commissioner at face value, but know we still have to do work on the ratepayer advocacy front.”
Disclosure: Tim Ashe is the domestic partner of Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly.
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Here’s the video of the testimony https://youtu.be/fY64eWVqhHI. One of the items deleted from the draft report was siting. Senators did not ask him about it, but he referenced it saying they have dealt with siting in other reports. No, they haven’t, and the issue is raging in the Senate right now. The recommendation that was deleted noted that the Office of Public Advocacy is spending a lot of time on small generation facilities mostly on aesthetics. I testified to the same committee on Tuesday and said that the legalistic PSB process is an inefficient way to address screening of solar panels. The deleted section said if DPS attorneys didn’t do that work, it would free them up to focus on ratepayer and other issues related to their mandated role. The deleted section discussed the statutory regime and questioned whether the legislature ever intended the DPS OPA to be doing work on aesthetics. Recchia said the deleted sections were not related to structural issues. The siting section was absolutely a structural issue, and that recommendation is relevant to the conversations taking place in the statehouse. I brought this to the attention of the Senate Finance Committee members prior to the hearing. Not one of them asked about the deletion of the siting section. I do not know who these Senators are representing, but the more I see of them up close, the more I believe they are not representing the people.
The first thing Recchia did in his testimony was blame his staff, and next he blamed VPR. The Senators did a poor job in questioning him and holding him accountable.
Chris Reccia, his staff, and all Vermont legislators need to see the new documentary film titled “This Changes Everything”, narrated by Naomi Klein. It very powerfully shows the real impact of large energy projects, and their effects on local populations and real democracy. It is a must-see film.
Too bad Recchia doesn’t have to take an oath before testifying before the state legislature. The evidence revealed by media outlets like seven days makes the truthfulness of his testimony highly questionable at best.
No apology? Well of course not. No honor, no integrity, and no apology. Thank you Senator Ashe for addressing this critical issue. Cost passed along to ratepayers is a very big issue! Climate change is a YUGE issue. PSB is a dismal failure.
So as I understand it, Wayne Jortner wrote the report and submitted it in a timely fashion to Chris Recchia. Geoff Common, the director of public advocacy, told the staff that Recchia was going to take it over. Recchia tells the committee he needs another week to issue the report.
Players and timeline established.
Now Recchia takes the report and removes all pertinent information and suggestions, including any reference to the fracked gas pipeline. When this report comes into question, Recchia blames his staff. Pointing his finger at Jortner.
Jortner asked to include the comments from the public and Attorney Jim Dumont. Recchia did not. Recchia now says that was a mistake.
Well that is not the only mistake made. In Recchia’s own words: ” I believe it is high time for the legislature to re-examine whether ratepayer advocacy should be directed by a person who is appointed by the Governor, serves at the pleasure of the Governor, and, in my experience over the past 26 years, in some major cases has been ordered or strongly urged to make decisions based on the wishes of the Governor without regard to the expertise and opinions of the professional staff and lawyers within the Department.”
It seems as this entire process has been a sham, including lawmakers directing the Department of Public Service to perform a so-called self-assessment. It appears that NO ONE represents the people any longer, including those whom we elect. I guess the money that our lawmakers get from lobbyist and utilities is far more important than caring whether ratepayers and landowners are being screwed. Many people participated in the focus groups to provide input on how the current approach is broken. Many of these folks also provided well thought out recommendations on how things could be improved. It appears that DPS never had any intent to consider any input whatsoever. It was all for show. This is a very sad day for Vermonters.
Well, this is a little like asking the weasel if he really did bite the head off that chicken. Of course he’s going to deny it! The real question is, why would you let that weasel into the hen house in the first place? Recchia is slick. He’s a fast talker. He seems so mild mannered and like he’s such a nice guy. He lies really really well..especially for his boss. Maybe it is Shumlin who should be answering these questions.
VPR posted the documents from the DPS public records request. There are 9 pages and you have to click on each one individually. I downloaded them and uploaded them, you can click on this link http://we.tl/hbAYFIrUHs and more than 200 documents will download at one time. The link is good for 7 days.
Original VPR story which should be listened to again after reading this article:
http://digital.vpr.net/post/public-service…
Decide for yourself. The only thing that politicians fear is an informed, educated, engaged public. Be informed. Get engaged.
And here is where the dance first began on this issue back when VPR first reported on it on February 26 of this year (story and audio at link):
http://digital.vpr.net/post/public-service…
VPR is doing an excellent job in keeping the public informed on this and related matters and one hopes that the spotlight will continue to be shined on what is going on at DPS by Seven Days and VPR. Thank you 4th Estate on a commendable job. Do not let the finger pointing of those feeling the heat dissuade you. They blame their staff, they blame the press. That says it all.