Columbia University President Asked to Compel Global Center on Energy Policy to Divulge Funding

Posted by & filed under Investigations, Fossil Fuel Lobby, Posts, Think Tank.

Support by ExxonMobil Spurs Questions by Climate, Clean Energy, and Divestment Groups   Today, Checks and Balances Project and representatives of seven allied organizations sent a letter to Columbia University President Dr. Lee Bollinger, asking that he compel Jason Bordoff, founding director of Columbia’s Global Center on Energy Policy, to release the names of the… Read more »

California Official Denies Lobbying by Arizona Hired Gun

Posted by & filed under TOP STORIES, Arizona, California, Home Page Categories, Posts, States, Captured Regulators.

California Official Denies Lobbying by Arizona Anti-Rooftop Solar Hired Gun   Lon Huber was special projects advisor for RUCO, the Residential Utility Consumer Office of Arizona, when, in 2013, he proposed a new kind of fee to Chairman Bob Stump of the Arizona Corporation Commission. Huber’s idea was a “fixed charge on every solar customer’s bill.” It would become the nation’s first monthly utility fee for customers who… Read more »

ASU Foundation’s $100,000 Gift is an Outlier Among University Foundations

Posted by & filed under TOP STORIES, Arizona, Home Page Categories, Posts, States.

ASU Foundation’s $100,000 Gift is an Outlier Among University Foundations APS Foundation granted $181,100 to the Arizona State University Foundation in 2013. As is well known by now, later that same year, ASU Foundation donated $100,000 to Save Our Future Now, a dark money electoral group that was one of the largest contributors to the elections of Arizona Corporation Commissioners Doug Little and Tom Forese…. Read more »

Fossil Fuel Mouthpiece Robert Bryce at it Again

Posted by & filed under TOP STORIES, Home Page Categories, Fossil Fuel Lobby, Posts, Pundit Masquerade.

American Wind Energy Association Calls Out Fossil Fuel Mouthpiece Robert Bryce Several years ago, Checks and Balances Project confronted top clean energy denier, serial misleader, and fossil fuel mouthpiece Robert Bryce about his fossil fuel funding. Bryce is pretending to be a journalist and a scholar, not telling readers of his pieces that he is financially connected to the fossil fuel lobby. That’s something the New York Times… Read more »

Next Steps in the Investigation of Commissioner Stump’s Text Messages

Posted by & filed under Arizona, Posts, States, Captured Regulators.

Next Steps in Investigation of Commissioner Stump’s Text Messages Last week, we agreed to the appointment of former Judge David Cole to serve as a Special Master to review the thousands of text messages found on Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump’s iPhone. On the same day as the announcement by Attorney General Brnovich about Corporation Commission Chair Susan Bitter Smith, we were briefed by… Read more »

Is Nevada Public Utilities Commissioner David Noble Evading Release of Public Records?

Posted by & filed under TOP STORIES, Home Page Categories, Posts, States, Captured Regulators, Nevada.

Kerschner Commissioner David Noble and the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) legal staff are stalling the release of public records owned by Nevada taxpayers. Three months ago, on August 25, 2015, we submitted a request using the Nevada Public Records Act that asks to see records of Nevada PUC Commissioner David Noble’s meetings and communications with… Read more »

Thousands of Texts Found on Commissioner Stump’s iPhone

Posted by & filed under TOP STORIES, Arizona, Home Page Categories, Posts, States, Captured Regulators.

Thousands of Texts Found on Commissioner Stump’s iPhone In response to our lawsuit on Oct. 28, 2015,  a spokesman for the Arizona Attorney General’s office told both Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services and Laurie Roberts of The Arizona Republic that AG investigators have found “thousands of texts” on Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump’s iPhone 5. This is another blow to the credibility of the… Read more »

Checks and Balances Project Files Lawsuit for Access to Commissioner Bob Stump’s Taxpayer-Funded Phone

Posted by & filed under TOP STORIES, Home Page Categories, Posts, Captured Regulators, Statements.

Checks and Balances Project Files Lawsuit for Access to Commissioner Bob Stump’s Taxpayer-Funded Phone   October 28, 2015 – Checks and Balances Project (C&BP) announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) that demands immediate access to public records on Commissioner Bob Stump’s taxpayer-funded smartphone. The Complaint for Special Action was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court. “The… Read more »

Clean-energy group questions regulators’ letters that oppose APS campaign disclosures

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Excerpt from The Arizona Republic (10/26/15): “Clean-energy group questions regulators’ letters that oppose APS campaign disclosures“: A clean-energy group wants to know if two Arizona utility regulators got help from Arizona Public Service Co. in writing letters that oppose forcing the company to disclose what it spent on last year’s election campaigns… The executive director of the… Read more »

Roberts: Why is Bob Stump shocked?

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Excerpt from The Arizona Republic (10/12/15): “Roberts: Why is Bob Stump shocked?” For most of this year,[C&BP] has been after Stump’s text messages – the ones he sent during last year’s campaign to an APS executive, to a dark-money group believed to have been funded by APS and to Doug Little and Tom Forese, the commission… Read more »