Audrey Zibelman
On Friday, July 31, we emailed a letter to New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) Chairman Audrey Zibelman, asking her a series of questions that revolve primarily around her relationship with Edward Krapels.
Mr. Krapels is the founder of Anbaric Microgrid, a company that has billions of dollars of contracts pending before the PSC. He was also Ms. Zibelman’s founding partner at Viridity Energy, a privately-held, Pennsylvania-based company.
Ms. Zibelman resigned as chief executive officer of Viridity after she was chosen PSC chair by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo in 2013. However, according to Capital (now Politico), Viridity continued work on microgrid control panels for Anbaric. After questions were raised by a Newsday reporter in June, the website reference to the companies’ work together was eliminated, Zibelman cut all remaining ties with Viridity and abandoned her shares in the company.
Anbaric Projects
In February 2015, Zibelman met with Krapels about microgrids in New York state. Later, Ziebelman recused herself from a decision about a transmission line being developed by Anbaric, apparently seeking to avoid the appearance of conflict.
But Anbaric has two other, potentially lucrative projects pending before the PSC. So we asked Ms. Zibelman if she will recuse herself from all future decisions affecting Anbaric or any other company she is directly or indirectly affiliated with.
NY Code of Ethics
Because the New York Code of Ethics for public officers so clearly outlines the types of behavior and actions that can lead to improper conflicts, we sent our letter to the commissioner to ensure that she is upholding the highest standards of public integrity. The Code states:
“No officer or employee of a state agency, member of the legislature or legislative employee should disclose confidential information acquired by him in the course of his official duties nor use such information to further his personal interests.”
“. . . state employees should not give reasonable basis for the impression that any person can improperly influence them or be favored in the performance of official duties. Further, state employees should not pursue a course of conduct which could raise suspicion that they are engaged in acts that are a violation of trust.”
We also called upon Ms. Zibelman to disclose whether she received an ethics opinion from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and, if so, to release that opinion to the public.
Read the entire letter here.
We look forward to Chairman Zibelman’s response.
Scott Peterson is executive director of the Checks and Balances Project, a national watchdog that seeks to hold government officials, lobbyists and corporate management accountable to the public. Funding for C&BP comes from pro-clean energy philanthropies and donors.
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