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.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. We are led in Sioux Falls and South Dakota by corporate spokesmen and not genuine political leaders.
AND, also remember, that the only difference between a corporatist and a communist is that the latter has a standing army.
( and Woodstock adds: “Well, I’ve said it many times to you VSG….. Corporatists actually do have a standing army, and they’re those crazed fundamentalists, who are enablers to the corporatist agenda in the name of “liberty”, and are just waiting for the next Crusade”… :-))
Remember when Kristie Fiegen was running for the PUC and used the Xcel Energy plane for her travels because she had access as a Board member?
When Democrats in South Dakota were no longer competitive with PUC races was the canary in the coal mine for the SDDP’s relevance.
South Dakota used to elect pro consumer individuals to the PUC. Today, South Dakota elects corporate spokesmen, or apologists, to the PUC.
Given the Biden foreplay toward electric vehicles and clean energy, utilities are in the right place to become a new other than oil power. Get ready for billion dollar power company CEO’s. Power is different. Oil was private worldwide business. Power is federal. There’s gonna be some wealthy congressmen. Keep your gas powered vehicle. Gas will be cheaper and available anywhere for road trips while airlines go bankrupt. You’ll save the huge investment to install a special plug into your garage. Your Trump Grump neighbors will label you conservation defiant. Wheninfact, lower (less demand) gas prices make you (not rich but) solvent.