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Power struggle Democratic spokesman threatens legal action against reporter over tell-all book Bill Forman Steve Maviglio had his hands full this month, disseminating the California Democratic point of view on Secretary of State Kevin Shelley’s resignation. But Maviglio, who serves as deputy chief of staff for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, also was dealing with a controversy of his own--albeit more privately. Off the Record, a political tell-all tome by former Dow Jones reporter Jason Leopold, opens with a less-than-flattering portrayal of Maviglio during his time as press secretary for Gray Davis. On January 27, Maviglio’s lawyer sent a letter to...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

<p>LOS ANGELES -- A California state senator will file a lawsuit Wednesday to void all the state's long-term electricity contracts based on an energy consultant's alleged conflict of interest, said a spokesman for Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks.</p> <p>The lawsuit, which will be filed in state superior court in Pasadena, will claim that Vikram Budhraja violated California's government code when he helped negotiate on behalf of the government $43 billion in power contracts last year while being paid a consulting retainer by Edison International (EIX), McClintock spokesman John Stoos said Tuesday.</p>

<p>A state agency -- not the individuals working for it -- was fined $69,500 Thursday for filing late potential conflict-of-interest statements during last year's electricity crisis.</p> <p>In a decision Secretary of State Bill Jones called "an outrage and an affront to the taxpayers," the California Fair Political Practices Commission levied its first-ever fine against another state agency -- the Department of Water Resources -- for violating the state's Political Reform Act.</p>

<p>A funny thing happened to Gov. Gray Davis' effort to paint GOP rival Bill Simon as an extremist nut bag.</p> <p>Davis opened his mouth.</p> <p>This is what he told the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board last week.</p> <p>Davis said of the energy crisis: "This is like a war. This is worse than being in Vietnam. This is a full-out war against me."</p>

<p>They were late filing papers that showed interests in power firms.</p> <p>The state Department of Water Resources has acknowledged that it violated state ethics laws when it hired consultants to help California cope with the energy crisis last year, and has agreed to pay $69,500 in fines.</p>

<p>Gov. Gray Davis has appointed a former president of Southern California Edison to a state panel charged with regulating Edison and other public utilities.</p> <p>Davis said Michael R. Peevey would bring "more than three decades of experience" to the Public Utilities Commission -- experience that immediately came under fire from the state's consumer groups.</p>

SACRAMENTO – The three main Republican candidates for governor want to push forward with a corrected version of electricity deregulation, but only businessman Bill Simon advocates something like deregulation in its purest form. Polls show that most Californians think Gov. Gray Davis mishandled the problem created by the failed deregulation plan, allowing the utilities to run up huge debts that resulted in the state stepping in to buy power for utility customers. But instead of just responding to criticism from the Republican candidates, Davis is trying to turn the electricity issue to his advantage by warning that the Republican candidates ...

In December 2000, the Los Angeles Times asked California's chief energy regulator, Loretta Lynch, why the state was preventing utilities from locking in predictable prices for power. "You can't just allow any contract," she explained. Spot prices for power might drop, the California Public Utility Commission reasoned, and then fixed-price contracts would mean higher prices for consumers. One company, PG&E, ended up filing for bankruptcy after spot power prices increased for months on end. With PG&E bankrupt and other utilities too broke to buy power last winter, the state stepped in to become the main purchaser of electricity for ...

PG&E Corp. Moves to Dismiss Attorney General's Lawsuit SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) today filed a motion in the Northern District U.S. Bankruptcy Court to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the Corporation by the California Attorney General. The Corporation said the attorney general's complaint illegally interferes with the court's supervision of Pacific Gas and Electric Company's plan of reorganization process and illegally seeks to punish PG&E Corporation for co-sponsoring the plan of reorganization. The attorney general's complaint alleges that PG&E Corporation and its directors made improper use of the Bankruptcy Court by virtue of PG&E ...

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Top executives of Global Crossing, the telecommunications company whose collapse has led to the nation's fourth-largest bankruptcy, showered more than $350,000 on California politicians and causes in the last three years, state records show.</p> <p>Of that total, $145,000 went to Gov. Gray Davis in that period. That included a $100,000 contribution by Global Crossing Co-Chairman Gary Winnick to Davis in August 2000.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) -- A California Senate committee, convinced that bankrupt energy giant Enron has destroyed financial documents under legislative subpoena, voted Tuesday to seek criminal charges against the company for concealing evidence and conspiracy.</p> <p>Committee members also voted to ask the full Senate to find Enron in contempt of two legislative subpoenas -- one issued in June seeking documents related to California's energy market and the other for testimony about destruction of documents.</p>

Perhaps nothing underscores the degree to which a link between Enron Corp. and the California power crisis has been ignored as a moment during a congressional hearing this week. Former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was describing the company's condition as of last spring. Enron, he said, faced "terrible problems" because California's electricity crisis had been "solved." Within a few months, of course, Enron's problems exploded. The reaction to Skilling's comment? Silence. No one on the panel explored why good news for California might have meant bad news for Enron, or vice versa. The silence added to the frustration of California ...

Brit Hume just had a report on "Special Report" about Gray Davis (California governor) taking over $119,000 from Enron, more than anyone in Congress! He showed a clip of Dim-bulb getting grilled by reporters on the State Capitol steps, and he was losing his temper as he stated that he has stopped taking contributions from energy companies since he became governor. He refuses to return the money.

<p>Gov. Gray Davis during a television interview Friday acknowledged meeting with then-Enron CEO Kenneth Lay last year during the state's energy crisis, but said that he ignored his advice.</p> <p>During a broadcast of the PBS show "Now With Bill Moyers," Davis said he met with Lay over several months at the request of the Clinton and Bush administrations.</p>

The bankruptcy of Two of America's Largest Energy Companies in 8 Months In all the charges and countercharges, accusations of fraud and name-calling that is going on about the bankruptcy of Enron, it puzzles me that almost no one in the media is talking about the fact that it is the SECOND major American power company to declare bankruptcy recently. Pacific Gas and Electric in California, which employed 18,400 people and provided electric power to 4.5 million people filed for bankruptcy on April 2, 2001. Enron, which buys power on the supposedly "deregulated" market and sells it, has fewer transmission ...

Transmission lines What the end user needs to know about transmission The wholesale electricity and transmission industry has changed dramatically in the past several years and will continue to evolve as transmission owners seek to comply with federal orders urging the development and consolidation of competitive wholesale markets. The emerging concept called the regional transmission organization (RTO) is the foundation for continued change. Historically, the public has not been overly concerned with the status of the U.S. wholesale transmission market. However, when wholesale electricity markets are marked by price spikes, supply shortages, and reliability concerns, as was recently the case ...

Sacramento TV Station KCRA is doing a poll on Deomnrat Gray Davis' job performance. It's under the story about Davis' State of the State address tonight. VOTE

Enron is likely to move from the business pages to the front pages the more that the capital scrutinizes the largest corporate bankruptcy in history. And lawmakers and regulators are sure to look very closely indeed. At least four congressional committees, the Justice and Labor Departments and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating. This is on top of the many corporate inquiries that are ongoing. Washington is also bracing for political fall-out. And that could end up being quite extensive. The imbroglio could turn into a political scandal for the Bush administration. Enron and its chairman, Ken Lay, are ...

12/29 11:15 Politicians Return Enron Donations Ahead of Finger Pointing By Holly Rosenkrantz and William Roberts Washington, Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Republican and Democratic campaign committees are returning or giving away $200,000 in contributions from Enron Corp. in a signal that both parties expect the company's collapse to become a political issue. The National Republican Senatorial Committee gave back a $100,000 gift from Enron last month. ``We just decided that with all their financial troubles it was best to return it,'' Dan Allen, a spokesman for the committee, said. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is giving $100,000 it received from ...

SACRAMENTO -- Desperate to stabilize California's energy supplies, state officials last May hired Livermore energy consultant Mark Baldwin to develop the state's natural gas reserves. Baldwin's work is now proving controversial: He helped arrange a gas storage contract between the state and one of his private clients, in possible violation of conflict-of-interest law. The state's contract with Wild Goose Storage is relatively small, just $256,000. But it raises -- perhaps more clearly than any other case that has surfaced -- the larger question of whether California did enough to ensure the independence of private consultants such as Baldwin when it ...

September 01, 1997 THE WHITE HOUSE THAT INVISIBLE MACK SURE CAN LEAVE HIS MARK BY MICHAEL WEISSKOPF/WASHINGTON Time Magazine In Part: For a man who had supposedly vanished from the corridors of power, MACK MCLARTY was the man to see in 1996. BILL CLINTON's former chief of staff, now a White House counselor tucked away in the basement, provided assistance to businessmen who ponied up $1.5 million for the Democrats in the last election. On Nov. 22, 1995, for example, Clinton scrawled an FYI note to McLarty, enclosing a newspaper article on Enron Corp. and the vicissitudes of its $3 ...

December 9, 2001 After Enron's Failure, Should Calpine Investors Worry? By GRETCHEN MORGENSON The Associated PressGov. Gray Davis of California, left, and Peter Cartwright, Calpine's chief executive, at a new power plant in Yuba City last summer. Calpine is a Wall Street favorite, but it shows some similarities to Enron. Get Stock QuotesLook Up Symbols &nbsp; Portfolio&nbsp;|&nbsp; Company ResearchU.S. Markets&nbsp;|&nbsp; Int. MarketsMutual Funds&nbsp;|&nbsp; Bank RatesCommodities &amp; Currencies The New York Times s the Enron Corporation (news/quote) collapsed, filing for bankruptcy protection exactly one week ago, companies that had done business with the fallen giant or that had emulated its ...

<p>Allegations of bribery and attempts at extortion (public policy for money) are now coming out after years of efforts by Gray Davis to have them squashed.</p>

<p>It was one of the great fantasies of American business: a deregulated market that would send cheaper and more reliable supplies of electricity coursing into homes and offices across the nation.</p> <p>But look what's happened instead. Enron Corp., the vast energy trader at the center of the new freewheeling U.S. power markets, now faces collapse amid a blizzard of questionable financial deals. And California, the first big state to deregulate its electricity market, has watched its experiment turn into a disaster, with intermittent blackouts and retail power rates as much as 40% higher than they were a year ago.</p>

LOS ANGELES -(Dow Jones)- At least one executive at California's grid operator was told last April that state power-buying practices now under investigation could be a problem, but chose not to look into the matter, documents and interviews with the parties show. As well, those sources indicate the California Independent System Operator ordered a low-cost power plant to reduce its output as early as last April, when the state was still experiencing staged power alerts. The revelations highlight concerns about the relationship between the ISO, which is run by a board appointed by Gov. Gray Davis, and the California ...

<p>There's plenty, and more, to preoccupy California voters right now. Terrorist attacks, a sour economy and the energy crisis - issues that didn't exist two years ago. But in the tumult of election-year politics, an old issue is resurfacing with a vengeance - Gov. Gray Davis' fund raising.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO -- The consulting firm advising the state on electricity purchases recommended that the state buy about $35 billion in power from private companies the consultant also represented.</p> <p>Navigant Consulting Co.'s clients included Dynegy, Calpine Corp., Mirant Corp., Sempra Energy and Williams Energy. All have signed long-term power contracts with California since January, when Navigant was hired as a consultant for the state's power-buying agency.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO -- The California Power Authority abruptly terminated a $1 million contract with the state's top energy consulting firm following questions of a potential conflict and concern that the contract was not competitively bid.</p> <p>The agency halted the contract Friday evening with Navigant Consulting Co., said Laura Doll, the Power Authority's executive director. The decision was contained in a letter to Navigant's contract manager.</p>

Posted at 7:09 a.m. PST Friday, Nov. 16, 2001 Davis accepts $50,000 donations from two energy companies LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two energy companies each donated $25,000 to Gov. Gray Davis' re-election campaign during a recent trip to the East Coast, it was reported Friday. Campaign finance reports show that Davis accepted the contributions from Caithness Energy of New York and Florida-based FPL Energy. Both firms are independent energy producers that sell electricity in California and are involved in construction of new power plants, the Los Angeles Times reported. Davis defended the decision even though he had promised he ...

<p>Sacramento -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Thursday that his office found no criminal wrongdoing by energy advisers hired by the state last year to ease the power crisis.</p> <p>Lockyer had been investigating whether any of the consultants hired to help sign long-term energy contracts also had a stake in the companies the state was negotiating with.</p>

Ethics: The firm paid a retainer of $100,000 or more last year to former executive who helped negotiate power pacts. SACRAMENTO -- The parent company of Southern California Edison paid $100,000 or more last year to a former executive who has done no work for the company but has helped negotiate long-term electricity contracts for California power buyers, according to state records and Edison officials. The former executive, Vikram Budhraja, said Edison International agreed to pay him a retainer of at least $100,000 a year when he resigned as a Southern California Edison senior vice president in January 2000....