(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Will Montanans find themselves in the dark again? – Daily Montanan [1] ['More From Author', 'August', 'Russell Rowland'] Date: 2023-08-15 In Kimberly Reed’s excellent 2018 documentary “Dark Money,” about the battle to keep corporate money out of Montana politics, there’s a painful sequence just after the Citizens United decision, when then-Attorney General Steve Bullock loses his case for a last ditch effort to maintain Montana’s standing as the only state left in the union which doesn’t allow corporations to make unlimited political donations. Politicians and citizens from both sides of the aisle lament this loss, which did away with a 100-year-old Montana law inspired by the Copper Kings efforts to buy elections. But then we meet James Brown, a lawyer from Helena, who smugly revels in the decision, saying, “I don’t believe that there’s too much money in politics, or that it should be limited.” He goes on to make the connection between free speech and corporations being able to donate unlimited funds. I’m a novelist, so I’m used to seeing narratives that are hard to follow, but even I have a hard time seeing the connection between point A to point B in that logic. Brown also laments the evils of regulation, claiming that ‘people are crying out that we need the government to regulate our ability to think,’ another flimsy claim that defies logic. There is a poetic moment later in the film when Brown becomes completely tongue-tied when confronted with the fact that one of his clients is among the legislators implicated in a serious breech of campaign financing rules. Thanks to a discovery of three boxes of incriminating material found in a crack house in Colorado (speaking of novels, this is a classic case of the truth being stranger than fiction), the state election commission uncovered a multi-million dollar scheme, funded by mysterious outside sources, that targeted undesirable candidates in the closing weeks of campaigns. “Democratic candidates?” you ask, assuming exactly as I would. But no, they went after Republicans who weren’t voting like the party leaders wanted. The Senate Majority leader at the time, Art Wittich, who at one point during the Senate session, warns “the worm will turn,” eventually found he worm turning right toward him when he was convicted of accepting illegal campaign contributions. So it’s troubling to note that Brown is now the president of the Montana Public Service Commission, a government agency which has the difficult task of monitoring the utility companies of Montana. Because most of these companies are monopolies, the commission determines whether they are making enough money to provide their services without overcharging the consumers. So it makes me nervous that a man who is so blatantly biased toward corporations should be trusted to oversee the interests of Montana consumers, especially when you learn how this commission operates. About a year ago, Northwestern Energy proposed a rate hike at the PSC. This set in motion a process that is fairly straightforward but also time-consuming. Any entity that wants to intervene in the case, either for or against this rate increase, files a petition. The commission reviews these requests, and once they decide which petitions to approve, those entities prepare for a hearing, where each organization will present expert witnesses, and also question and cross examine the utility about the necessity for the increase and how they plan to spend the money. In this case, they approved 15 entities, from the Montana Consumer Council to Walmart, so for the past eight months, these organizations spent millions of dollars preparing their cases, interviewing experts, compiling data. As with most such government processes, no matter how well intentioned, there are flaws in this system, and here’s one of the biggest: At any point in this process, any of these entities can propose a settlement to the commission. And if enough of these entities decide to settle, the focus of the discussion shifts from the rate increase to the settlement. Ken Toole, who served on the commission, says that what often happens at this point in the process is that people get so overwhelmed that they don’t have the energy to pursue the matter any further. It’s just too much work. So they settle. But here’s the second flaw, which is the most troubling. If the commission decides to settle, they determine a rate increase, and all information about what that money is intended for, and explanations for the increase, are filed away in a metaphorical Black Box, never to be revealed to the public. All transparency, all accountability is gone. So for instance, in this case, we will never know Northwestern Energy’s explanation for building a $300 million plant in Laurel. Nor the opportunity to hear experts determine whether this plant is viable. The proposed increase that Northwestern Energy has presented is a whopping 28 percent for the average consumer, which makes you wonder how efficiently this company is run. In one of the discussions about this rate hike, one of the commissioners stated, “Well that’s only about the price of a couple dozen eggs, so it’s really not that bad,” a strong indication of how out of touch these people can be about life for the average consumer in Montana, where people are often making the choice between paying utilities and buying food. Twenty-eight percent for a senior citizen in Montana, on top of the proposed property tax increase, and the 9% increase the commission just approved from MDU, is just the kind of burden that the average middle-class Montanan is not equipped to handle. So here’s the good news. The decision on this matter is not due for a couple more weeks. There is still time to demand that these people hear what you have to say. At the moment, all five commissioners belong to the party that went to bed with corporate money just a few years ago. At the least, we deserve an explanation for this rate hike. Otherwise, one way or another, Montanans will once again find themselves in the dark. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/08/15/will-montanans-find-themselves-in-the-dark-again/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/