PDA

View Full Version : Conway asks for extension until AUGUST (post Fancy Farm) to file disclosure form




sailingaway
06-14-2010, 01:05 PM
http://www.marioncountyline.com/2010/06/conway-stall.html

It sounds like Rand's has been out for some time. When was the deadline for these? What do they cover?

Hmm... this is an interesting internal link: http://www.news-expressky.com/articles/2010/06/12/news/01experts.txt

In part:


. " One of the keys for the Attorney General’s office’s representation in the cases is to have expert witnesses to examine a utility’s needs in relation to its request.

In an interview in January, Conway told the News-Express that he was seeking ways to hire an expert witness in the Kentucky Power case, but budget cuts were serving as a block.

“We’re fighting at a time when our budget’s been cut 26 percent, and I literally can’t find the money to pay for expert witness fees right now,” he said. “It’s a huge problem.”

During the interview, Conway also proposed that he was examining the possibility of hiring an expert beginning in May or June, so the expert wouldn’t have to be paid until the 2010-2011 budget.

While Conway eventually did just that in the LG&E and KU cases, no expert witness was ever hired in the Kentucky Power case.

Shelley Johnson, a spokesperson for Conway’s office, said this week that the reason that no expert was hired in the Kentucky Power case because of timing.

“The Kentucky Power case fell during a time when expert witness fees had been exhausted and bills would have been due this fiscal year,” she said. “The Office of the Attorney General intervened in the cases to help fight rate increases. Other intervenors in these cases were able to offer expert witness testimony on behalf of ratepayers before the Public Service Commission.”

Johnson also said that although no experts were hired, Conway’s office did intervene in the case on behalf of ratepayers.

“Through our intervention and by working with the counsel for KIUC, we were able to shave nearly $60 million off of Kentucky Power’s proposed rate increase as part of a settlement agreement that is pending before the PSC.”

In the weeks leading up to the May primary, in which Conway defeated Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Mongiardo filed an ethics complaint against Conway, questioning his involvement in rate increases, while being connected to the companies asking for the rate increases.

In a statement issued by Mongiardo’s campaign, the lieutenant governor alleged that Conway violated ethics laws in several instances, including:


Approving rate increases for Atmos Energy, while investing millions in Kinder Morgan, a natural gas company which is a business partner with Atmos.

Approving, in January 2009, a $22 million negotiated rate increase for LG&E, after receiving thousands in campaign donations from LG&E executives and registered lobbyists.

Soliciting and/or accepting nearly $10,000 in campaign contributions from executives and registered lobbyists with Atmos Energy, and having as much as $5 million invested in Kinder Morgan.

Attending and accepting campaign contributions at a fundraiser hosted by registered lobbyists of LG&E and KU, while the rate increases currently under consideration are pending.
Campaign finance reports show that Conway also has received campaign contributions directly from AEP in the past.

According to records with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance and Federal Election Commission, Conway received $2,000 total from American Electric Power and AEP’s political action committee, Committee for Responsible Government.

The political action committee also donated $1,000 to Conway in his failed 2002 bid for a U.S. House seat.

Johnson answered, “no” when asked if those contributions had any bearing on the involvement of the Attorney General’s office in the Kentucky Power case.

Officials with the U.S. Senate Office of Public Records said Conway has not yet filed a financial disclosure, and has asked for an extension to August to file the required disclosure documentation.

Despite the questions over the involvement of the Attorney General’s office, one party which didn’t agree to the settlement continues to maintain the bigger problem is in the impact the rate hikes will have, particularly on residential and small commercial customers.

Steve Sanders, director of the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, and who is representing the Pike County Senior Citizens Programs Inc., said in an interview this week, and a brief filed in the rate case last week, that the rate increase disproportionately passes the increase onto Kentucky Power’s smaller customers. "