Let the Debate Begin

PSC Candidates Toole and Taylor Face off on Deregulation

By Kate Downen, 6-15-06

Democrat Ken Toole has challenged his Public Service Commission opponent, Republican Mike Taylor, to a series of nine debates before voters hit the polls in November. Toole and Taylor face off in PSC District 5 for a position that covers six western Montana counties and includes the towns of Kalispell, Helena, Polson and Ronan.

Both PSC candidates are banking on Montana's utility deregulation as a clutch campaign issue.

You remember deregulation: It brought the state from having some of the lowest consumer energy prices to the highest consumer energy prices. Back in 1997, with little debate or study, the Montana Legislature voted for it. On the heels of the vote, once-mighty Montana Power dropped out of energy production at the urging of its adviser, Goldman Sachs, to build a fiber-optic telecommunications company that came to be called Touch America Holdings Inc.

In the aftermath of the Internet and telecom implosion, the company died a noisy and well-publicized death while Goldman Sachs walked away with close to $20 million in fees. Thousands of Montanans who put their retirement holdings into Montana Power and stayed the course were left with nothing.

If deregulation is the candidates' hot-button issue, let’s have a look at where they stand:

Toole, a state senator and unabashed progressive, has always been an active opponent of deregulation.

Taylor might do well, however, to look for other campaign-defining issues. During 1997’s infamous electric utility deregulation bill, Taylor, then a state senator, gave deregulation the thumbs up in first and second voting rounds, and then voted against it on the final, recorded vote. Toole was on the floor predicting disaster for consumers and trying to round up votes to halt the deregulation bill. Taylor was quiet until the ceremonial final vote when he switched sides to the 'nays.'

As for Toole’s proposed debates, Taylor seems to be biting, but thinks nine confrontations is too many. "The public deserves some debate, but it's too idealistic to think we're going to interest that many people in that many debates," Taylor told the Billings Gazette.

Toole asserts that “Public debates are the best way for voters to get the information they need to make an informed choice in political campaigns...the influence of big money and advertising has corrupted our political process. I know Mike has lots of money and he has said he is willing to spend a good amount on this race. But that shouldn’t keep him from getting into debates about our differences on issues. People deserve more than TV sound bites when they vote.”

The horse is out of the bottle. The genie has left the barn. Yeah, we've heard all the metaphors about how we can't go back to the blissful days when we kept a little discretionary income in our pockets after we paid the electric bill. We're about to be at the mercy of foreign corporations to run our hydro dams. Let's look for the candidates to tell us what we can do to stabilize utility rates and hold monopoly utilities accountable to consumers. Let's look to the candidates for some forward thinking.

If consumers demand substance instead of disclaimers about a nearly decade-old disaster, maybe nine debates might be okay.

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