Tell your state senators what's 'disagreeable' about PSC members' removal

Politics Crime, Law and Justice Accounting and Auditing Crime Elections

"Disagreeable."

That was the word one state senator used to describe two members of Florida's Public Service Commission who are being booted from the board.

Among the things these two members disagreed with: Jacking up your rates and cozying up with power-company execs.

That may sound good to you. But it sure goes against the grain of Tallahassee's business-as-usual culture of coddling special interests.

Seriously, some of these politicians wouldn't know how to put on their pants in the morning if they didn't have a lobbyist to find the zipper.

So when PSC commissioners Nancy Argenziano and Nathan Skop had the audacity to suggest that officials with the commission that helps set utility rates shouldn't, for instance, swap secret text messages with executives they were supposedly regulating, they were obvious targets.

And now they are gone.

Consumer advocates were right in calling this utility payback.

Business columnist Beth Kassab has some good suggestions in her column today for how to reform this mess in the future. But let me tell you how you can sound off right now.

If you're ticked off about this, call your state senator. They're the ones who recently rejected a couple of strong consumer advocates, doing the bidding of companies like Florida Power & Light.

Not sure how to reach 'em? Check out my blog at orlandosentinel.com/takingnames. There, you can find contact info for the senators — as well as the nominating-commission members who bounced Argenziano and Skop.

And when you reach these guys, tell them you're sick of rates and policies being set by the utilities' toadies.

Tell them you'll remember their actions in the next election.

Make it clear that you find their constant kowtowing to special interests incredibly disagreeable.

Name tags

•Power up! Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is the most powerful man in Central Florida. So says Orlando magazine's July edition, which carries its annual list of the "50 Most Powerful." The rest of the top 5: Disney prez Meg Crofton, University of Central Florida's John Hitt and U.S. Reps John Mica and Alan Grayson. Dropping down to sixth: Outgoing county mayor Rich Crotty. The rest of the list includes everyone from business execs ( Orlando Magic COO Alex Martins, seventh, and Darden Restaurants' Clarence Otis, 15^t^h) and law enforcement (Sheriff Jerry Demings, 21^s^t, and police chief Val Demings, 22ⁿ^d) to media types (me, 18^t^h, and Mike Thomas, 36^t^h) and even a sports star ( Dwight Howard, 39^t^h). Though, really, if power were measured only in the gym, Howard would have this list all to himself.

•Check the files. Remember the auditor at the Orange County schools — the one school officials started talking about firing after he found evidence of wasted money? Well, two weeks ago, when school officials were trashing his reputation, I asked to see auditor's Jan Skjersaa last job review. This week, I finally got it. The results show that Skjersaa received an unblemished review — "meeting expectations" for every single one of his 13 benchmarks and achieving an overall assessment of "above expectations." Maybe we now better understand why school officials backed away from that whole fire-the-auditor line of thought.

That's our Bill. Tuesday's newspaper contained a disturbing line in a story about Bill McCollum's connection to shady, secretive campaign groups, known as 527's. It said: "But he still hasn't complied with the Florida law requiring candidates for state office who use 527s to disclose their contributions and expenditures within five business days after they occur." Here the thing: Anytime you have a sentence that includes the phrase "he still hasn't complied with the Florida law" — and the "he" refers to your attorney general — you have a problem.

Scott Maxwell can be reached at smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6141.