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Reveal Merger Spending, SCE Is Told by Judge

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

State regulators Thursday ordered Southern California Edison to tell a San Diego-based consumer group how much it has spent on local lawyers and consultants related to its proposed merger with San Diego Gas & Electric.

But Lynn Carew, an administrative law judge with the state Public Utilities Commission, did not order the Rosemead-based utility to describe how much individual consultants and attorneys are being paid.

Michael Shames, executive director of Utility Consumers Action Network, said, however, that he will “continue to pursue” those specific payments as the PUC continues its review of the proposed utility merger.

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The administrative law judge’s ruling evidently will determine how much information San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor receives from Edison.

“We will reveal the same level of detail to the mayor as we will be giving to UCAN,” Edison spokesman Lewis Phelps said Thursday. During recent public hearings, O’Connor has pressed utility executives to detail how much has been spent on lobbying and public relations since mid-1988, when the merger was announced.

Edison has argued that its merger-related consulting fees are proprietary information because utility shareholders, not customers, will foot the bill for consultants’ fees. Edison has maintained that the consultants and attorneys on UCAN’s list were hired to assist with possible litigation in San Diego, not for “public relations functions.”

In a Dec. 1 filing with the PUC, Edison argued that the consultants and lawyers in question were hired to help “Edison and its counsel to develop strategies for actual and potential litigation in the San Diego area.”

According to the PUC filing, the local experts were hired in connection with possible litigation involving the San Diego City Council, the San Diego Water District and the County of San Diego, among others.

Shames attacked Edison’s claim that the public-relations experts and political consultants were not hired to win support for the merger. He maintained that the PUC’s merger review should consider how much Edison has spent on public relations and lobbying since proposing the controversial merger in 1988.

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UCAN had asked Edison for specific dollar amounts that Edison evidently is paying to attorney Lynn Schenk, a former Brown Administration official; Escondido lawyer Clyde Romney; former U.S. Atty. Jim Lorenz, and public-relations firm executive Tom Gable. Shames also sought details about Edison’s supposed contracts with several other San Diegans, including political consultants Larry Remer, Tom Shepard, Dick Dresner and Marty Wilson.

Shames said he asked Edison “specifically for the number of dollars paid to each individual, the hourly rate charged and a description of the nature of their service” to Edison.

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