California CapitolWeek 8/10/00
Just ahead . . . the search for solutions to California power problems. Soaring utility bills in some areas climb more than 100 percent. Is de-regulation to blame . . . or something else?
outcue: “fix prices”
( (Jack )) Plus. . . Al Gore’s historic choice for running mate . . . is it enough to overcome George Bush’s lead in the polls? And . . . a look back at the message from the republican convention. Can Democrats take back the political spotlight in Los Angeles.Hello I’m Jack Kavanagh. And I’m Melissa Crowley. Those stories plus an international effort underway in San Francisco next.
(( Melissa )) Hello and thanks for joining us as we begin our fifth season. Lawmakers have their work cut out for them . . . deciding the fate of more than 1000 bills before august thirty-first. Including several bills to put new controls on the state insurance department. But topping the list . . . efforts to ease sky-rocketing electricity rates in Southern California and potential power problems statewide. A recent heat wave threatened to force rolling blackouts across the state. Residents in San Diego have seen their utility bills climb more than 100 percent, paying on average more than a 100 dollars a month. Governor Davis has called for conservation measures, help from the federal government and an investigation by the attorney General’s Office.
Under California's deregulation plan, power generators can charge whatever the market will fetch, within limits. San Diego customers are the first in the nation to pay market prices for power, other cities will follow in 2 years. The Governor has asked The Public Utilities Commission to cap rates in San Diego . . .a P-U-C meeting considering that request is set for August 21st.
(( Melissa )) Joining me now. . . State Attorney General Bill Lockyer. His office is investigating whether utilities are engaging in unfair business practices. And Jack Stewart, president of the California’s Manufacturers and Technology Association. Pacific Gas and Electric could not join us, but sent a statement saying “new power plants need to be built to help increase supply and lower prices . . but they feel “deregulation will work in time.”
Melissa: Let’s start with the basic question with the Attorney General. Is deregulation working?
Lockyer: Well, certainly not in the short term. That is, the prices have jumped dramatically. It’s a vital commodity that people and businesses rely on just for everyday existence, so we need to be sensitive to those price jumps. The theory is that competition increases efficiency and brings down prices. There isn’t enough supply. There isn’t enough competition. Governor Davis has asked that we investigate whether there has been price manipulation by some of the players in the market, especially the generators, to see if perhaps there has been violation of anti-trust and consumer laws.
Melissa: And that investigation’s going to take some time, but, Jack, your group in ’96 when deregulation went through was very supportive with the hopes that it would ultimately bring prices down. What is the belief today? Do you still believe deregulation can work?
Stewart: We still support deregulation. We believe it will work, and as large, industrial users, my members pay as much per kilowatt as the residentials do, so we have the same problems facing our customers as residential customers.
Melissa: Everybody’s feelin’ the pain.
Stewart: That’s right, and we really agree that it’s a supply and demand problem. Demand is growing in California at two percent a year. We haven’t built significant new generation here for twenty years. The demand here is two percent a year, the growth as estimated by the energy commission, and that means about a thousand megawatts a year of new energy—of new electricity that has to come online, and that equates to about two new generation plants a year.
Melissa: So we’re looking at a complex problem. One of the things we’re looking at and one of the things we’re hearing is that the power generators are really a for-profit, so if they can charge more money, it makes sense to them, but it’s not necessarily benefiting the consumers at all. Is there any collusion that the investigation is looking at, whether it’s on the generation side or in the ISO, the agency that sort of the air traffic controller if you will of all the kilowatts across the state.
Lockyer: Well, we’re looking—that’s exactly what the investigation is about. Have there been collusive business practices that have violated the law? And, of course, I do not know how long it will take. These are not easy investigations, and it’s hard to find compelling evidence of wrongdoing because obviously the energy markets move very fast, and it’s very hard, unless you’re there with a videotape, to catch somebody doing something wrong, but we’re going to do a thorough and fair job on behalf of our client, Governor Davis, and the businesses and residential customers in California.
Melissa: Jack, bringing to mind the businesses, the residents are paying the price right now in San Diego. As consumers, can we expect to see another writ in our pocketbook in terms of the prices of goods and services because they’re going to have to eventually pass on the added cost as well.
Stewart: Certainly, that is added on, but I wanted to make a point. Namely, that California is not an island unto itself in the electric problem. It is a national problem. We have seen prices in New York actually spike higher than they have in California this year, and New York is having a very cool summer as opposed to our hot summer, but we are part of what we call the “Western Grid,” the western states west of the Rocky Mountains, and the competition for electricity is not only between interests in California, between regions in California, it’s really between the Northwest, Seattle, Portland, the Southwest and we used to be able to really depend—we are a net energy import; we have to buy power from outside the state, and with the economic growth both in California and in the Northwest and Southwest, the demand has just outstripped the ability to supply power.
Crowley: And we should mention because we are—we have increased our population and our technology and our demands. Let’s talk though, bottom line, I’m a rate payer or a bill payer in San Diego, I want to know, “What does it take to fix my bill?” There’s a lot of fixes on the table from lawmakers talking about suggested state caps and federal caps. What do we need to do to fix this problem?
Lockyer: Well, my role is to look at the unfair business practices, so one of the dilemmas is that when does normal profit taking that businesses routinely do—that’s their business—when does that become price-gouging, excessive greed, and an unfair business practice? Obviously, it’s kind of a subjective call to distinguish one against the other. There are laws against collusion and price-fixing, but what’s probably more likely is that we’ll discover there’s only a handful of companies that control the market. They don’t have to collude and price fix. Just the natural business that they engage in results in what economists call an oligopoly.
Crowley: Now does that maybe pinpoint the need for some fixes, maybe some tweaks to the deregulation system, whether it’s a limit on the wholesale prices, how much we can charge, or whether it’s limit on what we’re paying when we have to go out of state. Do you think that’s something that businesses and also consumers, Jack , should face?
Stewart: Well, the difficulty with putting price caps on electricity is that we have, as I said, competition from other states, and if we put a price cap of two hundred and fifty or a hundred dollars or five hundred or whatever it is and another buyer from Denver or Phoenix needs power, it’s easy to outbid that price. It is a competitive market. It is a commodity, and it’s one of the very interesting commodities. Gasoline, we have a shortage of gasoline nationwide, prices have gone up, but electricity is different. Electricity is a commodity that has to be used when it is made. You can’t put it in a tunnel, you can’t put it in a bin somewhere. It’s the real time use of power; when it is produced, it is used.
Crowley: So, Jack, what I’m hearing here, and also from the attorney general, unfortunately is probably not the good news that folks in southern California are wanting to hear, but is this something that we’re just going to have to ride out?
Stewart: We are going to have to ride it out. The governor has made a, I think, good suggestion to stabilize electricity prices in California. Basically, spreading out the cost over the entire year because we only see these spikes, really, in the summertime when you have the hot weather. During the wintertime, we have much, much lower prices for electricity, and what they’re going to do in San Diego—the proposal, I think, for the PUC is to level out those prices and spread—
Crowley: Right. Spread the rates.
Stewart: Until we get—once we get more generation online, and we have the supply of generations up, then the price of electricity is going to go back down and stabilize.
Crowley: All right, Jack, on that note, quickly attorney general is this something that consumers can expect a quick fix or some relief from?
Lockyer: No. No magic wand. Hopefully, we can bring prices down. We’re certainly going to look at the bad business practices, but ultimately, the solution to these problems is enhanced supply and conservation to try to keep demand in control.
(( Melissa )) Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Jack Stewart thank you very much. We’d like to know what you think about California power problems . . has deregulation failed and should the state step in to oversee rates? Send us your thoughts to the address on your screen or email us at capitolweek dot org.
(( Melissa )) Another issue taking center stage at the Capitol this week . . .racial profiling. ( VO ) A new racial profiling bill cleared the Assembly. Civil rights groups protested in the halls of the Capitol this week . . . claiming the final version is too watered down. “of race.” Senator Kevin Murray’s latest bill instead requires law enforcement to give business cards to those they pull over, but do not cite. His original requiring data collection was vetoed by the Governor last year.
(( Melissa )) Civil rights groups say they plan to bring attention to the issue at the democratic convention, Jack?
(( Jack )) Convention time means campaigns turn it up a notch. (VO) George Bush is riding momentum from the Republican convention with a whistlestop tour through California. Al Gore is trying to slow the Texas Governor in his tracks, with a move to attract independent and moderate voters. Gore tapped Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate. ---sot--- (VO) Lieberman is the first Orthodox Jew on a national ticket. The attention now shifts to Los Angeles for next week’s democratic convention. Political experts say that last week’s republican convention raised the bar of expectations for L-A. Michael Isip takes a look back at the republican coming out party.
--- Report ----
Delegates wait four years for this. . . and the carefully orchestrated event gave George W. Bush a big bump in the polls . . Act I, the first two nights . . . some commentators call it the vegetarian convention . . . not a lot of red meat. The goal, establish a kindler, gentler republican party. . . stealing some lines from the Democrats script. .
Like a commitment to building schools and hiring more teachers . . . plus a message about the new look GOP, a party committed to tolerance and diversity. and a once bitter rivalry ends . . . John McCain releases his delegates, the final official act of his campaign. sot mccain "I will always . .
Day III, kicks off with what many say was missing in the first act . . . conflict. Running mate Dick Cheney grab the spotlight to try and energize the conservative base Meanwhile on the airwaves, democrats try to upstage republicans by releasing ads in 17 battleground states. Finally, the climax. . . all the pagentry leads to this. The texas governor draws upon the first two acts . . .adding credibility to the message . . .addressing doubts about his readiness.
And with a bump in national polls, reviews among so far is two thumbs up. Though national polls show George Bush on top . . Al Gore still leads in California. Which means the Bush campaign is working on the next script . . . winning over independent voters and disaffected democrats in this state.
(( Jack )) Joining me now: Leslie Goodman, republican political strategist. . . And Gale Kaufman . . Democratic political consultant.
Jack: Leslie, obviously this is good theatre, a good way to communicate with the voters, especially those voters who are undecided. You know, most of the Democrats and Republicans are spoken for, but there’s this huge—especially in California—this huge undecided vote, so when it comes down to this, basically, I’m asking those voters or myself, “do I want change or do I want to leave things alone?” What is the answer to that question?
Leslie: Well, I think the answer to it is that we have unprecedented prosperity, but one of the things you heard from Governor Bush was where he wants to take the country and how he wants to lead us through that prosperity for a great purpose. He talked about his policies. He talked about the principles that he would govern on, and, I think, really made a very clear case, a rationale for his candidacy for President of the United States, and conventions are a unique chance to do that. First, the Republicans this time and now the Democrats to say to the country, “Who are you? What do you stand for? And Where do you wanna’ take the country?”
Jack: Same question, Gale. I’m a member of the undecided pool and I’m just now beginning to focus on this election coming up, and I’m asking myself this question, “Do I want to change things?”
Gale: Well, I think that if you want change, then you’ll obviously vote Democratic. I think what you actually saw at the Republican Convention and with the ticket, quite frankly, is a step back and not a step forward. There was some nice theatre as you say, and there were some great visuals, and there was an attempt at diversity which I think is nice, but it was an attempt, and with the Democratic party and now knowing what the ticket looks like, I think that the change that we all talk about, which is incremental change in this instance because right now we do have economic prosperity, and we do have a Democratic administration that has brought that about, and so I think that people will look at the ticket and say for the future, for things that need to go on, they’ll vote Democratic.
Jack: What’s driving the story right now, beyond the conventions, is the selection of the vice-presidential candidate. Leslie, what does Dick Chaney do for me here in California?
Leslie: Well, I think that Dick Chaney has proven that he is not only a skilled administrator, somebody who lead at a very important time our department of defense. He has demonstrated that he has a tremendous amount of knowledge about world affairs, and, let’s face it, there’s no question that rebuilding our military and assuring that we have strength around the world is still very important. In fact, those are the kinds of issues that drive presidential contests, much more so that any other contests. He is a solid man, he has tremendous character, people have seen him in the spotlight and under pressure. At the end of the day though, I believe that people vote for the top of the ticket, and it’s George Bush who is going to show the kind of leadership that, I believe, will appeal to independent voters. He said, “Let’s bring respect and civility back to Washington. Let’s have bipartisanship. Let’s take on the tough issues.” Grabbing the third rail in American politics with Social Security, talking about how every child has the civil right, the ability to read, as a ladder of opportunity.
Jack: The slogan was, “No child will be let behind.”
Leslie: Absolutely.
Jack: The same question, Gale. What does Senator Joe Lieberman bring to California?
Gale: Well, I think he brings a lot of interest, a lot of excitement, and the ticket together, I think, is unbeatable. I think the Democratic party ticket versus the Republican party ticket, there’s no comparison to voters in California, especially the swing voters, the independents, who really care about gun control, who really care about abortion, who care about education, who care about the future. I think those issues, if you look at them, the environment, I mean there’s just no comparison, and, I think Chaney is almost a step back.
(( Jack )) More in a moment. But first, let’s take a look at how Republicans are reaching out to the Latino vote, which could play a big here in California. Univision’s Xochitl Arrellano has this report. Outcue ‘ to forget”
Jack: Gale, how much of what we saw in Philadelphia, basically the Latino speakers, the very prominent roles that they had, the music, how much of that was window dressing or was it actually the Republican party changing direction?
Gale: Well, I think with the exception of Abel Maldanado who I think did a fabulous job and just blew me and I think everyone else away, a lot of it was window dressing. It’s nice to have, finally, some acknowledgment that there’s a huge Latino vote out in the country for people on the Republican side to actually acknowledge it, but that’s just it, an acknowledgement, and the policies of the Republican party and the years that you just saw in that report that Latinos in this state have gone through under Republican leadership, that doesn’t go away, and it doesn’t go down easy, and you can’t just talk about certain things without getting to the substance.
Jack: Leslie, are we watching some political history here? Is George W. Bush literally pulling on the rudder and changing the direction of the Republican party as Bill Clinton did in 1992?
Leslie: No question. You look at George Bush, you see him campaigning in California this week, you see him at the convention, you understand that this is a man who is truly changing the tone. He is leading the Republican party to new heights. He is looking to the future, not to the past, and his outreach to Latino groups and to women is sincere. He’s had people at the table. It’s not about—at the end of the day, those constituencies win if there are two parties competing for their vote, and George Bush knows that, and he’s earned their respect in Texas, and he hopes to do the same in California and in other states across the country.
Jack: Ralph Nader. What is his role in what happens in California?
Gale: I think it’s going to be very limited, ultimately. I think it gives people who always look for a third party vote a pause, you know, but I think people take their vote for President very, very serious, and in the end, even though I think he may stay in the polls for a little while in the five to eight percent range, people will vote Democrat or Republican.
Jack: Does Ralph Nader put California more into play now than before for George Bush?
Leslie: There’s no question that California is in play. If you look at the polls, I think they’re deceptive of the fact that there really is a groundswell of emotion here. I think Al Gore has all kinds of problems with his base. Ralph Nader is just one example of that. He has not been able to hold on and secure California because people don’t know who he is and what he stands for on some of the very traditional Democrat issues that have affected this state, so this is going to be an important week for Al Gore.
Jack: If Gore carries California, what will do it?
Gale: He will carry California—
Jack: And the secret is?
Gale: I think his issues and the excitement of the ticket.
Jack: If Bush carries California, what will do it?
Leslie: Well, life is more than just showing up. You have to be here, you have to work hard, you have to earn the vote of Californians, and it will have been because he has changed the tone and the direction of our party and represents a new day for Republicans.
( Jack )) Gale Kaufman and Leslie Goodman . . .thanks for being here. We would like your thoughts: Who is your choice for President? Send us an email to the address on your screen . . . Melissa ?
(( Melissa )) Thanks Jack. Women are expected to represent crucial swing votes this year. For the first time, two women will chair a national political convention. California senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are co-chairs the democratic national convention. And their work to promote women in politics goes beyond Los Angeles and Washington . . .they are also backing an effort to honor women’s achievements in the Bay area.
-- Report --
Picture this . . .These women under one roof . . In a place designed to celebrate the stories and achievements of women across the globe. sot “ Right now we’re in the development phase.” Elizabeth Colton dreams of a permanent home to display images like these-so stories like one of the first settlers in San Franscisco, a female pioneer and self-taught doctor, will not be fogotten. Sot 1:16:05 “Juana came in the late 1700’s “She was one of the first settler never recognized.”
Colton- a former political consultant is spearheading a new campaign-To have an International Museum of Women up and running in the next few years.Until then- her home is headquarters for the effort. Her daughter in part inspired the project. Sot “ I wanted to take her to a place to show her heritage as a female.” In 1985 a group claled the Women’s Heritage Museum began talking displays like about female history on the road . . Elizabeth and her group joined forces a few years ago to build a museum.
Sot The museum is a wonderful opportunity to make a space for what has previously been invisible, visible.”
And with the goal of showcasing international achievements-from art to leadership to heroes-The Bay Area seemed a natural fit. Sot Patty “Given the fact that San Fran is an immigrant magnet, San Fran seemed perfect place for museum to be housed.” “One of three sites along the waterfront here will be picked for the future home of a 75,000 foot building.”
Until then. . Elizabeth and her group continue to solicit Input on what our future young female leaders would like to see displayed. Sot “ This exhibition – women as visionaries change the world.”
And travelling exhibits continue . . like this one in New York . . Attended by the head of the United Nations and Also the Princess of Jordan. Sot Let us remember a women’s strength is art and her heart.”
The mayor is helping push forward the site selection process. . And supporters say in this election year- it’s more important than ever to recognize Achievements and the work that remains to be done.
Sot “I think it’s important women see themselves as equals in political. Govt. and social spheres.”
And all involved hope it’s a project that will inspire future female leaders. Sot “ I hope young girls do believe they can be anything they chose.” Outcue” anything they chose”
(( Melissa )) For more information on the non-partisan international museum of women effort . . . log onto their website at I-m-o-w dot org. By the way, groundbreaking and construction is scheduled for 2003.
(( Jack )) Next week . . . we head to Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention. Al Gore has picked his running mate . . . and in their first major appearance together how will their message play among voters
(( Melissa )) And is Los Angeles ready for the spotlight? We’ll take you behind the scenes for a convention backstage pass. Thank you for joining us, I’m Melissa Crowley. And I’m Jack Kavanagh. See you next time.