Says commissioner has no grounds for such
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services via Arizona Daily Sun
The attorney for the state’s largest electric utility said the fact that Bob Burns may think the other members of the Arizona Corporation Commission are “scoundrels” does not give him the right to issue his own subpoena for the company’s records.
Mary O’Grady told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James Kiley on Thursday that Burns has no legal basis for issuing his own demand for the records of Arizona Public Service and parent company Pinnacle West Capital Corp. She said only the full commission has the power to make such a demand, particularly in the middle of its consideration of an APS rate hike case.
What that means, she argued, is that Burns needs to make his case for the subpoenas to his four colleagues and get at least two of them — creating a majority — to demand the records. O’Grady said only if and when APS and Pinnacle West were to refuse to comply, and only after the commission issues an order to compel disclosure, would it be proper for Kiley to intercede.
