By Nathan Sproul | opinion contributor/Arizona Republic
(Editor’s note:Opinion pieces are published for discussions purposes only.)
APS’s involvement in the 2014 election raised plenty of legal and ethical questions. But there are ways to restore shattered trust.
Arizonans now know what has been suspected for years – that Pinnacle West, the parent company of Arizona Public Service, secretly spent more than $10 million in 2014 to defeat pro-clean energy commission
candidates Vernon Parker, Lucy Mason and Sandra Kennedy.
Ultimately, APS elected the commissioners it wanted.
I ran the campaigns for Mason and Parker. Parker is a long-time friend and Mason is one of the hardest-working public servants in Arizona, so I considered it an honor to help both of them.
Ironically, at the same time, two people who worked for me almost a decade ago were leading the effort on behalf of APS against Parker, Mason and Kennedy.
APS ran one of the most aggressive campaigns I’ve witnessed in 20 years as a political consultant. Because its checkbook was bottomless, Parker, Mason and Kennedy never had a chance. Essentially, they were vastly outspent by the monopoly they sought to regulate.
