<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2008/03/pges_green_war_chest.html">http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2008/03/pges_green_war_chest.html</a><br>
<br>
SF Bay Guardian:<br>
<h3 class="entry-header">PG&E's Green War Chest?</h3>
<div class="entry-body">
<p>Greetings, <a
href="http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1303053&view=general"
target="blank_">Californians for a Clean Energy Future!</a> Welcome to
<a href="http://frontgroups.org/" target="blank_">the fold </a>
of innocuous sounding, pseudo-environmental political front groups.
This one is brought to us by our buddies over at Pacific Gas and
Electric Co. </p>
<p>The group, which doesn't seem to have a Web site or any other
physical manifestation outside of filings with the California Secretary
of State, already has $340,000 ready and waiting for the upcoming
election cycle. According to a Secretary of State spokesperson, the
group was born on Dec. 21, 2007. The only contact is the law firm
Nielsen Merksamer, which has a history of teaming up with PG&E to <a
href="http://www.sfbg.com/39/04/news_sutton.html" target="blank_">break
the law for political gain.</a> </p>
<p>So far, they haven't spent a cent -- all of which were dumped into
the committee by PG&E in <a
href="http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1303053&view=received"
target="blank_">three lump sums.</a>
Wonder what they're going to spend all that money on? Since it's
calling itself a "coalition of environmentalists, taxpayers, and
Pacific Gas and Electric Company," it could go for or against nearly
anything -- including boosting <a
href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2008/98_06_2008.aspx"
target="blank_">Prop 98</a>
on this June's ballot. If passed, the measure would kill rent control
and make it illegal for governments to use eminent domain to seize
utility infrastructure and use it to provide the services themselves,
an idea San Francisco has considered in the past and <a
href="http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=A_SPECIAL0209"
target="blank_">Stockton is currently pursuing.</a> </p>
</div>
<span class="post-footers"> Posted by Amanda Witherell on March 14,
2008 03:11 PM</span>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." – Che Guevara</pre>
</body>
</html>