Schwarzenegger appoints Republican businessman to PUC

Monterey Herald ^ | 5/2/05 | Michael Liedtke - AP

[NormsRevenge]

SAN FRANCISCO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filled a four-month-old vacancy on the influential California Public Utilities Commission on Monday by appointing John Bohn, a fellow Republican with a diverse background in finance, law, technology, public relations and the government.

Bohn, 67, is expected to be sworn in before the PUC's Thursday meeting, giving the state's top energy and telecommunications regulator a full slate of five commissioners for the first time this year.

Schwarzenegger picked Bohn after a previous appointment of another Republican businessman, Steve Poizner, fell through. Poizner was never sworn in to the PUC because he held telecommunications investments that raised conflict-of-interest issues, a problem that led him to withdraw his candidacy last month.

Although Bohn can start voting on PUC matters as soon as he is sworn in, the state Senate still must approve his six-year term, which pays an annual salary of $114,191.

Contacted Monday, Bohn declined to be interviewed.

With oversight of telecommunications, power and water utilities, the PUC has final say on a wide variety of pricing and service issues that affect millions of households and businesses throughout the state.

Bohn has juggled a wide variety of jobs in his career, but this will be his first foray into utility regulation. He became friendly with the Schwarzenegger administration last year after helping sell the bonds that temporarily closed the state's budget deficit, said Bob Roberts, one of Bohn's oldest friends.

Roberts, executive director for the California Ski Industry Association, predicted Bohn will help Schwarzenegger reshape the state's energy policies. "He has the intellectual capacity and credibility to do that," Roberts said. "If (Schwarzenegger) wanted someone who would just vote 'yea' or 'nay' on pricing issues, he would have picked someone else."

In a statement, Schwarzenegger said Bohn's broad experience enables him to understand how the state's regulatory policies affect investment decisions. "His expertise in this area will be invaluable," Schwarzenegger said.

Since 2001, Bohn has been chairman of GlobalNet Venture Partners, a consulting firm that helps startups get off the ground. On its Web site, GlobalNet said its customers include an unnamed startup developing technology "that provides more rapid and complex evaluation and analysis of energy information than is currently available in the market."

That business relationship might raise a conflict-of-interest that prevents Bohn from voting on pivotal PUC issues affecting the energy market, said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a consumer rights group.

Bohn also spent eight years as chief executive of Moody's Investor Service, one of the nation's major credit rating firms, before co-founding an online trading exchange for the chemical industry during the late 1990s.

His resume also includes several jobs in President Reagan's administration, as well as stints as a lawyer and public relations executive for Burson-Marsteller in New York. Bohn also is friends with former Gov. Pete Wilson, Roberts said.

Bohn's appointment frustrated The Utility Reform Network, a consumer watchdog group that had hoped Schwarzenegger fill the open PUC slot with a minority or a representative from a low-income community.

"Bohn's resume is impressive, but it's not like the PUC is lacking people who can represent the interests of investors," said Robert Finkelstein, TURN's executive director. "We think what the PUC really needed was someone who could make sure a full array of consumer issues will be heard."

[NormsRevenge]

Bohn has juggled a wide variety of jobs in his career, but this will be his first foray into utility regulation. He became friendly with the Schwarzenegger administration last year after helping sell the bonds that temporarily closed the state's budget deficit, said Bob Roberts, one of Bohn's oldest friends.

[StoneColdGOP]

Ugh...

[calcowgirl]

2 appointments in a row from the Council on Foreign Relations. The future of California?

http://www.entwistle-law.com/attorneys/john-bohn.htm

JOHN A. BOHN

John Bohn served for seven years as the President of Moody’s Investors Service, the world’s leading credit research and analysis company and a major publisher of financial information, with more than 1,500 employees in 10 countries. Mr. Bohn came to Moody’s from a three-year term as President and Chairman of the Export Import Bank of the United States, a United States government corporation that finances and insures the sale abroad of American produced goods. During his tenure, Eximbank provided some $6 billion per year in loans, guarantees and insurance in more than 25 countries. Prior to his service with the bank, which he began as First Vice President and Vice Chairman, Mr. Bohn was Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, and United States Ambassador and Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank in Manila. Mr. Bohn advises corporate officers and directors on governance issues, counsels on transactional matters, and also currently sits on or chairs the Boards of several organizations whose focus is the Internet or other emerging technologies.

Mr. Bohn graduated with honors from Stanford University, he attended the London School of Economics as a Fulbright Scholar and then graduated in law from Harvard University. After practicing law in California and the Pacific Rim, Mr. Bohn joined the Wells Fargo Bank, where he spent four and one-half years in Tokyo, responsible for Far Eastern activities and, later, was head of the Bank’s International Group in Los Angeles at its North American Division in San Francisco. A member of the Foreign Service Association, Mr. Bohn served on the Board of Directors of The Center for International Private Enterprise in Washington, D.C. for four years and serves as a Director of the National Committee on U.S.-China relations. He is a member of the Counsel on Foreign Relations and the Economic Club in New York. He is also a Trustee of The Monterey Institute in California, a member of the Council for Excellence in Government in Washington, and a member of a number of corporate boards.

State Bar Admissions
California and Guam.

Court Admissions
U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. District Court; Northern District of California; U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

http://www.miis.edu/board-of-trustees.html

JOHN A. BOHN

Chairman and CEO, GlobalNet Venture Partners, LLC. Co-Founder and former Executive Chairman of CheMatch.com. Former Managing Director, Burson-Marsteller. Former President and CEO , Moody’s Investors Service. Former Special Assistant to Treasury Secretary Don Regan. Former U.S. Ambassador and Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank. Former Chairman, President, and Vice Chairman of the Export Import Bank of the U.S. Former Chairman, Management and Evaluation Commission of the State Board of Education of California. Member, California State Bar and the bar of the Supreme Court of the U.S., The Council on Foreign Relations, and the World Affairs Council. Chairman, Board of Directors, The Center for International Private Enterprise. Trustee, Northern Trust Multi-Advisor Funds. BA, Stanford University. Fulbright Scholar, London School of Economics. JD, Harvard Law School.