CA: New post for former assistant to Schwarzenegger chief of staff

A former top aide to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new chief of staff was appointed the governor's deputy cabinet secretary Wednesday.

Brian Prusnek, 28, of San Francisco, was Susan Kennedy's chief of staff last year and her energy adviser for two years when she was a member of the California Public Utilities Commission.

The Republican governor sparked anger from conservatives in November when he appointed Kennedy to lead his staff. Kennedy previously was executive director of the state Democratic Party and a top aide to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, who Schwarzenegger replaced in the 2003 recall election.

Prusnek is registered as a "decline to state" voter and his appointment does not require Senate confirmation. He will work for Cabinet Secretary Fred Aguiar in the $90,000 a year job.

Aguiar, a former GOP assemblyman, was added to the governor's staff in December, a move seen as crucial within the Republican Party to balance his appointment of Kennedy.

Before working for Kennedy, Prusnek was an analyst for the utilities commission. He also briefly was chief of staff for another commissioner last year.

http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/Static/aboutcpuc/commissioners/05chong/staff/b_prusnek.htm

Brian Prusnek
Chief of Staff

Brian Prusnek is Commissioner Chong's Chief of Staff. He is a specialist in energy efficiency, natural gas infrastructure, natural gas policy and electric deregulation policy and served in the Commission's Energy Division as the sole federal natural gas analyst. Much of Prusnek's work in the Energy Division involved conducting analysis of the California energy crisis, and representing the Commission at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. One such case resulted in a settlement with El Paso Natural Gas Company and its affiliate, El Paso Merchant Energy, of $1.69 billion - the largest energy settlement in U.S. history.

Prusnek holds a Master's degree in Regulatory Economics from Illinois State University. In this program, he studied the industrial organization and regulation of telecommunications, electricity and natural gas companies. He plans on taking a sabbatical this fall at the university to teach the regulation of the electric and telecommunication sectors to graduate students. He received undergraduate degrees in economics and Spanish from Mount Union College.

http://www.cmta.net/legupdate.php?topic_id=env

Key environment and energy appointments
March 31, 2006

Governor Schwarzenegger has picked Dan Skopec to be undersecretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. The appointment was announced on March 30th.

It is a key post - Skopec now becomes the point person for the Administration on global warming.

He has spent the last two years in the Governor's "horseshoe" - the unofficial name for the suite of offices the governor occupies in the Capitol - as the deputy cabinet secretary for energy, resources and environmental issues.

Skopec, 34, previously served as staff director of the Government Operations Subcommittee on House Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs, which was chaired by then-Representative Doug Ose (R-Sacramento).

With Skopec's departure, the new deputy cabinet secretary for energy, resources and environmental issues in the governor's office becomes Brian Prusnek, a senior staffer at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Prusnek has held several key positions at the CPUC, most recently as Chief of Staff to Commissioner Rachelle Chong, and before that, as Chief of Staff to then-Commissioner Susan Kennedy, who now serves as the governor's Chief of Staff. He is a specialist in natural gas issues and while serving in the Commission's energy division was the sole federal natural gas analyst.

CMTA looks forward to working with Skopec and Prusnek and other members of the Administration on the environmental and energy issues that are important to California's manufacturers and the economic health of this state.

(Orchestrated symphonic string section does scene setting introduction, then the lyrics...) "Yesturday... All my troubles seemed so far away... Like a leader rep-resenting me, oh I believe in yesturday... Oh I believe in yesturday..."

(Dramatic cresendo...) Now, there's some-thing wrong, we all can see... There's NO clear commitment to... real-i-tee, eee, eee, eee... Yesturday... (common sense fading to melodramatic black!)

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