Free Republic

SACRAMENTO -- Desperate to stabilize California's energy supplies, state officials last May hired Livermore energy consultant Mark Baldwin to develop the state's natural gas reserves. Baldwin's work is now proving controversial: He helped arrange a gas storage contract between the state and one of his private clients, in possible violation of conflict-of-interest law. The state's contract with Wild Goose Storage is relatively small, just $256,000. But it raises -- perhaps more clearly than any other case that has surfaced -- the larger question of whether California did enough to ensure the independence of private consultants such as Baldwin when it ...

September 01, 1997 THE WHITE HOUSE THAT INVISIBLE MACK SURE CAN LEAVE HIS MARK BY MICHAEL WEISSKOPF/WASHINGTON Time Magazine In Part: For a man who had supposedly vanished from the corridors of power, MACK MCLARTY was the man to see in 1996. BILL CLINTON's former chief of staff, now a White House counselor tucked away in the basement, provided assistance to businessmen who ponied up $1.5 million for the Democrats in the last election. On Nov. 22, 1995, for example, Clinton scrawled an FYI note to McLarty, enclosing a newspaper article on Enron Corp. and the vicissitudes of its $3 ...

December 9, 2001 After Enron's Failure, Should Calpine Investors Worry? By GRETCHEN MORGENSON The Associated PressGov. Gray Davis of California, left, and Peter Cartwright, Calpine's chief executive, at a new power plant in Yuba City last summer. Calpine is a Wall Street favorite, but it shows some similarities to Enron. Get Stock QuotesLook Up Symbols   Portfolio |  Company ResearchU.S. Markets |  Int. MarketsMutual Funds |  Bank RatesCommodities & Currencies The New York Times s the Enron Corporation (news/quote) collapsed, filing for bankruptcy protection exactly one week ago, companies that had done business with the fallen giant or that had emulated its ...

<p>Allegations of bribery and attempts at extortion (public policy for money) are now coming out after years of efforts by Gray Davis to have them squashed.</p>

<p>It was one of the great fantasies of American business: a deregulated market that would send cheaper and more reliable supplies of electricity coursing into homes and offices across the nation.</p> <p>But look what's happened instead. Enron Corp., the vast energy trader at the center of the new freewheeling U.S. power markets, now faces collapse amid a blizzard of questionable financial deals. And California, the first big state to deregulate its electricity market, has watched its experiment turn into a disaster, with intermittent blackouts and retail power rates as much as 40% higher than they were a year ago.</p>

LOS ANGELES -(Dow Jones)- At least one executive at California's grid operator was told last April that state power-buying practices now under investigation could be a problem, but chose not to look into the matter, documents and interviews with the parties show. As well, those sources indicate the California Independent System Operator ordered a low-cost power plant to reduce its output as early as last April, when the state was still experiencing staged power alerts. The revelations highlight concerns about the relationship between the ISO, which is run by a board appointed by Gov. Gray Davis, and the California ...

<p>There's plenty, and more, to preoccupy California voters right now. Terrorist attacks, a sour economy and the energy crisis - issues that didn't exist two years ago. But in the tumult of election-year politics, an old issue is resurfacing with a vengeance - Gov. Gray Davis' fund raising.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO -- The consulting firm advising the state on electricity purchases recommended that the state buy about $35 billion in power from private companies the consultant also represented.</p> <p>Navigant Consulting Co.'s clients included Dynegy, Calpine Corp., Mirant Corp., Sempra Energy and Williams Energy. All have signed long-term power contracts with California since January, when Navigant was hired as a consultant for the state's power-buying agency.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO -- The California Power Authority abruptly terminated a $1 million contract with the state's top energy consulting firm following questions of a potential conflict and concern that the contract was not competitively bid.</p> <p>The agency halted the contract Friday evening with Navigant Consulting Co., said Laura Doll, the Power Authority's executive director. The decision was contained in a letter to Navigant's contract manager.</p>

Posted at 7:09 a.m. PST Friday, Nov. 16, 2001 Davis accepts $50,000 donations from two energy companies LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Two energy companies each donated $25,000 to Gov. Gray Davis' re-election campaign during a recent trip to the East Coast, it was reported Friday. Campaign finance reports show that Davis accepted the contributions from Caithness Energy of New York and Florida-based FPL Energy. Both firms are independent energy producers that sell electricity in California and are involved in construction of new power plants, the Los Angeles Times reported. Davis defended the decision even though he had promised he ...

<p>Sacramento -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Thursday that his office found no criminal wrongdoing by energy advisers hired by the state last year to ease the power crisis.</p> <p>Lockyer had been investigating whether any of the consultants hired to help sign long-term energy contracts also had a stake in the companies the state was negotiating with.</p>

Ethics: The firm paid a retainer of $100,000 or more last year to former executive who helped negotiate power pacts. SACRAMENTO -- The parent company of Southern California Edison paid $100,000 or more last year to a former executive who has done no work for the company but has helped negotiate long-term electricity contracts for California power buyers, according to state records and Edison officials. The former executive, Vikram Budhraja, said Edison International agreed to pay him a retainer of at least $100,000 a year when he resigned as a Southern California Edison senior vice president in January 2000....