Getting ugly in Annapolis

Friday, March 17, 2006

Like birds and forest animals that can sense a coming natural disaster long before we do, politicians can sense a political disaster far over the horizon. And they are already visualizing the volcanic fury of Maryland’s two million electric utility customers upon receiving astronomical rate hikes this August when legislatively imposed rate caps expire.

Have you ever seen a pot full of blue crabs when the water starts boiling? That’s what the statehouse currently resembles — politicians clawing and climbing over each other to escape the fatal heat. It’s not pretty.

The frenzied search for political scapegoats is particularly ugly. Desperate to avoid the ratepayer’s lynch mob, the incumbents responsible for today’s utilities mess are frantically placing blame on innocent bystanders. For instance, Senate President Mike Miller, architect of the 1999 Deregulation Act, now blames the state Public Service Commission and Gov. Bob Ehrlich. Miller says, ‘‘The governor’s public service commissioners and personnel have turned the PSC into lackeys for the utility companies.”

Other Democrats are piling on. Demanding that Governor Ehrlich fire the PSC, gubernatorial candidate Martin O’Malley says, ‘‘Bob Ehrlich has turned a watchdog agency, whose sole purpose is to protect Maryland families, into a lap dog for special interests.”

As you might expect, blaming the PSC and Ehrlich is a preposterous stretch. The coming rate hikes are the product of Maryland’s flawed 1999 experiment with deregulating the state’s electric utility companies. Back then a Democratic legislature and a Democratic governor, not the PSC, decided that free market competition instead of state regulation would best serve electric power customers. But their plan backfired so customers will soon be receiving 72 percent rate hikes only months before Election Day.

Of course Senator Miller wants to put the noose around Ehrlich’s neck, to avoid his own lynching. But Ehrlich wasn’t governor in 1999 when deregulation became law, nor in 2000 when the state made BG&E sell its coal-fired and nuclear power plants, today’s cheapest energy generators.

Likewise, blaming the PSC is pure demagoguery. The PSC is a creature of the state legislature whose members are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. If Miller thinks the commissioners are industry ‘‘lackeys” why didn’t he say so during their confirmations? After all, Miller has killed Ehrlich’s nominees for Environmental Secretary, Morgan State University regents and the St. Mary’s County liquor board. Why not Ehrlich’s PSC nominees?

Besides, the PSC doesn’t make regulatory policy, the legislature does. After the legislature deregulated back in 1999, the PSC simply followed the legislature’s orders. What was the PSC supposed to do, defy the legislature and continue regulating the utilities? Miller would have gone berserk, and rightfully so.

Well, since then the governor should have seen the coming crisis and made the legislature do something, say Miller and O’Malley. Sure, just like Ehrlich was able to sway the Democratic legislature on slots, medical malpractice and the Wal-Mart Bill. Heck, the Democrats even killed Ehrlich’s veterans tax cut just to deny him a victory.

But Miller and O’Malley can be forgiven for misleading the public — Miller’s trying to dodge blame and O’Malley wants to be governor. What’s unforgivable is the Baltimore Sun’s willingness to echo the same misinformation. In news stories and editorials, the Sun is blaming the PSC and Ehrlich despite knowing better. ‘‘He (Ehrlich) ought to be giving pink slips to his own Public Service Commission ...” the Sun editorialized last Sunday.

Yet, back when deregulation was pending, here’s what the Sun said: ‘‘Look at the way Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller is suddenly making life miserable for Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. He has turned a minor bill to create a holding company for BG&E into a rapid deregulation of the electric industry — overruling the Public Service Commission’s sensible, phased-in timetable. Such a move is ominous for consumers and BG&E. Rushing headlong into deregulation might prove to be a disaster.

‘‘Why would Mr. Miller, no expert on electric deregulation, do such a thing? Could it have to do with the fact that some very powerful lobbyists, including one of his best friends, are strenuously pressing for quick entry into the electricity market?”

Now the Sun is giving Miller cover by lending credence to his invented cover-up. Why? Because the Sun’s top (only?) priority is defeating Bob Ehrlich. This is reminiscent of Dan Rather’s anti-Bush vendetta during the 2004 election when ‘‘60 Minutes” even corrupted its news stories just to make Bush look bad. No wonder voters don’t trust the media anymore.

I guess Sun columnist Dan Rodricks didn’t get the memo. On the same day the Sun’s editorial page was singing Miller’s and O’Malley’s tune, Rodricks (an ultra-liberal and frequent Ehrlich critic) wrote this:

‘‘I doubt things would have been different had a Republican governor and majority-Republican legislature been in charge in 1999. But you know what? They weren’t. So it’s a moot point. This one’s on the Dems. You can look it up.”

God bless the truthtellers.

Blair Lee is CEO of the Lee Development Group in Silver Spring and a regular commentator for WBAL radio. His column appears Fridays in The Gazette. His e-mail address is blair@leedg.com.