Well, PG&E poured in millions of dollars and narrowly defeated the two public power campaigns. And PG&E poured in $800,000 at the end of the 2002 campaign, a major turning point, but its attorney Jim Sutton didn’t report this huge amount until after the election. He was fined $100,000, a small amount considering the stakes and the PG&E victory.

Then, as if on cue, the commission decided to audit the 2002 public power campaign (with its paltry $97,000 in total contributions) and, lo and behold, they started in on Carolyn Knee, a citizen volunteer, with no experience as treasurer, who was using professional consulting advice, and was obviously doing her best to comply with the complicated disclosure regulations.

Fines officer Oliver Luby found that any and all monetary penalties should be waived and said most of the charges were bogus. But his superiors overturned his finding and pressed an investigation that ended up recommending that Carolyn be fined $26,700, a ridiculous sum. And so, for five years the commission staff has been hassling and hounding Carolyn to plead guilty and pay up. Carolyn kept arguing she was right and that in any event she was an ordinary citizen, retired, on a fixed income, and could in no way pay this exorbitant, unfair, and double standard fine.

At the hearing, Joe Lynn, a former ethics commissioner, presented a comparison chart that made the point in 96 point tempo bold: there was a glaring double standard in the way the commission dealt with Treasurer Jim Sutton, from PG&E, and Carolyn Knee, citizen representing a citizen’s public power group. Click here to see his chart.

Lynn ticked off to the commissioners the points of comparison between the PG&E treasurer and the citizen treasurer. PG&E's Sutton was an attorney (Carolyn was not). He was a professional treasurer (she was not.) He had previous enforcement fines for failure to disclose (she did not). Was the amount large enough to affect the election? (yes on Sutton, no on Carolyn) His measure prevailed on the ballot (hers did not). He had no hardship impact (she did as a retired person on a fixed income). Amount not disclosed (Sutton $800,000, Carolyn $18,661.) Fine sought by staff ($100,000 for Sutton, $26,700 for Carolyn). Percentage of amount involved (Sutton 13%, Carolyn 143%). Percentage of pre-election amount involved (13% Sutton, 172% Carolyn).

More: Sutton and PG&E never faced the humiliating dressing down that Carolyn got publicly when the commission's lead attorney accused her in the hearing of "cooking the books." Cooking the books? For whom? Why? Carolyn and the public power forces had nothing to hide, but PG&E did. Suddenly, Carolyn Knee becomes a poster girl illustrating PG&E domination of yet another city agency. The commission's guiding principle: go after Carolyn Knee and thereby send a message to all future citizen treasurers and citizen initiative campaigns that this is what happens when you go up against PG&E.

That chart, plus strong arguments from her attorney David Waggoner, Sunshine Task Force Chair Doug Comstock, and former Brisbane Mayor Paul Goercke, ought to have turned the tide. Instead, the commissioners, with the exception of Eileen Hansen, expressed no sympathy or understanding for Carolyn or the public power initiatives. They talked about the peril of “grassroots exemptions,” never once mentioned PG&E, and gave no credence to my point that the commission had reversed its priorities and its mission and was now going after the Carolyn Knees and the grassroots groups, not the PG&Es and the big scandals. The Ethics Commission was, I summed up, an “Unethical” Commission.

The commission lamely postponed action for 30 days, thus pressuring the parties to settle in the meantime on commission terms. See the reaction by Rick Knee, Carolyn's husband, below, whose account is quite fair and balanced given the circumstances.

And so the word ought to go out through the grassroots, Free Carolyn Knee! Free Carolyn Knee from the unethical clutches of the Ethics Commission!

P.S. Full disclosure: the Guardian and I were involved as donors in the two campaigns. B3

Fellow public-power advocates,

At Monday's Ethics Commission hearing, we made out slightly better than
expected, but we're not out of the woods. Here's the short of it:

-- The commission postponed any action for 30 days, hoping that its and
Carolyn's attorneys can reach a settlement. If there is a settlement, it
will probably include a three- or four-digit fine.

-- Judging from the commission's conduct, we believe that if there is no
settlement, the commission will find that Carolyn violated campaign
finance reporting requirements. How much of a fine the commission would
impose remains to be seen. The commissioners are plainly aware of numerous
mitigating circumstances; at the same time, most of them seemed eager to
ignore the fact that MOST OF THE CHARGES AGAINST CAROLYN ARE BOGUS.

Regardless of the outcome, it appears at this point that it might be
necessary to hold a fund-raiser to defray whatever expenses Carolyn
incurs. We'll let you know.

Bottom line, what this entire episode underscores is that the commission
and its staff need a serious overhaul if they are to do their job
properly. What is clear is that the commission's staff prefers to go after
ordinary citizens and grassroots groups in its enforcement efforts;
staffers perceive that we're easier targets than are the well-heeled,
sophisticiated organizations. They all might act more responsibly if the
commission's meetings were televised.

In Carolyn's case, the commission and staff's conduct has been, put
kindly, reprehensible. The staff has violated the Sunshine Ordinance by
failing to provide Carolyn's attorney, David Waggoner, with certain
documents relevant to the case. At the hearing, no copy of the agenda
packet that goes to commission members was made available for public
inspection, again in violation of the ordinance. During the proceeding,
chief investigator Richard Mo blatantly lied to the commission more than
once and slandered Carolyn when he flatly stated she had "cooked the
books" during the 2002 campaign. Mabel Ng, the commission's deputy
executive director, oversaw the Enforcement Division's investigation of
the SFACE campaign filings despite potential conflict of interest. And
that investigation resulted in a recommendation that Carolyn be fined a
"settlement" amount of $26,700, notwithstanding an earlier finding by
Fines Officer Oliver Luby that any and all monetary penalties should be
waived. The commission denied a request from Carolyn's attorney, David
Waggoner, that Ng be recused henceforth in this case, and none of the
commissioners seemed at all disturbed by Mo's mendacity.

Immediately after the commission's deferral decision, Carolyn and our
support group gathered outside the meeting room to assess the situation.
About two minutes later, the commission's executive director, John St.
Croix, came out and offered a settlement of $2,670, one tenth of the
recommended fine amount. It's apparent that the he and the commission want
this to go away. So do we, but on terms that are mutually acceptable. We
told him we would take the offer under advisement.

Stay tuned.

Regards to all,
Rick