Compared to the fiery, lengthy, but ultimately unsuccessful fight to oust Sklar, Brooks’ rejection was short and sweet. Maxwell and Dufty thanked Brooks for his service. Maxwell suggested appointing someone from District 10, instead, since the southeast sector bears the burden of the city’s power plants and sewage. And Dufty noted that he was unhappy with the dissolution of the PUC’s leadership, which was triggered by Newsom’s decision to remove General Manager Susan Leal, Dufty’s friend and political ally—a move that is costing the City $400,000, since it’s happening without cause.

And then the Board rejected Brooks, with Sups. Michela Alioto-Pier, Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd dissenting.

But when it came to Ambassdor Sklar, the gloves came off, with Dufty and Maxwell going for the jugular, after Sklar, who describes himself as a “equal opportunity pain in the ass,” talked about his many years of service to the City, including directing over $2 billion in major public construction (the wastewater cleanup program, the Moscone Convention Center, the rebuild of the city’s historic cable car system) and his four years as SFPUC General Manager, from 1979-1983.

Sklar also mentioned his service to the state of California, when he was enlisted by former Governor Gray Davis to expedite the construction of new electric power generating facilities to bring an end to California’s energy crisis, an assignment Sklar said he completed in 2002.

And then there was recollections of being appointed by President Bill Clinton following the Kosovo War, to help develop market economies to attract private investment, not to mention his work as US ambassador to the United Nations, and his leadership in civilian implementation of the Bosnian Peace Accords.

“Though I’m not sure I learned a lot in Bosnia, except how to deal with very contentious groups,” Sklar quipped.
Sklar did acknowledge that during his four years as a member of the SFPUC governing board, progress on updating the city’s wastewater system was slow, and he stressed the fact that he had disagreed with the commission’s yes vote on a contract with J-P Power, which, he said, took place while he wasn’t there.

“The contract did not make economic sense,: said Sklar, who claimed the Mayor’s staff rebuffed him, when he pointed out what he considered to be the contract’s "ridiculous terms."

“I got nowhere, but then Jessie Blout did an analysis, found I was right” Sklar said, pointing to guidelines that the PUC adopted in October for a new contract that allows peakers to run, only as an emergency, so as to cut down pollution.

When Sup. Geraldo Sandoval asked if Sklar had surely noticed that a majority of supervisors have "lost some confidence in his ability to lead the agency," Sklar sidestepped the question, replying insteadthat on the commission he is surrounded by four people, who are "almost unanimous, and very collegial."

‘The Members of the Board are out of joint over Ms. Leal’s firing,” Sklar claimed. “Susan is someone I supported for Mayor in 2003, but the commissioners and the General manager have drifted apart.”

"I can serve well for the next 6 months with Mr. Harrington, I can be a valuable asset, even if I don’t survive past August,” Sklar added, presumably referring to a potential clean slate at the Commission, if the Board’s PUC charter amendment passes this summer.
“Coming out of a war zone, I consider myself collateral damage in a battle that’s not mine,” Sklar said.

But Sandoval likened the debacle to the US presidential race--a choice between expertise and change.

“The change that many people on this body would like to see is public power at the PUC, a change that has not come fast enough,” Sandoval said. “I believe…we need someone who perhaps does not have institutional memory, but does have desire to change the institution.

Sklar begged to differ, defending his record in building up Hetch Hetchy, and explaining his belief that it would be a mistake to buy an antiquated from PG&E that is in serious need of repair, that there is a poison pill in community choice aggregation, and that the most important thing the PUC can do, in his opinion, is find the lowest cost for and the most reliable and greenest way to provide power.

But Dufty wasn’t buying Sklar’s pitch.
“I beg to differ about collateral damage,” Dufty said. “Often, your presentation is of someone running the department, not serving as a commissioner offering citizen oversight. The Issue isn’t one policy, or one vote. No reason was laid out for removal of the General Manager, who served as the leader of a department that is rebuilding our water structure, and addressing the injustice of 80 percent of the city’s sewage being processed in the southeast.”

“This Commission and the leadership of city is going to take us off course,” Dufty warned, “ all because the Mayor wants someone who is a ‘team player’. But Mr. Sklar has been ugly to staff at Commission meetings, he has browbeaten people…and this episode is going to cost us in terns of relationships, and $400k, unnecessarily.”

Sup. Michela Alioto-Pier strongly disagreed with Dufty, claiming that Sklar has “served for 32 years with grace, but he’s tough."

Sklar claimed that Leal’s removal was related to “personal reasons” he didn’t want to discuss.

Sup. Maxwell claimed Sklar had said the sewage digesters in the southeast didn’t need to be changed, and noting that her district has the highest rate of asthma and that no other sewage plant in the country is within 25 ft of people’s homes, Maxwell added, " The Mayor had seen fit to change the General Manager.. and we too have an opportunity and a responsibility to make a change."

And then Sup. Chris Daly surprised many in the crowd by joining mayoral allies Alioto-Pier, Chu and Elsbernd, in voting against ousting Sklar.

Immediately, rumors circulated that Daly had cut some kind of a deal.

Daly denies any such move, telling the Guardian that he advised Board Chair Aaron Peskin, before the Feb. 12 meeting, that he would be supporting Sklar, and that he has voted against publicly owned privately owned polluting energy production.
“It’s a case of public power versus green energy,” Daly said, claiming that the fallout between Leal and Sklar revolves around the peaker plants.

“Sklar called them to the carpet on the original proposal,” Daly said, adding, “I like Susan. I’m against letting her go and against it costing the city $400,000.”