GOP chief rips Davis power strategy

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press March 16, 2001.

By ANN WISHART
Valley Press Business Editor

LANCASTER - Saying the California governor's strategy for dealing with the energy crisis has been "uncoordinated," Scott Baugh, finance co-chairman for the California Republican Party, told listeners at the Antelope Valley Business Leaders Reception on Thursday night that taxpayers can expect energy rate increases, bailouts and bankruptcy before the energy problems are solved.

The energy market is dysfunctional, Baugh said, partly because we have been trying to avoid the consequences of not dealing with a shortage of electricity when it was pending last year. The longer the government resists the painful solutions to the problem, the worse it will get, he said.

Smaller electricity producers that supply about 30% of California's power have not been paid since November and are going off line. When small power suppliers go off line, the state has to buy replacement power on the net short market, which Baugh likened to buying an airline ticket the day you have to travel by plane. It leaves the buyer at the mercy of the market and the seller.

Baugh called recent plans for the state to buy the power transmission grid "a ruse to get a bailout." There are pros and cons to putting Pacific Gas & Electric into bankruptcy, he said, adding that, at least in bankruptcy, the matter would go to a judge who would have the power to sort it out.

In response to a question about building more power plants in the state, Baugh said the governor is trying to streamline the review process but it will still take a few years to build and bring on line power plants.

Baugh also talked about improving the function of the Republican Party in California. The purpose of the party is to register voters and get the vote out on Election Day. Party rules about the length the chairman serves need to change to make the party more functional, Baugh said.

The reception, presented by the Antelope Valley Board of Trade at the Essex House, was attended by about 75 people.