The breakdown in harmony between the PUC and the utilities isn't the only fallout beginning to accumulate in the wake of the deregulation debacle. One has only to look as far as the rise and fall of Steve Peace, the chairman of the committee that formulated the deregulation bill, to see how it's beginning to injure people. The movie, which has earned more than its share of guffaws in the halls of the state Capitol, is complete with numerous cuts of Peace as chairman of the committee that formulated AB 1890, stating his opposition to deregulation for the record. The film then cuts to Peace addressing a legislative committee in August 1996. It has never been my view that this is a good idea.
Peace says on the tape.
I think the federal government is nuts. But Peace wasn't always so willing to make his disrespect for deregulation known. Until the market collapsed this year, Peace never intervened when reporters casually referred to him as the godfather of California electricity deregulation. Quite to the contrary, the state senator had hoped to parlay his legislative success into a run for California secretary of state next year. But last week, Peace closed his fundraising committee, effectively removing his name from consideration.