THIS STORY WAS UPDATED ON FRIDAY, FEB. 21
HARTFORD – The state Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee approved the reappointment of Public Utilities Regulatory Authorities Chair (PURA) Marissa Paslick Gillett after a seven-hour hearing on Thursday. Her confirmation now moves along to the House and Senate, which are both controlled by the Democrats.
Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, who brokered a late-night deal Wednesday to make the energy regulator a quasi-public agency that will go back to having five members, called the 13-8 committee vote along party lines an affirmation of his choice to lead PURA for a second four-year term.
“Today, the executive nominations committee reaffirmed what I’ve said all along – Chairman Gillett is the most experienced, qualified person to ever serve on PURA,” Lamont said. “Her record of fairness, collaboration, and accountability speaks for itself. While the future makeup and configuration of PURA will be developed legislatively over the coming months, I look forward to her eventual confirmation by the full General Assembly so that she may continue her great work on behalf of the ratepayers of our state.”
Lamont spokesman Rob Blanchard said the deal was brokered “late (Wednesday) night,” smoothing the path for Gillett ahead of a hearing Thursday in which she had faced a more than six hours of questions from lawmakers about the state’s high cost of energy.
As part of the deal, Lamont will agree to legislation removing PURA from under the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, instead making it a quasi-public agency.
That move will also clear the path for Lamont to appoint a sitting legislator, state Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, to a vacant seat on PURA’s board. As part of the agreement, a second vacancy on the board will be filled by Lamont’s appointment of former state Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R- East Lyme, Blanchard said.
Senate Republicans, some of who sit on the nominations committee, assailed the vote and “back-room deal” as “sheer arrogance.”
Senators Stephen Harding, Henri Martin, Eric Berthel, Heather Somers, Rob Sampson, Ryan Fazio, Paul Cicarella, and Jeff Gordon issued the following statement:
“A shady 11th hour deal was hatched between Gov. Lamont and his fellow Democrats who control the legislature. The sheer arrogance of it is beyond the pale. The governor and his Democrat pals spent weeks negotiating behind closed doors to get one of their own a new job.”
They claimed that only the day before multiple Democrats were going to vote “no” on Gillett’s renomination.
“Now, they are voting ‘yes?’ they said. “Amazing how back room deals can change minds.”
Gillett’s turn
During the hearing Gillett was called on to defend herself and the work of her staff over the past six years.
“First of all, I would to recognize the 78 hard-working staff of PURA,” Gillett said early on the hearing. “As I said in my opening remarks, we have grown our ranks. When I took over in 2019, we had approximately 67 staff. Following that, we had the pandemic, the state wave of retirements. And through all that PURA has grown its ranks. We have retained and recruited folks from across the country who are proud to work at PURA. My management style is very much focused on empowering those folks.”
Regarding accusations that Gillett and the commissioners aren’t working together properly.
“I had a pretty good idea about how multiple-member commissions functioned, both as my time in Maryland and working across the states and their public service commissions.
“When I arrived in Connecticut in 2019, I was surprised to learn how the committee structured itself. What I walked into was a committee that had three commissioners, and when a docket was received they would assign that docket to a lead commissioner. The other commissioners were asked to trust their judgment and trust their decisions. That was not similar, in fact the opposite, to how I was taught to regulate in Maryland where the commissioners sat for all matters and delivered it together.”
So, she said immediately restructured the commission’s protocol and processes. “If an outside party makes a filing with PURA, it is automatically distributed to all commissioners and staff on that proceeding,” she said.
“All decisional staff and commissioners of PURA meet once a month in person. We go through every single open docket and every single open motion. There is an opportunity for every commissioner to follow up with staff or follow up individually with staff.”
She made a point of saying all commissioners have access to all information that is being provided to and drafted by the staff. She said those changes has led to the commission issuing unanimous decisions over 99% of the time.
Of those in the public who spoke before the nominations committee, none came out against Gillett and PURA staff’s work. One of the PURA staff attorneys, who co-authored a letter of support from 18 PURA staffers in the CT Mirror on Feb. 10, described how Gillett held up during the criticism she has received from utilities and many state lawmakers.
“Anyone who thinks Chairman Gillett spends her time thinking of ways to hurt our state’s utilities or overcharge people seriously misunderstand her character,” said Elizabeth Tanaka, a PURA staff attorney. “If the smear directed at her weren’t so serious, the inaccuracy of them would be funny.
“But in a time of historic level vindictiveness and pettiness, Chairman Gillett consistently shows up and does her job with inspiring neutrality. She has made it clear at PURA it is our job to seek the truth regardless of the mud that is thrown at her and who is throwing that mud.”
As for the op-ed that was authored by Jhena Vigrass, et al, Tanaka said it started out as a collection of female employees who were upset over the vitriol directed at their boss because she is a woman.
“We spoke very strongly that someone should speak for her,” Tanaka said. “In the spirit of being inclusive, we decided to include the men as well.”
