There’s a job opening at the Public Service Commission since general counsel Booter Imhof quit on Friday while the regulatory panel is mired in controversy.

Commissioner Lisa Edgar proposed two well-known Democratic politicians to step in for Imhof: former Attorney General Bob Butterworth, who also served as Department of Children and Families chief under Gov. Charlie Crist, and former state Sen. Rod Smith, who ran a losing battle in the Democratic primary for governor in 2006.

“It’s time to untangle the spaghetti bowl in which we find ourselves,” said Edgar.

“The question is why would they want to come into the spaghetti bowl?” questioned Commissioner Nathan Skop.

Commissioner Nancy Argenziano suggested former statewide prosecutor Melanie Hines.

Whoever the commission picks, Chairman Matthew Carter repeatedly laid down the law in one regard.
“I want them to agree not to come before us for at least five years in any capacity representing any party. I can’t go for that,” said Carter.

Carter said he’d prefer to have the prospective general counsel promise to never come before the panel, but backed away from that.

“If we’re dealing with a perception problem, then certainly we need to make sure we don’t add to it. The best thing to do when you’re in a hole is to stop digging,” he said.

Tags: Booter Imhof, Lisa Edgar, Matthew Carter, Nancy Argenziano, Nathan Skop, PSC, Public Service Commission

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Public Service Commission. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.