REALLY? PG&E TAKES ACTION TO ADDRESS EX PARTE COMMUNICATION ISSUES IDENTIFIED IN SELF-REPORT TO CPUC TODAY; PLEDGES 'NO EXCUSES' COMPLIANCE

PG&E TAKES ACTION TO ADDRESS EX PARTE COMMUNICATION ISSUES IDENTIFIED IN SEL

F-REPORT TO CPUC TODAY; PLEDGES 'NO EXCUSES' COMPLIANCE

Release Date: September 15, 2014
Contact: PG&E External Communications (415) 973-5930

San Francisco, Calif.— Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today notified the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that an extensive internal review of nearly five years of emails between the company and officials at the Commission has identified a number of instances in which PG&E believes it violated the CPUC's rules governing communications with the state regulator in the pending Gas Transmission & Storage rate case.

The communications reported to the CPUC today occurred over a three-week period in January, 2014, during which time a number of e-mails were sent to the CPUC concerning the assignment of administrative law judges and commissioners to the Gas Transmission & Storage rate case. These e-mails may have violated CPUC rules prohibiting certain ex parte communications -- meaning communication with decision-makers that takes place without the knowledge of all parties to a proceeding.

These communications were identified after the company voluntarily chose to broaden its internal review of any potential ex parte communications well beyond those communications referenced in a San Bruno motion filed last July. The expanded review included more than 65,000 emails to and from the Commission since early 2010.

Actions to Address

"As a company, we must be committed to complying with both the letter and the spirit of the law and PG&E's own Code of Conduct at all times. No excuses. That is, and must be, the standard for our behavior individually and as a company," Chairman and CEO Tony Earley and President Chris Johns said in a joint letter to employees today.

They outlined actions resulting from the internal review process:

• Three officers will no longer be employed by the company. They are the senior vice president of regulatory affairs, vice president of regulatory relations, and vice president of regulatory proceedings and rates.
• PG&E has appointed Steve Malnight as senior vice president of regulatory relations. Previously, Malnight was vice president of customer energy solutions. Malnight will report to PG&E President Chris Johns.
• The company is creating the new role of chief regulatory compliance officer, whose mandate will be to help oversee compliance with all requirements governing PG&E’s interactions with the CPUC. The position will report to Chairman and CEO Tony Earley and to the Audit Committee of the PG&E Board of Directors.
• The company has engaged Ken Salazar, a partner in the WilmerHale law firm, as special counsel on regulatory compliance matters to assist in developing a best-in-class regulatory compliance model. Salazar has deep experience in regulatory and energy matters. Among his roles has been service as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Senator from Colorado, Attorney General of Colorado and Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
• PG&E plans additional, mandatory training for all employees who routinely interact with PG&E's regulators.

Letter to Employees

In their joint letter announcing these actions to employees, Earley and Johns said, in part:

"As a company, we must be committed to complying with both the letter and the spirit of the law and PG&E's own Code of Conduct at all times. No excuses. That is, and must be, the standard for our behavior individually and as a company.

"We all have a responsibility to know, understand and comply with all of the rules, including PG&E's own Code of Conduct, as they apply to our respective roles.

"In these instances, there was behavior that clearly failed to meet that standard, and we greatly regret that. Even absent an ex parte violation, these actions did not represent the company in the manner we expect of our officers. As a result, we took immediate and definitive action. We’re continuing this review and will take additional actions if warranted.

"Beyond that, it is also clear that we need to take additional steps to raise the level of professionalism and propriety in our interactions with regulators. While many of us have felt that criticism characterizing PG&E's relationship with the CPUC as 'cozy' has been unfair, we need to acknowledge that we have earned some of the criticism and we need to take action to change that.

"As we have said previously, we have been very disappointed by the tone of some emails that have been reviewed. While not violations of regulations, they are unprofessional and unacceptable.

"We've made truly incredible progress in terms of our operational focus and in creating a strong safety culture at PG&E. But to be successful, it's also critical that our culture demonstrates an unfailing commitment to conducting our business in compliance with both the letter and spirit of the law and our Code of Conduct and with a high degree of professionalism."

PG&E's filing with the CPUC can be read here.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and https://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.

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Who is behind the web site www.pgewitness.com

Images: #PGEWITNESS

For a list of my customers and clients click here.  The list references decades of how my customers have been murdered.

1. I am a former PG&E Contract Programmer.  
2. I remain unpaid, 
3. I’ve been beaten regularly for ten years or longer 
4. My software clients and customers over 35 years are:
   
   
1. PG&E, Bank of America 
2. Wells Fargo Bank 
3. AT&T formerly SBC Services (AT&T Reverse merger)
4. Wendy's 
5. Tony Romas 
6. AT&T
7. PacBell 
8. Contra Costa County 
9. Contra Costa College District 
10. GE Nuclear 
11. City of Walnut Creek. 

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Blessed by Walnut Creek and Trinity Center - my taxes paid for my losses

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Bennett & Johnson and the Witness Murder

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The Mayor of Sanibel in 74’s is the same C.I.A. Director Goss just Resigns?

C.I.A. Director Goss Resigns

By DAVID STOUTMAY 5, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 5 — Porter J. Goss abruptly resigned today as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a post that had been diminished in the restructuring of the intelligence bureaucracy after the Sept. 11 attacks.
With Mr. Goss sitting next to him in the Oval Office, President Bush said the director had offered his resignation this morning. "I've accepted it," Mr. Bush said, praising the retiring director for his "candid advice" and his integrity.
The president said Mr. Goss had led the C.I.A. "ably" through a period of transition, and that he had "helped make this country a safer place." Mr. Bush did not mention a successor, but The Associated Press reported that a senior administration official said one could be chosen as soon as Monday.
Mr. Goss said it had been "a very distinct honor and privilege" to lead the C.I.A. "I would like to report to you that the agency is back on a very even keel and sailing well," Mr. Goss said. He did not explain his decision, and both he and Mr. Bush ignored questions after making their statements.
But it was no secret in Washington that Mr. Goss and John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence whose position came into existence as the result of the Sept. 11 attacks, had engaged in turf battles. Mr. Negroponte was at the Oval Office announcement, but said nothing.
Mr. Goss's time with the C.I.A. was marked by the departure of many long-time agency officials, some of whom complained that he had been overly political in his approach to his job. Mr. Goss sometimes appeared uncomfortable in the office, as when he remarked in early 2005 that the workload was heavy and he sometimes felt pulled in different directions.
Photo


President Bush and Porter Goss in the Oval Office. CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
Mr. Goss's departure comes as the president and his top aides are trying to reinvigorate an administration whose public support has sagged in recent public opinion surveys. The new White House chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, has already announced some changes and has said that more are on the way. And he pointedly invited people who were thinking of leaving the administration by the end of the year to step down a lot sooner.
Mr. Goss, a former Republican Congressman from Florida who headed the House Intelligence Committee and was once a C.I.A. officer, became director in September 2004, succeeding George J. Tenet. His tenure was, as Mr. Bush said, a time of transition _ and undeniably a painful one.
The C.I.A., whose prestige had suffered from intelligence failures on terrorism and Iraq before Mr. Goss arrived, was further reduced in power and official stature by the reorganization of intelligence-gathering that followed the post-mortems over the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
The independent bipartisan commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks recommended the creation of a new post, national intelligence director, that would have supreme power over the C.I.A., the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies in the far-flung intelligence bureaucracy.
Congress accepted that recommendation, creating the new post, which is now filled by Mr. Negroponte, former ambassador to the United Nations and Iraq. He displaced the C.I.A. director as the president's principal intelligence adviser and took what had been Mr. Goss's seat at meetings of the president's key national security aides.
When he took over the C.I.A. in September 2004, Mr. Goss vowed to work hard at "breaking some molds" and getting "more and more of our officers out of Washington." The C.I.A. and the F.B.I. were both criticized by the 9/11 commission.
Mr. Bush said today that Mr. Goss had "instilled a sense of professionalism" at the C.I.A. "He honors the proud history of the C.I.A., an organization that is known for secrecy and accountability," Mr. Bush said.
But Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued a somewhat tepid statement. The senator praised Mr. Goss for his service and acknowledged that he had taken over at a difficult time. "Porter made some significant improvements at the C.I.A.," Mr. Roberts said, "but I think even he would say they still have some way to go."

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This email response from San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District opened up a story of deceit, corruption, and cover-up deep within Contra Costa Costa County

The hierarchy of the Fire Protection Districts leads to the AFL-CIO, Supervisors, and Police where they've been able to deceive the insurers for decades.   This is really the County of Arson and Murder with linkage to the deadly 1968 Walker Family Fire in Clayton CA all the way forward to the March 2010 Piedmont Lumber Fire to November 2010 Clayton CA arson where Hair by Jim business was torched via Molotov Cocktails

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Former Seeno company president sues three family members

 

By Matthias Gafni Contra Costa Times
POSTED:   07/12/2012 05:16:57 PM PDT | UPDATED:   4 YEARS AGO
Click photo to enlarge

Seeno employees talking with a person in a white Sports Utility Vehicle are reflected in the...
In the latest flurry of Seeno-related legal troubles, a second executive from the family's failed Nevada company sued three members of the family and their associates this week, accusing them of racketeering involving such criminal activities as extortion, tax fraud, and mail and wire fraud.
Bradley Mamer, the former president and CEO of Wingfield Nevada Group, a company founded by former Nevada lobbyist Harvey Whittemore and eventually co-owned by two Seeno brothers, sued former bosses Albert Seeno Jr., Albert Seeno III, Thomas Seeno, Michael Ghiorso and Kevin McCauley on Wednesday in a Nevada federal court, asking for more than $500,000 in damages.
The lawsuit paints an unflattering portrait of Albert Seeno Jr. and Albert Seeno III -- who have operated a Concord-based group of development and contracting companies for decades -- and their actions as their Nevada business venture imploded during the housing market collapse.
Mamer makes numerous claims, including threats of violence, environmental malfeasance and federal tax violations. Many of those claims came to light in a separate Feb. 1 federal lawsuit filed by Whittemore, who accused the father-and-son Seenos of racketeering, extortion, grand larceny and making threats.
Days earlier, the Seenos had sued Whittemore, then a friend of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, alleging Whittemore embezzled and misappropriated tens of millions of dollars from their joint company.
 As those two cases inch forward, the FBI -- which along with other federal agencies raided the Seeno's Concord headquarters in February 2010 -- continues to investigate potential mortgage fraud. A home sales executive has already been indicted, and prosecutors said they expect more arrests in the fall.
Calls and emails to the Mamer and Seeno attorneys were not returned Wednesday.
'LAWLESS'
Mamer, who served Wingfield and a predecessor for 17 years, claimed that once Seeno Jr. and his son came on board, the company -- which spearheaded a massive development project in the Nevada desert called Coyote Springs -- was "turned into a lawless and hostile environment by the defendants through a pattern of racketeering activity."
The first sign of trouble, Mamer said, was Feb. 19, 2010, the day after the FBI, IRS and Secret Service raided the Seenos' Concord office. Larry Gunderson, CFO for Thomas Seeno, issued an email to Wingfield's bankers, owners and executives -- including Mamer -- saying, "Albert told Tom that he thought they were investigating mortgage loans."
By April 2010, Albert Seeno Jr., became disgruntled with his Wingfield investment, and that July he and his son took over its management, Mamer said.
Among the allegations in Mamer's suit:

On Aug. 20, 2010, in a "clandestine-like manner," Seeno III had an information technology director remove company computer servers from Mamer's and Whittemore's homes. Seeno III ordered the IT director to enter Whittemore's house without consent or be fired, and he did. He was still fired shortly after.

At a closed-door meeting in October 2010, Seeno III threatened Mamer by saying, "Brad, the 'Seeno Way' is to bend someone over a saw horse and (expletive) them. ... We (expletive) everyone!"

On Feb. 25, 2011, Seeno III ordered Mamer to physically threaten Whittemore if a lease payment was not made by BrightSource, a Wingfield tenant and solar power plant operator. Seeno III also told Mamer to tell the BrightSource representative that if they "did not make the lease payment on time, that he would hire the highest-priced environmental attorney in San Francisco, secretly align himself with an environmental group and shut down the Ivanpah job site for at least three years!" The Ivanpah solar power generation site was the largest in the country at the time and awaiting a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee.

TAXES
In early 2011, Mamer claimed McCauley, the Seeno construction company's CFO, discussed with him taking an estimated $25 million federal tax deduction from the failed capital investment, the PGA Village at Coyote Springs.

McCauley directed Mamer to "develop a historical factual pattern that supported these deductions being shifted from tax year 2009 the year in which the PGA Licensing Agreement was terminated) to tax year 2010," the suit claims. Mamer said the shift would violate federal tax laws.
On Aug. 17, 2011, Mamer was instructed to work on a tax project related to Coyote Springs planned as a "massive fraudulent misrepresentation claim" against Whittemore, saying Seeno Jr. was not made aware that the project value was gone when he bought into Wingfield, Mamer said.
ENVIRONMENT
The Seenos, with their history of California environmental fines, skirted regulations in Nevada, too, Mamer claimed. In October 2010, Mamer said he witnessed unpermitted septic system installations at Coyote Springs and reported it to Nevada regulators, who are investigating.
The following year, Mamer said he advised the Seenos and senior Wingfield staff members of a series of Coyote Springs environmental permit violations. He estimated more than $1.3 million in fees were owed, in addition to indirect violations. Nothing was done, he said.

On June 10, 2011, Mamer alerted the Seenos to an Endangered Species Act violation related to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit issued in regard to the desert tortoise. Compliance would have cost $125,000 and was never done, he said.

Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.
Who's who in Seeno scandal
As the Seeno family and current and former associates appear in more and more litigation, sorting out who's who can be difficult.
Here are those listed in Wednesday's lawsuit:
Plaintiff: Bradley Mamer, of Clark County, Nev., worked for 17 years in Wingfield Nevada Group and its predecessor company. He rose to CEO and president, and now is suing his former bosses.
Defendant: Albert Seeno Jr., 68, of Clayton, owns interests in numerous Nevada casinos and California development and construction companies. Seeno Jr., his brother and son own companies worth in excess of $4 billion and the collective net worth of the trio as individuals is between $100 million and $2 billion, according to a lawsuit.
Defendant: Albert Seeno III, 38, of Pittsburg, is the son of Albert Jr. and has pieces of companies similar to what his father owns.
Defendant: Thomas Seeno, 73, of Alamo, is the older brother of Albert Jr. and went into business with Harvey Whittemore in 2004 to become part owner of Wingfield Nevada Group.
Defendant: Michael Ghiorso, 59, of Dublin, is Wingfield Nevada Group's director of operations and in 2008 was fined $60,000 by the state insurance commissioner and denied a license, according to the suit.
Defendant: Kevin McCauley, a licensed CPA, is the CFO of Albert D. Seeno Construction.
Online
Read a copy of the lawsuit at ContraCostaTimes.com.


A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court accuses three Seenos and their associates of racketeering, including extortion, and mail, wire and tax fraud

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