Pacific Gas & Electric: “Fuck the Voters”

If you’re somewhere to the left of Dick Cheney and Grover Norquist, this article combines the worst of corporate monopolies, corporate welfare, and the hijacking of the statewide initiative process by corporate interests.

There’s probably a city near you that’s fighting the ongoing battle of public/municipal utilities vs. “the private sector” trying to provide the same service.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has a long history of spending quatrabrazilians of dollars throughout California every time a municipal government even thinks about creating a public utility service and thereby no longer needing PG&E’s monopoly “service.” Sometimes they win (money talks) and once in awhile they lose.

And PG&E is about to fix this pesky little problem once and for all.

This June, courtesy of the above-named monopoly, there will be a ballot in California which, if passed, would require a two thirds vote before any local government could change to another utility provider.

What The Fuck is going on here? I thought voting meant, uh, gee, the saying “majority rules” rings a bell.

It was bad enough when these Neanderthal anti-tax fuckwits started getting a two thirds vote requirement in order for communities to get themselves out of a straitjacket. And this two thirds requirement was always about schools, mass transit, libraries, fire departments — in short, anything that actually benefited the public.

There’s never been any two thirds vote required for invading other countries, building more prisons, or sentencing potheads to life in prison.

Enough is enough.

And now PG&E — with the help of the Mafia Supreme Court Ruling legalizing bribery — is trying to use this same undemocratic Fascist tactic to guarantee that no public utility will ever compete with them again.

In addition to being a corporate monopoly — completely unresponsive and unaccountable — PG&E has a disgraceful history of providing Stone Age service at 21st Century prices. Every time California has a winter storm — and this happens in California in the wintertime — PG&E is completely dumbfounded and unprepared. “Rain and wind in January, who knew?!?!?!?! Nobody could have anticipated…”

So when tens of thousands of their captive customers are stranded without power for days, weeks — “But, these storms were unprecedented! There was nothing we could’ve done!”

They’re also famous for massive layoffs at the worst possible time. Several years ago, a judge levied a multi-million dollar fine against PG&E for failure to cut down trees that were near power lines. (This is part of their job requirement.) The company pleaded and groveled and sobbed that they’d have to lay off thousands of their employees if they had to pay that huge painful mean awful fine.

The judge relented and suspended their fine — and a few weeks later PG&E went ahead and laid off thousands of their workers.

That’s the kind of company they are. Any past or present California resident will vouch for that. And now PG&E has millions of dollars to spend — dollars extorted out of their millions of captive customers — to hijack California’s initiative process.

California voters, please don’t let this happen. If this can happen in California, we’re all toast.