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California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

propublica.org

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Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#131

Post by dragonwriter »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #84
dgoldstein0 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California does have some less-common voting systems in play - on my San Francisco ballots, the two interesting things I've seen: - IRV is commonly used for local positions - Other positions seem to use a system where all the political parties have the same primary, and then only the top two candidates are on the ballot for the general election. Wikipedia describes it well: > Under California's non-partisan blanket p…

>Every senate election I can recall in California has been Democrat v Democrat by the general election Which is the point of the system. Republicans only have a shot if they don't compete with each other, and no third party candidate ever has a chance.

> >Every senate election I can recall in California has been Democrat v Democrat by the general election

> Which is the point of the system.

Yes, but not the way you paint it.

> Republicans only have a shot if they don't compete with each other, and no third party candidate ever has a chance.

No, the point (at least, insofar as created by same-party general elections was the point) of the system was that Republican-leaning voters would have an impact on which Democrat was elected in safe Democratic seats.

Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#132

Post by zarkov99 »

Kapura wrote: post #123

It feels like I live in a country where every level of government is unbelievably corrupt, but also completely unfixable. How are you supposed to address the sorts of issues that lose $200,000,000 of state money if the people who try to do so get fired? I don't see a way out of this mess, and it makes me want to move somewhere... better.

Where?

Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#133

Post by hallman76 »

dukeofdoom wrote: post #126

Reminds me of this story I read yesterday. You can't question the system. Or the system questions you. So illiberal. "Michigan’s Democratic attorney general vowed Tuesday to pursue legal punishments against attorneys who have challenged the state’s election results" https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/dec/22/dana-nessel...

FTA

> “We’ll go to the Attorney Grievance Commission on some cases, where we know for a fact that there were intentional misrepresentations that were made, the kind where there is no question of the facts,” she said, according to The New York Times.

> “If you have your name attached to it and you’ve made intentional misrepresentations, I absolutely think you ought to be held accountable,” she said.

This seems pretty reasonable to me.

Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#134

Post by dragonwriter »

dgoldstein0 wrote: post #59
dragonwriter wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a European I ask myself why there’s no proportional voting system at all in the US. Because change in voting systems has well-studied partisan and ideological impacts, and many of the people who know enough to understand the way that our current voting system contributes to widely-recognized problems in governance also have studied the issue well enough to understand those impacts, and many of them, even while a…

California does have some less-common voting systems in play - on my San Francisco ballots, the two interesting things I've seen: - IRV is commonly used for local positions - Other positions seem to use a system where all the political parties have the same primary, and then only the top two candidates are on the ballot for the general election. Wikipedia describes it well: > Under California's non-partisan blanket p…

> Every senate election I can recall in California has been Democrat v Democrat by the general election.

So, you have a very short memory? The nonpartisan blanket primary was adopted in 2010, so no elections prior to that were Democrat-Democrat; 2012 also wasn't. 2016 and 2018 were.

Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#135

Post by AngryData »

legulere wrote: post #20
Justin_K wrote: post #18

The sad part is that CA remains a one party state and this will just get swept under the rug. The power is too unchecked.

As a European I ask myself why there’s no proportional voting system at all in the US. The states should be independent enough to introduce one for themselves, and there are also referendums.

States do have complete power over elections, the problem is most state governments are just as corrupt as the feds and changing voting methods or procedures puts both republicans and democrats at risk of independent party members taking positions. It is about the two major parties trying to maintain political power despite increasing voter dissatisfaction going on decades.

Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#136

Post by aliljet »

swiley wrote: post #130
Kapura wrote: post #123

It feels like I live in a country where every level of government is unbelievably corrupt, but also completely unfixable. How are you supposed to address the sorts of issues that lose $200,000,000 of state money if the people who try to do so get fired? I don't see a way out of this mess, and it makes me want to move somewhere... better.

The problem with California is that they tend to keep putting all their eggs in the same broken basket.

I'm curious what that broken basket is?

Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#137

Post by annoyingnoob »

Someone needs to explain both sets of accounting practices to the public. Its public money we are talking about. Californians pay tons of little taxes on utilities to fund improvements and service for the less privileged - we expect that money to be put to use and not to line the pockets of utilities. Its quite obviously that our utilities have completely failed when it comes to maintenance and improvements. What are the folks managing these finds doing other than fighting? Time to explain yourselves.

Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#138

Post by zug_zug »

I think there's whistleblower statute that protects such employees and even offers huge financial rewards to people who report financial frauds. I imagine she's eligible.

[1] https://www.helmerfriedman.com/whistleblower-programs-reward...

Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M

#139

Post by [deleted] »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #85
phnofive wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, if not surprisingly, partisan support flipped in 2016, making this less ideological than tactical. https://news.gallup.com/poll/320744/americans-support-abolis...

The public's opinion is irrelevant, both parties will continue propping up systems that prevent any other competition from having a shot.

[deleted]
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