Posted on Aug 4, 2022
Local Spotlight: Shedding light on shady utility practices
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A new investigation published in the Orlando Sentinel and The Guardian explores the influence utility companies have over our state politics, journalism, and environmental policy.
A trove of leaked documents illustrates how companies bribed ghost candidates, paid for a journalist to be stalked, bought media coverage, and infiltrated non-profit organizations.
“Utilities are powerful political players and apparently they have no qualms about engaging in deceptive practices, unethical practices, and in other cases in illegal practices,” said Ari Peskoe, the director of the Harvard Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School.
In recent years, there were also two high-profile bribery cases involving state lawmakers and utility companies in Ohio and Illinois.
As part of our Local Spotlight series, we investigate the influence utility companies have over our democratic institutions, climate change policy, and our wallets.
A trove of leaked documents illustrates how companies bribed ghost candidates, paid for a journalist to be stalked, bought media coverage, and infiltrated non-profit organizations.
“Utilities are powerful political players and apparently they have no qualms about engaging in deceptive practices, unethical practices, and in other cases in illegal practices,” said Ari Peskoe, the director of the Harvard Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School.
In recent years, there were also two high-profile bribery cases involving state lawmakers and utility companies in Ohio and Illinois.
As part of our Local Spotlight series, we investigate the influence utility companies have over our democratic institutions, climate change policy, and our wallets.
Local Spotlight: Shedding light on shady utility practices
Posted from the1a.org
Energy
Journalism
Environment
Policy
Ethics
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."FPL Chief Communications Officer David Reuter: “We believe the facts in this matter are simple. Joe Perkins, the owner of consulting firm Matrix, is engaged in a bitter legal dispute with former employees. We suspect the documents were leaked to gain leverage in that legal dispute. Mr. Perkins has a federal record of making false statements, which calls into question the credibility of these documents. From the moment we learned about these allegations, we undertook a thorough investigation which found no evidence of illegal wrongdoing by FPL or any of our employees. We believe our company and our employees have acted legally in our business dealings and these documents provide both an inaccurate and misleading representation of our actions.”
..."FPL Chief Communications Officer David Reuter: “We believe the facts in this matter are simple. Joe Perkins, the owner of consulting firm Matrix, is engaged in a bitter legal dispute with former employees. We suspect the documents were leaked to gain leverage in that legal dispute. Mr. Perkins has a federal record of making false statements, which calls into question the credibility of these documents. From the moment we learned about these allegations, we undertook a thorough investigation which found no evidence of illegal wrongdoing by FPL or any of our employees. We believe our company and our employees have acted legally in our business dealings and these documents provide both an inaccurate and misleading representation of our actions.”
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