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PSC chooses 18 nominees for openings

A legislative committee will further winnow candidates for Gov. Bush's consideration for three commission spots.

By LOUIS HAU
Published July 19, 2005

TAMPA - The Florida Public Service Commission nominating council chose 18 candidates Monday, including an incumbent commissioner facing ethics complaints, for further consideration to fill one vacancy and two upcoming vacancies on the commission.

The nominees were part of an unusually large group selected after the council conducted brief interviews Monday with 22 candidates at the Tampa Airport Marriott Hotel.

The council had chosen those candidates for interviews from a pool of 131 applicants.

Under new rules signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush, the nominating council must forward six nominees for each PSC vacancy to the newly formed joint Legislative Committee on PSC Oversight.

The committee will choose three finalists for each opening by Sept. 15 and forward them to Bush for his consideration. Bush will then have a month to appoint three of the finalists to fill the vacancies.

The 18 nominees are vying for a PSC vacancy created by the resignation of commissioner Charles Davidson on June 1 and two positions opening up in January with the expiration of the four-year terms of commissioner Rudy Bradley, who is seeking reappointment, and PSC chairman Braulio Baez, who is not.

Bradley, 59, is the target of two pending ethics complaints: one for having read a Verizon Communications memo during an October 2002 PSC hearing and representing its arguments as his own and a second for attending a June 2002 utility regulators' meeting in Miami Beach largely underwritten by funds provided by regulated utilities.

Three other commissioners were also named in the latter complaint.

The complaints didn't appear to faze the nominating council, which is made up of state legislators and citizens. Most of the council's interview with Bradley focused on issues other than ethics concerns. When the topic was broached at the end of the interview by council chairman Greg Krasovsky, Bradley described the complaints as unfounded.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, and Rep. David Murzin, R-Pensacola, were among the nominating council members to vote for Bradley, who is a former state legislator from St. Petersburg.

"Even though he has some particular problems, when I look at the 22 candidates, he was one of the most qualified," Bennett said after Monday's vote. "Because he hasn't been found guilty of anything, I think he deserves a day in the sun."

[Last modified July 19, 2005, 01:08:15]