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3 named to PSC, get ethics reminder

By ROBERT TRIGAUX
Published October 7, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday appointed Matt Carter, Katrina Tew and Isilio Arriaga to serve on the Public Service Commission.

Carter, 53, is a senior staff director in the Florida House of Representatives, and formerly served as deputy secretary for the Department of Management Services. Tew, 32, is an adviser to outgoing PSC chairman Braulio Baez, whose term ends in January. And Arriaga, 57, is a management consultant in Miami and a former congressman in Venezuela.

Carter and Tew will serve for a full term from 2006 to 2010. Arriaga will serve a partial term beginning Oct. 6 and ending Jan. 1, 2007.

The new members will join incumbents Terry Deason and Lisa Edgar on the five-person commission.

In naming the three, Bush told the appointees the PSC can't be as "insular" as it is now. He cited a series of newspaper articles focusing on possible improprieties involving PSC members attending utility conferences with the people they regulate.

The PSC helps oversee such regulated businesses as Progress Energy Florida, Tampa Electric and Verizon, among others.

"There is the perception of conflict, and it's very easy to resolve those things," Bush said. "Yet the PSC seems to be stymied - unable to do that. Having people with a new perspective I think will help in that regard."

The governor said he personally "re-reinforced" the need for a PSC ethics policy in phone conversations with the new commissioners.

Times staff writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this story.

[Last modified October 7, 2005, 01:49:15]