Prognostication (Jack Bog's Blog)

Well, today's the day that the Oregon Public Utility Commission will approve the Texas Pacific takeover of PGE. There may be some conditions attached, but I'm betting the deal will go through.

Why?

The PUC is two Democrats and one Republican. They've all been in Salem too long. With the City of Portland waiting in the wings to institute Big-Time Public Power, there's no way the Republican can vote no on TPG-PGE. And the two Democrats are Governor Ted's guys, which means they're also likely good buddies with that Certain Someone who had his name on the top of the deal before the value of his name was so righteously cancelled out.

One of the two PUC commisioners ran the Oregon Department of Energy for 10 years, and he worked there for another six before that. I worked with the Oregon DOE for a while around 15 years ago. It seemed to me at that time to be an extremely odd organization that went out of its way to run interference for big corporate interests.

And so I have every expectation that the breathtaking announcement at 11 this morning will be splendid news for the good old boys at Texas Pacific. Thus, we can expect Lil Erik to be all red in the face when he shows up for the followup press conference this afternoon. And like Sheriff Andy to his Opie, the mayor will be there swearing to keep the city safe from the Robber Barons. They'll wind up spending even more millions on top of the million-plus they've already burned out of the city's property tax pot to pay for this quixotic little adventure.

Public power activist Dan Meek will chalk up another bitter defeat. He knows he's right, but once again, nobody listened.

And tonight a pack of fat cats up in the West Hills will be patting their wallets and winking and smirking at each other. In this town, for some people, life is always very good indeed.

And if I'm wrong about all this? It will be a great day for the rest of us.

Comments (9)

Here's to public Robber Barons Andy and Opie...BWAAAAAAAAAAA!

Posted by RTH | March 10, 2005 7:37 AM

Jack,
I'll bet you a buck it goes the other way. I think the PUC will either reject the Texas Group or lay down conditions which they will not accept.

Posted by Dave Lister | March 10, 2005 8:08 AM

I'm with Dave on this one. They will set conditions, some version of what the staff indicatd the conditions should be. That lets the PUC claim to be representing the public interest, while throwing the ball back into TPG's hands.

Posted by The One True b!X | March 10, 2005 10:37 AM

I'll take the buck bet. There'll be conditions, but they won't be deal-killers.

The Robber Barons want this one pretty bad.

If I'm wrong, I'll be pleasantly surprised at the PUC. And worried sick about the City of Portland.

Posted by Jack Bog | March 10, 2005 10:52 AM

They rejected the sale.

Posted by The One True b!X | March 10, 2005 11:05 AM

Jack,
Hang on to your buck and we'll go double or nothing later on whether Portland gets it. Sten and Potter have been promoting their plan to lots of business folks recently and I was pretty sure they had the inside scoop. We can now look forward to a lively debate over their proposal.

Posted by Dave Lister | March 10, 2005 12:13 PM

Hey, you said "approved with hard conditions." So I'm only paying 75 cents...

Posted by Jack Bog | March 10, 2005 3:16 PM

Okay. Six bits apiece double or nothing on the next go around. That's a three buck pot. If enough entities try to buy PGE one or the other of us will be able to buy a six dollar burger!

Posted by Dave Lister | March 10, 2005 4:38 PM

By the way, I can afford to loose the bet. I'm on PP&L.

Posted by Dave Lister | March 10, 2005 4:52 PM

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Thursday, March 10, 2005

Prognostication

Comments (9)

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