Paranoid General Electric

[December 28th, 2005] Maybe WW should have asked Portland General Electric this week's cover question about what pissed them off in 2005. The utility's likely answer: the City of Portland's handling of public records.

On Dec. 20, PGE lawyer J. Jeffrey Dudley filed a request with City Attorney Linda Meng seeking "copies of all written Public Records Requests received by the City of Portland or any elected official of the City of Portland requesting documents provided by PGE or documents analyzing PGE's reponse to City Resolution No. 36337 ('PGE Documents')." That resolution, passed in October, required PGE to provide financial and tax information so the city could determine the fairness of PGE's rates.

Dudley also asked for any information relating to verbal requests for the documents. That includes who made the request, when, of whom, and what information the city provided when. (WW relied extensively on the documents PGE provided to the city for a Nov. 30 cover story, "Pants on Fire.")

City Commissioner Randy Leonard, who wants hearings next year on PGE's handling of more than $700 million in taxes it collected but never paid to taxing authorities, says Dudley's letter reads like a misguided attempt at intimidation.

"They're used to controlling the message the public gets, but now they find themselves behind the eight-ball," Leonard says. "They are floundering."

PGE spokesman Scott Simms disagrees.

"We made the request because we want to better understand how documents given to the city of Portland by PGE—including sensitive documents—are ultimately handled by the city," Simms says.

Meng has sent a memo to all city commissioners and their staffs seeking the information PGE requested.