An All-Too-Rare Win for the Good Guys -- No on California's Prop 16

It’s a happy but all-too-rare occasion when I can announce a victory for the good guys in energy over the bad. My young daughter Valerie accompanied me to the polls Tuesday evening and watched me cast a single vote: No on California's referendum "Proposition 16" – a vote that was duplicated by 52.5% of Californians, signifying our outrage at the attempt of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E -- a utility serving about 20 million people) to buy further monopolistic control of the state energy marketplace.

Voters realized the truth: the sole supporter and sole beneficiary of Prop 16 was PG&E itself.

The proposition would have generated an amendment in the State Constitution requiring a two-thirds (virtually unachievable) majority if a community were to replace PG&E with a competitive energy provider. In an Orwellian advertising campaign, PG&E promoted that voters should approve Prop 16 if they wanted a voice in how their energy dollars are spent.

A spokeswoman for the Utility Reform Network noted, "They lost bigger in counties where they actually serve customers. It sort of highlights the corporate excess that PG&E is becoming known for."

"PG&E is a force for evil," a San Francisco graduate student said. "I bundle up. I wear three sweaters, two hats and do jumping jacks before I will turn on the heat. I hate them. They are awful. And I'm a Buddhist. I don't usually talk like this."

Well, pal, I'm not a Buddhist; I talk and write like this more or less constantly.  They really are awful.  But despite the cash, justice has been served – at least this one time.