Profit-taking makes PSE a bad corporate citizen

I urge voters to beware of the many distortions presented by Puget Sound Energy and their hired operatives in their efforts to defeat Proposition 1, the public power initiative.

PSE greatly inflates the price of its system in Thurston County to frighten the public. The Washington state Department of Revenue reports the total appraised value of PSE’s Thurston County assets at $131.2 million. If PSE’s assets are truly worth what they claim, they are paying less than their share and taking away funds from Thurston County schoolchildren, police and firefighters.

PSE is not a good corporate citizen. It is owned and run by a large multi-national corporation that sucked $17 million in profit out of Thurston County in 2011. They then brag about donating 0.003 percent of this profit to charities. PSE wants you to believe that the public is not ready for public power, that the economy is not strong enough to make an investment in public power.

When the economy is struggling, we can’t allow corporate monopoly prices to make families struggle to pay higher rates year after year. A locally elected commission is more likely to hold down power rates and solve environmental problems than an out-of-country conglomerate focused on profits. Don’t let professional political mercenaries with money scare you with their distortions about public power.