Who Is Subsidizing the Leonard Bentz PSC Election Campaign?

25. Jul, 2011 3 Comments

LEONARD BENTZ

From Better Mississippi Report:

Nothing like having the luxury of a taxpayer-funded tour around the district during the last week of a campaign to keep a candidate in the public eye. Just ask incumbent Public Service Commissioner Leonard Bentz.

Bentz announced today a series of “ratepayer forums,” where Bentz and his staff will meet with voters, er ratepayers, “to assist Mississippi Ratepayers with their utility concerns in the continuation of the series of Ratepayers’ Forums. Information on registration for several utility assistance programs such as LIHEAP, Lifeline/LinkUp, Weatherization assistance, Zap the Gap and the No-Call program will be available. Other utility questions and current issues involving the Public Service Commission will also be addressed.”

We wonder if the “other issues” Bentz wants to talk about include the impending 48 percent electricity rate increase that’s coming to the people of the Southern District due to his support of the Kemper Coal Plant.

Bentz highlights the fact that he, himself, will be on hand in Pascagoula at the Senior Citizens Center at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 26. Maybe some of these voters — sorry, we mean ratepayers — Bentz is targeting with his feel-good tour will be on hand to ask him the hard questions about his voting record.

Are these meetings illegal? We don’t know.

Do they appear unethical at this juncture in the campaign? In our opinion, yes, they do.

Just like what we overheard the other night on Supertalk (yes, we do listen) when, during the live broadcast of a candidate forum in Jones County, it was announced that Commissioner Bentz’s “staff” was set up in the corner ready to answer any questions about the PSC.

The guy has some nerve. Either that, or he thinks he is pure Teflon. We’ll see what the voters think on Aug 2, whether or not they attend these “Ratepayer Forums.” And maybe we’ll see what the law enforcers think about this behavior before that.


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3 Responses to “Who Is Subsidizing the Leonard Bentz PSC Election Campaign?”

  1. Clayton 26. Jul, 2011 at 9:33 am

    Lets be equal here. Doesn’t Brandon Presley, a Democrat on the PSC, also use taxpayer funded Ratepayer Forums all the time?

  2. mississippicoal.wordpress 26. Jul, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    Leonard Bentz does not respect the office of PSC and has abused his power by making the Kemper county (Cap and trade) Coal Plant the scheme that ruins Mississippi. We will be shackled to Obama’s agenda FOR LIFE!

    “If we don’t implement carbon capture and storage,” says John Thompson of the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental advocacy group, “it’s probably game over on climate change.”

  3. Travis Rose 01. Aug, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    Kudos to WLOX for not having Bentz as a guest to discuss these “forums” the week before the election.