Video - PG&E, political hijinks and Elk Grove's climate action plan

Elk Grove City Council Member Steve Detrick. |   

During their Wednesday, February 27, 2019 meeting, the Elk Grove City Council adopted its state-mandated climate action plan.

In their approval, the council did not take action that would have made all future development in Elk Grove all electric. Increasingly electricity is produced by renewable sources, unlike natural gas which is a fossil fuel and contributes to climate change.


As part of the deliberation, Elk Grove Council Member Steve Detrick, who is employed by PG&E, commented, "We [PG&E] don't have electric in Elk Grove, for now."

Not surprisingly PG&E has contributed thousands of dollars to members of the Elk Grove City Council. That "investment" by the now-bankrupt California-based electric and natural gas utility will handsomely pay off in Elk Grove for years to come.







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Connie said...

Given the fact that city of Elk Grove staff has now taken to threatening residents for expressing their opinions, the following is just that, my opinion. However, I have also included evidence to support my opinion.

• Given the fact that PG&E currently has a monopoly on natural gas lines installed in the majority of homes here in Elk Grove; and
• Given the fact what we found out at last Wednesday’s Elk Grove City Council meeting during the General Plan Update portion of Climate Action Plan when it has been discussed that future homes be all electric for environmental reasons; and
• Given the fact that Council member Steve Detrick commented, smugly, that he worked for PG&E (and what some believed professed his love of gas), didn’t the public have a right to demand that Detrick recuse himself from any discussion involving PG&E as it would be a clear conflict of interest; therefore,
• Shouldn’t Detrick have recused himself from that part of the discussion?

Case in point: During the Costco deliberations and vote, Council member Darren Suen recused himself several times because he owns Costco stock. And to hammer the point, Suen most likely doesn’t have a million shares of that stock and doesn’t derive the majority of his income from Costco. However Detrick, on his SEI, states PG&E as his only employer making over $100,000 a year.

And here is another recusal regarding Pat Hume on the proposed Wilton Rancheria Casino even though the City Attorney Jonathan Hobbs said he didn’t have to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5DsUbF2u4g&feature=youtu.be

The Sacramento County Grand Jury was clear when it wrote in it’s 2004 Special Report to the Elk Grove City Council on Conflict of Interest: “There are two main purposes for conflict of interest requirements. The first is to prevent the prospect of personal financial gain from influencing the decisions of government officials. The second is to prevent conflicts more related to an official’s loyalty or allegiance.”

Let the public be the judge:
• Did Detrick already cross the conflict-of-interest lines to influence a particular outcome as it pertains to PG&E?
• Did City Attorney Hobbs, when called out at that very moment, say Detrick’s participation was permissible when it was likely prohibited by conflict of interest requirements as noted above?

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