The sole remaining Republican appointee on the five-member California Public Utilities Commission, Henry Duque, received a four-week extension to his term to have time to file an appeal of an earlier ruling regarding alleged conflict-of-interest violations involving his ownership of telecommunications stock of a company the CPUC regulates. The extension was granted despite an earlier court ruling recommending his removal from the state regulatory panel.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Alfred Chiantelli agreed to suspend his earlier order until May 30 to give the seven-year CPUC veteran a chance to appeal. An appellate court could also decide to put the ruling on hold for several additional months while it considers the case, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle May 4. Duque’s latest six-year term expires the end of this year.

The focus of the court action is Duque’s investment in Nextel Communications three years ago, which his attorney argues was an innocent mistake. The Santa Monica, CA-based watchdog group, Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, has been trying to oust Duque since October 2000, claiming he flouted state conflict-of-interest rules.

The attorneys for both sides predicted an appeals court would rule before Duque is scheduled to leave office at year-end. The two latest appointees of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis — Geoffrey Brown and Michael Peevey — supported Duque’s effort to appeal the court ruling. And Peevey was quoted in the Chronicle report as saying that as the longest-serving commissioner, Duque’s “expertise” was needed in the coming months.

Brown noted in the news report that without Duque a number of issues could end up in a 2-2 vote deadlock until a fifth commissioner was appointed.

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