After more than five months of operating short-handed, thefive-member California Public Utilities Commission has gone throughits version of governor’s appointees “musical chairs” in less thana week. First, there were two “temporary” appointees announcedinformally two weeks ago. Then two permanent, six-year appointeeswere named by Gov. Gray Davis.

The new members are: Joel Z. Hyatt, 49, a lawyer and high-techbusinessman from San Mateo, CA, near the Silicon Valley, whoassumed one of the two vacant CPUC policymaking spots June 10; andCarl W. Wood, 51, a Utility Workers of America national leader onderegulation issues from San Diego and a former electricaltechnician with Southern California Edison Co. Wood joins the CPUCJune 21. Both commissioners are subject to confirmation over thenext 12 months by the state Senate. In the meantime, one of the”temporary” commissioners stays on the CPUC until Wood comesaboard.

Gov. Davis’ somewhat belated action came less than a week aftertwo “temporary” CPUC appointees were named with no formal notice toaddress some major telecommunications issues that were beingdelayed with the short-handed regulatory body. Both temps holdother appointive positions in Gov. Davis’ five-month-oldadministration. The first new set of commissioners were rushedonboard the five-member commission June 3 so they could participatein some controversial telecommunications cases. Loretta Lynch, aformer law partner in a California firm and now the head of thestate Office of Planning and Research, and Tal Finney, also alawyer and currently policy director in the governor’s office, bothwere literally sworn in and whisked into their first CPUC meetingall in the same day. Lynch is staying on until later this monthwhen Wood starts his new job. California law allows gubernatorialappointees to serve up to a year without legislative confirmation.Beyond that point, a person has to have the state Senate’s approvalto serve. Unlike the first appointments, the most recent ones weremade official by the customary news release from the governor’soffice.

Richard Nemec, Los Angeles

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