UC won’t get Peevey party money
Soiree for embattled former PUC president was supposed to benefit Goldman school
By Jeff McDonald
The University of California’s public policy school won’t be receiving money raised in its name at a farewell soiree last month for former California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey.
Peevey also no longer serves on the advisory board for the Goldman School of Public Policy, spokesman Dan Mogulof said.
Peevey holds two economics degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He stepped down from the utilities commission in December amid state and federal criminal investigations into backchannel communications and favoritism between the commission and the companies it’s supposed to oversee.
A $250-a-plate farewell dinner at San Francisco’s Julia Morgan ballroom on Feb. 12 was criticized because lobbyists and others whose access to Peevey is under scrutiny would be toasting him. Proceeds were to go to the Goldman school, which was criticized in turn.
On Monday, Mogulof said the school “is not going to receive a single penny from the event in question.”
He declined to elaborate on that statement, or his statement that Peevey is no longer an adviser to the school. Organizers of the event have not responded to the U-T’s inquiry about where the money will go now.
Meanwhile, former San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre filed a lawsuit in San Francisco on Monday, asking a judge to require the University of California to provide documents in response to his California Public Records Act requests.
According to the complaint, university officials have failed to release any records or information related to the tribute dinner.
University officials said they have responded appropriately to Aguirre’s request, and told him it would take time to process the records.
“We are following both the letter and spirit of the Public Records Act as required by law,” Mogulof said. “The request was acknowledged within the 10-day limit.”
U-T Watchdog reported this past weekend about Peevey’s involvement in a $25 million grant to UC to study greenhouse gas emissions, as part of the settlement agreement for the San Onofre nuclear plant’s premature closure.
Aguirre’s public records requests ask the school to provide documentation of any communications regarding possible employment for Peevey after he leaves the commission.
“Please provide any and all communications between you and Michael Peevey which touch upon, mention, describe or refer to Mr. Peevey having any role at the Goldman School, including any plan to use the funds raised at the Peevey Dinner to establish a position or fund a position for Mr. Peevey at the Goldman School,” Aguirre wrote on Feb. 25.
The Peevey party was co-sponsored by Michael Picker, the new president of the utilities commission. Picker filed a public disclosure last month stating that he helped raise $55,000 for the dinner.
The commission told the U-T that money was raised in Picker’s name, but his only direct involvement was buying a single $250 ticket to the event for himself. The commission’s spokeswoman on Feb. 24 told the U-T she would provide documentation of his payment but has yet to do so.
[Source]: UT-San Diego
