A state utility regulator formally dropped his proposal to send a $10,000 settlement from a telephone company to an anti-abortion Christian charity to which he and a second regulator are connected.
Georgia Public Service Commissioner Doug Everett also asked Attorney General Sam Olens to clarify why the proposal to give money to the charity, Care Net, was different from previous instances when the PSC directed settlement money to nonprofits.
Olens’ office last week derailed the Care Net donation, telling the PSC it would be improper.
The PSC previously has sent money paid by companies to settle regulatory issues to certain charities, often involved in utility assistance efforts. In those cases, the companies did not admit guilt but agreed to make a donation to settle the case.
Olens office told the PSC that in such deals there must be a “nexus” between the recipient group’s activities and the regulatory case.
In the case of Everett’s proposal, Olens’ office said, the phone company had admitted failing to file certain regulatory reports. So the settlement money amounted to a civil penalty and as such must go to the state’s general fund.
Despite that explanation, Everett contends the PSC may have to drop donations even to groups that help people pay utility costs.
“Unless I get a clarification from the attorney general, it seems that we can no longer send funds to low-income seniors where fines have been imposed (on a company),” Everett said after a special PSC administrative hearing on the matter Thursday. Olens’ office has not yet received a formal request for clarification, a spokeswoman said.
Care Net is a national network of centers that provide low-income women pregnancy services, with a goal of reducing abortions. Care Net promotes adoption and says its ultimate aim “is to share the love and truth of Jesus Christ in both word and deed.”
Everett’s wife volunteers for Care Net. PSC member Tim Echols, who backed the Care Net idea, helped start the group’s Atlanta affiliate and in 2006 was paid nearly $10,000 in consulting fees by the national organization.
The five-member PSC never took a vote on Everett’s proposal, but chairman Chuck Eaton said he understands the objections by Olens’ office.
“The party had admitted guilt, and there was a fairly weak (connection between utilities and the charity) there,” he said.
Eaton said in most cases where the PSC has authorized a donation settlement, the link between the case and the recipient group has been clear.
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