Employees of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) have submitted a complaint to the Office of the Governor and the Fair Political Practices Commission, complaining of the "illegal and unethical" behavior of CPUC Commissioner Timothy Alan Simon. The complaint attaches five news articles -- my Reader columns of April 4 and April 24, Miriam Raftery's East County Magazine article of April 8, and two news articles from the San Francisco Chronicle. The complaint states that Simon's longtime (10 years) fiance, Kimberly Brandon, is chair of the Museum of African Diaspora. At a San Francisco dinner, while Simon was away from the table, Brandon hit up a senior executive of San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE) for a $25,000 donation to the museum -- and in return, she said Simon would vote in favor of SDGE's attempt to get San Diego customers to pay the uninsured costs of the 2007 fires, for which the utility was found negligent. San Diego attorney Mike Aguirre has mentioned this incident in his fight against the utility's blatant attempt to have ratepayers, instead of shareholders of parent Sempra Energy, pay for the utility's negligence -- both for 2007 and for future fires. Simon is in fact the commissioner in charge of that case.

The complaint states that a California state auditor is investigating Simon allegedly billing the state for expenses of trips on behalf of third parties which had already paid for his expenses.Through this maneuver, Simon has been able to pocket significant sums, says the complaint, which notes that "Simon is addicted to travel -- and to being entertained -- as long as someone else is paying for it."

Those filing the complaint said they could not use their names for fear of retaliation.