Recently the Record-Bee published a letter from District 3 Supervisor Gary Lewis in which he attempted to refute charges he had done “too little too late” in asking the county to help fight the Lucerne water rate increases when this issue first arose over a year ago (“Lewis rebuts editorial,” Readers” Views, Aug. 25).
I would like to set the record straight.
In his letter, Gary Lewis stated: “I did ask our county counsel if the county could intervene and was told, ?No”. When the administrative law judge made his recommendations to the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), I once again brought it to the Board of Supervisors to see if we could do anything. When the question was asked, ?Could the county intervene?” and counsel said, ?Yes,” I was stunned. We are now dealing with a different counsel.”
There are two problems with this statement. First, saying he “once again brought it to the Board of Supervisors” implies he had brought it to the board at least once before, and he did not. The first and only time Gary Lewis brought this issue to the board was Aug. 8, 2006.
Second, his statement that our former county counsel had given him different advice than our current counsel didn”t make sense. After all, either the county could intervene, or not. This isn”t a matter of subtle legal interpretation. Gary Lewis seemed to be implying that our former county counsel was inept, and I know that is not the case.
Until his retirement at the end of 2005, Cameron Reeves had served as county counsel for over 25 years and is one of the most respected attorneys in our county. I have known Mr. Reeves personally for over 20 years and it is inconceivable to me that he would give an incorrect legal opinion. Normally conversations between a supervisor and county counsel are protected by attorney-client privilege, but Gary Lewis had waived the protection by publicly discussing the conversation. I called Mr. Reeves and asked him to please tell me the facts.
What really happened is that in 2005, before the Public Utilities Commission held their hearings on the rate increase, Gary Lewis went to then-County Counsel Cameron Reeves and asked him what the county could do. Mr. Reeves advised Gary Lewis that the county could become a formal “intervener” in the matter or, as an alternative, could appoint one or more of its members to serve as official representatives to the PUC. He advised Gary Lewis that he should bring the matter to the Board of Supervisors to decide if they wished to pursue either of these alternatives.
Supervisor Lewis did not bring this matter to the Board of Supervisors until Aug. 8, 2006, after the PUC hearings had been held. At that meeting, the board agreed to send a letter to the PUC objecting to the rate increase.
We can only hope it”s not too late to do some good.
Ed Robey
District 1 Supervisor
Lower Lake
