Among the things lawmakers are dealing with in this lame-duck session is whether the Senate will confirm a Democratic lawyer from Columbus to the commission that hears utility rate cases.
Senate President Keith Faber says he and his fellow Republicans have what he calls “significant concerns” about Howard Petricoff and said he wanted to talk to the governor about them, but hasn’t been able to.
“To me, it’s an institutional integrity issue first and foremost. Secondly, there are just concerns with Mr. Petrikoff in that role and the nature of the process.”
Faber hasn’t named specific examples of his concerns. But Petricoff has represented natural-gas companies in several PUCO cases. Petricoff was also involved in the controversial rate cases FirstEnergy and AEP brought involving their costly coal plants.
