Matt Bevin Doesn't Know What the Fuck He's Doing, Part 21

For forty years, it's been standard repug operating procedure to put the foxes in charge of all the public services henhouses: public health, worker safety, education, environmental protection, you name it.  But the one that they really slaver over because of the potential to obscenely enrich the already wealthy at the expense of consumers is the Public Service Commissioner.

The PSC regulates all the fundamental services the people need to live: water, electricity, natural gas, phone service.

The PSC decides how much of a rate increase the corporations that control those services get to cram down your throat to increase their profits.  The PSC decides which fracking companies get to run explosive, toxic chemical pipelines through your front yard without your permission.  The  PSC decides how much it costs to heat or cool your home, bathe with clean water, call 911 in an emergency.

The last thing you want to do is appoint to the PSC "bidnessmen" who will let utilities run roughshod over Kentuckians.

So of course that's what Governor Lying Coward has done.

From the press release:

Governor Matt Bevin has appointed Robert Cicero, a Florence businessman, to the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC).

“Bob Cicero’s experience as an independent businessman and his background as an accountant will be an asset to an agency that makes decisions affecting the lives of nearly every Kentuckian,” Gov. Bevin said. “I am grateful for his willingness to serve the Commonwealth in this key position.”

Cicero was appointed to a serve the remainder of a term that expires on July 1. He is eligible for reappointment to a full four-year term.

Since 2011, Cicero has been co-owner of High Performance Coolers LLC, which sells high-end coolers for personal and commercial uses. He previously was owner of MCM Clinical Research LLC and chief financial officer and treasurer of Aristech Acrylics LLC, both in Florence.

Cicero holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

“I am delighted to have someone with Bob’s extensive knowledge of the issues facing Kentucky businesses join the Public Service Commission,’’ Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Charles G. Snavely said.

"Issues facing Kentucky businesses."  The PSC is not supposed to give a flying fuck about "issues facing Kentucky businesses." The PSC is supposed to care about regulating PUBLIC SERVICES to the benefit of, you know, THE PUBLIC.

But to Bevin and his business appointees, the public is just a source of money to be siphoned into the offshore tax-haven accounts of the filthy rich.