OTHER NEWS - Oct. 22, 1993

Ouster of PUC Member Sought: Commissioner Norman Shumway should be removed because his aide improperly contacted a Pacific Bell employee while preparing the commission’s ruling on new telephone rates last month, according to Toward Utility Rate Normalization, a San Francisco consumer advocacy group. An internal PUC investigation found that a Pacific Bell lobbyist helped write the rate case ruling developed by Shumway that was subsequently approved by the PUC. As a result of the investigation, the rate changes, which included a 55% increase in basic monthly phone rates beginning Jan. 1, were rescinded. Shumway rejected “any notion of an ethical lapse.” The matter will be reconsidered, but no date has been set.