The accomplishments of President Peevey should not be ignored

Throughout California’s history, including the last thirty years, there is not a state or federal regulator that does not deserve some, if not substantial, criticism. The collapse of the banking system, which caused five million California homeowners to be desperately underwater, was due to the deliberate lack of oversight by state banking authorities.

This should be considered in the context of Governor Brown’s recent and generally accurate statement that there hasn’t been a better or more effective president of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) than Michael Peevey. A focus on President Peevey’s legacy as it affects the future of California is consistent with the Governor’s praise.

Sixty percent of California’s population is presently minority and within less than a generation, it will be 70% minority. We aren’t experts on safety issues or technical energy efficiency issues, but we are experts on the impact of the CPUC on California’s twenty-five million minorities.

No PUC president or commissioner in California or even in the nation has done more to ensure that minorities are considered and are beneficiaries of our state’s programs.

Despite Proposition 209’s prohibition against any form of affirmative action, a proposition that puts us on par with Mississippi in addressing civil rights, job and educational opportunities, President Peevey has convinced every company he regulates that diversity is a part of their DNA. (This includes telecommunications and utility companies.)

As a result of Peevey’s stewardship, the best records in America for hiring and promoting minorities to the highest positions are among the California utilities and major telecommunications companies he regulates. For example, the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies lack effective minority representation on their Board of Directors, particularly as to Asian Americans, who represent only 2% of corporate board members. In contrast, the three largest utilities, Edison, PG&E and Sempra, all have at least one Black, one Latino and one Asian American on their Boards. And, in Edison’s case, almost 50% of its Board consists of minorities.

Similarly, according to recent reports by the Obama Administration, less than 5% of the $600 billion in annual federal contracts are awarded to Black, Latino or Asian American businesses, including just 1% to Asian Americans. In contrast, AT&T, Verizon, Edison, PG&E and Sempra all have records above 40% for minorities and women.

But, to truly appreciate President Peevey’s impact, we should look at the records of Silicon Valley companies. Not one of these companies has effective minority representation on its Board of Directors or among its leadership. On the average, the percentage of Blacks is 2 percent, the percentage of Latinos is 3 percent and the percentage of Southeast Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is 3 percent or less.

How did this happen?

Simple, Silicon Valley is essentially unregulated and our US Secretaries of Labor under Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama have never displayed any leadership on this.

When has a US Secretary of Labor ever spoken out on Silicon Valley’s refusal to hire minorities, much less promote them? Never. This silence exists even though Silicon Valley companies are required to annually report their employment data by race, ethnicity and gender and are not impacted by the restrictions of the anti-affirmative action Prop. 209.

Nor has any member of the Presidents’ cabinets, from Clinton to Bush to Obama, every spoken out about Silicon Valley’s failure, if not refusal, to do business with minority- and women-owned companies. Yet, companies like Google and Apple do billions of dollar of business with the federal government every year.

Similarly, if Silicon Valley were ever required to report on its contracts with minority businesses, it would be demonstrated that the California utilities under President Peevey have a far better record than any Silicon Valley company. This includes Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Oracle.

Equally important, under President Peevey, public hearings on diversity are required annually. The CEOs of the major utilities must personally appear to discuss the diversity of their employment and business opportunities. And, they are required to do so in front of minority and women leaders who frequently criticize their records, including the authors of this article, Faith Bautista and Pastor Mark Whitlock.

No federal agency at any point in US history has held any public hearings on diversity and, to the best of our knowledge, no state agency has ever done so.

Yes, more can and should be done by the CPUC for all of its residents in terms of energy efficiency and conservation, and more must be done for public safety. But, unlike the federal government, where there are rarely any public hearings, under President Peevey, there are regular public hearings on a broad range of safety and environmental issues.

(Pastor Mark Whitlock, Gil Velasquez and Faith Bautista)

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Pastor Mark Whitlock is the Senior Minister at Christ Our Redeemer Church, the largest Black church in Orange County. Gil Vasquez is the Chair of the largest Latino chamber of commerce in California, the Los Angeles Latino Chamber of Commerce.