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Show \y f in 709 days Herbert B. Maw and Gus P. Backman will retire to private life The a ee et & Published F. ; { 72 A Specialist in Neglected Truth VOL. Ill, NO. SALT 19. ce LAKE CITY, UTAH, JANUARY 22, every L. ee eT a a alternate Jensen, T Street, Salt Dial 5-3989 Friday Publisher Lake City, Utah $2.00 a year 10c PER COPY 1943 ee Kilowatt Rate Hearing Continues Perhaps the outstanding feature of the current rate hearing of Utah Power & Light Company before the Public Service Commission is the grim determination of the Power Company to make the people of Utah foot the bills arising from organizational and operational manipulation and skulduggery of the Bond & Share companies. Writeups, rake-offs, and payment of wholly unwarranted fees and charges levied against Utah Power & Light Company by Electric Bond & Share Company and its affilates are persistently sought to be included as a legitimate part of the Power Company’s rate base. And with equal tenacity the Commission’s legal staff, Clinton D. Vernon and Warwick C. Lamoreaux, aided by Samuel Joseph, Fed- The Le Beyond question the most important bill before either house of the Legislature is HB The bill would bar No. 1, by Val H. Cowles. any member of the Legislature from accepting an appointive position from the State during the term for which he was elected to the Legislature and for two years thereafter. That bill should have a clear and immediate Without right-of-way through both houses. such a law there is no hope for independent legislative action. The swapping of legislative attitudes and votes for State jobs—the greatest blemish on democratic representative government in Utah—precludes enactment of legislation in the public interest. intimations Even now there are strong that certain legislators are angling for Jobs, and may become administration rubber stamps during the remainder of the session im exchange for post-session jobs. Pro-administra- eral Power Commission attorney and expert, display an inflexible purpose to establish a rate base that will include only bona fide acquisition costs after reasonable depreciation. The accounting staffs of the antagonists participate with equal zeal. In addition to the Commission’s accounting staff, headed by The- odore Thain, two Federal Power Commission experts, Edward L. Dunn and Curtis C. Hurley, are cooperating with the Commission’s accountants. Never before in the history of utility regulation in Utah has there been so Intense and unyielding a struggle. The Commission’s legal staff and Mr. Joseph have shown unusual skill in compelling each Power Company witness to support the (Continued on page 4) islature tion legislators ought to protect themselves against suspicion by insisting on the passage of such a law immediately. Twelve members of the 1941 Legislature received good paying jobs. And it 1s no seeret that the Executive had that Legislature Manifestly the integeating out of his hand. rity of the law-making branch of the State Government cannot be protected so long as the possibility exists that the Governor may make pliant tools of members in exchange for post-session State jobs. And Herbert B. Maw has shown an unusual aptitude for that kind of polities. The Searchlight will watch the progress of HB No. 1 and will expose any attempt to sidetrack or emasculate it. This publication will print a record of votes cast for and against the measure in both houses. (Continued on page 4) |