By The River

I received a call late today from Glen Thomas, the former aide to Gov. Tom Ridge and chairman of the Public Utility Commission. Thomas said I was incorrect in writing that he was the gatekeeper for the Ridge Papers in the Pennsylvania State Archives and that he had no control over access to them.

Ridge's archivist, Dr. Nicolette Parisi, told me about a year ago that I had to see Thomas if I wanted to view Ridge documents related to the birth of electric competition in 1996. I subsequently sent inquiries to Thomas but got no response. He says he never received them, but that it wouldn't have mattered anyway because he was not the gatekeeper.

Thomas is presently a consultant, and among his clients is the organization that represents power plants in Pennsylvania that aren't owned by one of the regulated utilities. He formerly was a lawyer for the firm of Blank, Rome, but denies he was a "utility lawyer." That's kind of a generic term for a lawyer who does specialized work relating to regulated or unregulated purveyors of electricity, gas, water, or telecom services, and it is a frequent career path for ex-PUC commissioners with law degrees. But if he wants to not be thought of as a utility lawyer, I'll grant the point. Thomas said he no longer practices law in any case.

In the end, the Ridge Papers are still locked away for about 25 years while being stored at public expense in the state archives, and we don't know what happened behind the scenes back then between Ridge and Enron's Ken Lay, and Texas Gov. George W. Bush.