Cashman eyed for spot on state PUC

AUGUSTA – A key aide to Gov. John Baldacci appears to be the leading candidate for a post on Maine’s three-member Public Utilities Commission.

Jack Cashman, a former legislator from Old Town who has served on Baldacci’s office staff and who for a time headed the Department of Economic and Community Development, acknowledged Tuesday that he had been asked about taking the job but declined to comment further.

“The governor’s asked me if I’d be interested,” Cashman said.

Cashman is widely viewed in the Legislature and administration as having a strong chance to be the nominee. A governor’s office source, in comments that were described as “unofficial” because an announcement is still pending, confirmed that Cashman had been looked at closely.

Action by Baldacci is expected soon.

The state Senate has scheduled a confirmation session for Aug. 20 to take up a number of expected gubernatorial nominations. Committee confirmation hearings would be held in advance.

The departure of PUC Chairman Kurt Adams to work for a national wind development company was announced on May 1. At the time, Baldacci said he was accepting Adams’ resignation and naming Commissioner Sharon Reishus to take over as PUC chairwoman.

Reishus was originally appointed to the commission in July 2003. She worked as a PUC staff analyst from 1991 to 1998.

From 1998 until her appointment to the commission, Reishus worked at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates as director, North American Power.

Before 1991, Reishus worked at Central Maine Power Co. and for the CIA in Washington, D.C.

Her term expires in March 2009.

Also serving on the regulatory panel is Vendean Vafiades, a former chief judge of Maine’s district court who was first appointed to serve as a commissioner on the PUC in January 2007 and then reappointed in March.

Vafiades is a former chief deputy attorney general and counsel to the University of Maine System. Her term expires in March 2013.

Created by the Legislature in 1913, the PUC is empowered to regulate about 500 utility companies and districts that generate more than $1.2 billion a year in electric, telephone, water and gas utility revenues.

As outlined in its 2007 annual report, the commission also is authorized to respond to customer questions and complaints, regulate utility service standards and monitor utility operations for safety and reliability.

Additionally, it has limited authority over rates and service of ferry transportation.

Spurred largely by concern over historically high energy prices, Baldacci has called for a report with recommendations from a Pre-Emergency Energy Task Force that he originally established in November.

A draft of the report, characterized as “very preliminary” by Director John Kerry of the state Office of Energy Independence and Security, lays out dozens of broad proposals and specific initiatives.

The formal delivery of the report to the governor has been rescheduled from this week to next week.