TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — After a handful of Republicans and Democrats questioned her performance, the Florida Senate on Friday confirmed Lisa Edgar to a third four-year term on the Florida Public Service Commission.
Senators voted 26-13 for her confirmation — the last day of the 2013 legislative session. The five-member commission regulates the state’s investor-owned utilities.
“I am very appreciative of the support from Governor Scott and the legislature and am excited about working on issues important to Florida consumers over the next four years,” Edgar said in an email.
Sen. Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican, took the unusual move of separating her from a list of other executive appointments.
Latvala, the Ethics and Elections committee chairman, said he was concerned about Edgar siding too often with electric companies on rate increases.
“When you add her votes and her conduct in evaluating rate cases, it just adds up,” he said. “… My feeling is, she does not represent the consumers.”
He wasn’t alone.
“I have real concerns,” said Sen. John Legg, a Lutz Republican. “There are some real questions about the judgments exhibited by this individual that will affect the working-class people of this state.”
“Give her a gold watch and say thank you for your eight years of service … and hit the reset button,” he added.
But other Republicans and Democrats, including Sens. Audrey Gibson of Jacksonville and Arthenia Joyner of Tampa, said they supported her.
“She’s served honorably,” Joyner said.
Edgar was originally appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush and then reappointed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist before being reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott. She is the longest serving member of the panel.
Edgar, 49, is the lone holdover since the panel unanimously rejected large rate increases sought by the state’s two biggest electric companies, Florida Power & Light Co. and Progress Energy Florida, in 2010.
Within months, the Florida Senate refused to confirm two of the commissioners, and the nominating council, which is appointed by legislative leaders, declined to interview the other two for reappointment.
The ousted commissioners and Crist said it was retaliation by the Republican-led Legislature for rejecting the rate increases, which Crist had opposed.
Edgar has a law degree from Florida State University.
She previously worked in state government as deputy secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, chief policy analyst for the governor’s Office of Policy and Budget, senior Cabinet aide for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and staff counsel for the Senate.
