Sacramento’s power trio

They don’t call it public power for nothing. Unlike the for-profit Pacific Gas and Electric Company—which is owned by shareholders—the Sacramento Municipal Utility District is owned by us, the ratepayers.

The elected members of SMUD’s board of directors each represent about 200,000 residents, each organized into “wards.” That reminds Bites of Thomas Jefferson’s “ward republics,” though these wards contain enough people to fill a midsize American city.

If you live in downtown, Midtown, north Natomas, north Sacramento or other points north, you’re in Ward 5, and it’s time for you to elect a new representative. He or she will help oversee SMUD’s $1.3 billion budget, which is kind of a big deal, though a lot of voters don’t have a clue who to vote for.

“A lot of people don’t even know there is a SMUD board. They don’t know that they have a voice,” SMUD candidate Samara Palko told Bites last week.

“Some people don’t know what SMUD is,” agreed Michael Picker, an energy consultant also running for the Ward 5 seat.The voter’s choice is made more difficult by a respectable crop of three smart, articulate candidates who seem sincere about public service.

Palko was a middle-school teacher and now serves on the board of the Midtown Neighborhood Association, where she puts on events like National Night Out. She told Bites she’s interested in getting customers more engaged and bringing SMUD into the classrooms.

Ben Phillips is an appointed member of the SMUD Community Advisory Panel and is active in the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce and the Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce. He’s running on a platform of engagement, too, with an emphasis on letting customers know how they can save money on their bills. Phillips has a ton of endorsements from local political groups, including the Democratic Party of Sacramento County and the Stonewall Democrats of Sacramento, as well as several elected officials, including current SMUD board members Genevieve Shiroma and Nancy Bui-Thompson.

Picker’s got a long résumé that includes a recent stint as Gov. Jerry Brown’s advisor on renewable-energy facilities; he was also chief of staff to Mayor Joe Serna and was involved early on in the movement to shut down SMUD’s Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station in the 1980s. He’s also got the most campaign money of all the candidates. Picker’s raised about $75,000 compared to Phillips’ $25,000. The two men seem to have a bit of a rivalry. The Picker campaign complained to county elections officials about the way Phillips’ name was listed on the ballot. Phillips had it down as “SMUD community advisor,” which is accurate, but team Picker said that made it sound like Phillips was a SMUD employee. Fearing a lawsuit, Phillips changed it to “SMUD community volunteer,” and then had to change it again to “municipal utility advisor.”

All very insidery, but Bites just brings it up to show that even if this election isn’t much on the public radar, these folks aren’t running for class president.

Another example: Phillips put together a short video ad and posted it to his website tying Picker to Jerry Brown’s peripheral-canal plan. He says that the peripheral canal will hurt SMUD’s hydropower operation. “And if we have to purchase that power from somewhere else, that’s going to cost us.”

The video shows Picker speaking at a recent forum saying, “I can’t say that I really know very much about the governor’s peripheral-canal proposal.” To be fair, neither does Bites. But Picker is a Brown appointee—he ought to have a better answer.

And, in fact, Picker has since said water experts tell him the peripheral canal is not a threat to SMUD. “Our water rights are very strong.” He said he’s more concerned about drought and other ways that climate change could affect us. “I think we need to worry more about these severe weather events.”

Palko seems a little bemused by the tussle and what she calls the “special interest” nature of the race. “It seems preprogrammed, like it’s all based on who knows who.”

“Those two can go at it. My reason for running is to engage customers,” she added.

Anyway, good luck Ward 5 voters, and more power to you.