Candidate for
City Council; City of San Marcos

I have been very happy as an anonymous resident of San Marcos, playing grandpa to my six grandchildren, and taking care of business. But you know what? When I got my last utility bill, I was angry. It was 70.41 % up from January.

At first I changed the setting on my air conditioner and tried to make adjustments to pay this outrageous bill. But I started thinking about the impact it is having on my neighbors, schools, our local businesses, churches, seniors on fixed incomes and those less fortunate.

Well you know me. I can't sit back and complain. I'm willing to fight for what we believe in. And I remember this is not the first time SDG&E has done this.

Back in the early 1980's, SDG&E was gouging us with some of the highest rates in the nation. San Marcos fought a battle with SDG&E to take back our streetlights. With the exception of a few lights SDG&E hung on some utility poles in the city, we the homeowner/property owners paid for those lights, not SDG&E At that time I tried to convince the Council that we needed to take ownership not only of our city lights, but also of all the easements for all the utilities paid for by developers at the expense of any new property owners.

I only won half a victory for our constituents; we got the street lights (at a price) and immediately started enjoying a savings of more than $100,000 per year. At that time, I failed to convince our council we needed to take the next step: to stop requiring dedication of utility easements to SDG&E and others. I believed we should dedicate these easements to the people instead. That way, when the time came we would be in the best position to open these easements up to competition to benefit all of us.

SDG&E may be deregulated, but it's not competitive! SDG&E is a "government sponsored and government protected monopoly." SDG&E has special legislative opportunities that few if any other utility companies in California have. For example if you or I were to try and bring in electricity or natural gas from a competitor, SDG&E has special legislative rights that allow them to raise transmission and distribution charges over what they charge other customers or even over and above what other utility companies in California can do.

And what about accountability? If SDG&E makes a bad business decision and buys energy to resell to us at too high a price, they have the legislative authority to pass these higher cost on to us, where other California utilities must absorb their mistakes and pass these mistakes on to their stock holders, not the rate payers.

Washington and Sacramento legislators have not protected us .... In fact whether they know it or not, they helped this monopoly become bigger and stronger at our expense. They have not been our advocates; instead they've played into the hands of SDG&E and now we have become victims of SDG&E. Yes I mean victims.

It is time we not only speak out, but also take action; local government is the best way to do this. Our City Government needs to be advocates for the people who are being victimized by this monopoly.

It's not too late. Here's my plan: Take back the wires! Give the easements back to the people. Let the people get the advantage of `fair' competition. Put an end to this government-subsidized monopoly. After all, you and I, our community's business owners, churches, schools, homeowners and the public overall paid for these easements in the first place!

The City of San Marcos should condemn the existing easements and simultaneously go out with RFP's in the private sector to open up competition to all power suppliers. SDG&E doesn't directly produce power anymore; they just buy and sell it. Why should SDG&E be the only "Power Brokers" in San Diego County? That's not real competition! Let's open up the grid to all power suppliers. It's time to take back from SDG&E the public trust that we gave them. The public trust they abused. The public trusts they squandered to make obscene profits by gouging the common decent folks under the guise of deregulation and "free enterprise!"

This will impact every homeowner, renter, church, school and business in the entire city. After all, you are the City. Remember, you and I pay for the power required to keep our school lights on. We pay the bills to keep our police and fire facilities operating and fully functional. If we attend or belong to a church, go to college, the boys and girls club or use and support other public and private community facilities, we are paying. And we will be paying through then nose! When we buy from the local business, they have to mark up their product to cover their additional energy expenses, so we pay again. It doesn't matter if we own or rent, we are ground-zero and S.D.G.&E. has made a direct hit!

I need your help. To get this job done, I've decided to run for the San Marcos City Council. I know, as your elected representative, I can be effective in the long battle ahead. We need to develop partnerships with other local city governments, the county and the private sector to bring real competition to San Diego.

My first step will be to meet with the Mayor and his staff and demand the City immediately stop forcing property owners to dedicate their utility easement and facilities to the utility companies, but rather dedicate them to the City. Our City Charter already gives them the power to do this. The City will then have the option of leasing the facilities in a competitive market for the benefit of its entire constituency.

July 4, 1994, two hundred and eighteen years after our Country celebrated its first "Independence Day"; I had the privilege of declaring "Independence" on behalf of the people of the City of San Marcos. San Marcos officially became a "Charter City". Our Declaration was planned to tell the State and Federal Government we were fed up with "un-funded mandates" being forced upon local government, and we were not going to take it anymore. Now this same government has in essence mandated another tax, not only on local government, schools, churches and local business, but also every single resident in this region.

I believe with your help, San Marcos can be the vehicle to develop partnerships with our neighboring communities and the private sector to put an end to double and eventually triple digit rate hikes by SDG&E I believe we can lead the charge that will force our State and Federal legislators to support our efforts to establish a more efficient and cost effective method of providing all our constituents a free and competitive energy market. With your support we can provide long-term guarantees so we will never fall victim to greedy monopolies such as SDG&E again.

Some will say it can't be done. Just like some said I'd never get Federal, let alone State funding to widen Hwy. 78 from four to six lanes. People said we would never be able to attract the new State University away from Carlsbad. People said our Neighborhood Policing program would never work, let alone grow throughout the State. And then there were those that said we could never partner with the private sector to deal with the expensive infrastructure needs, let alone the actual City Center facility at no cost to our taxpayer. Right now you are seeing the Twin Oaks Bridge and ramp improvements done, the San Marcos Blvd./Hwy. 78 interchange and new public safety facility are being built right now. All things people said couldn't be done.

Well folks, I was a part of the "San Marcos Success Story", accomplishing all I promised, and more. We did what others said we couldn't do. We can do this too!

First I need your help to get elected to the San Marcos council. Then with your continued support I'll start to gather the support of our neighboring communities, local, state and federal legislators and more importantly, the private sector to create a real free and competitive marketplace.

We can make a difference! Let's take back our easements and create a competitive environment that will supply us all power and utility services at fair competitive rates. I will not stand by and allow San Diego County to suffer under the highest utility rates in the nation again.

Thank you.

The following is an outline of the steps I will be asking San Marcos to start immediately to restore utility control to local constituents: I will be meeting with Mayor Smith and his staff to discuss and put this item on the earliest Council agenda for Council approval, adoption and implementation as soon as possible.

1. San Marcos, as a charter city, shall adopt an ordinance forming its own municipal utility.
2. The "local" utility shall claim the firth of control over its rights of way and utility easements.
3. As new utilities are installed for all services (electricity, gas, cable, telephone, etc...) require that the utility easements be dedicated to the local public utility rather than SDG&E, or any other utility.
4. As easements are dedicated and utilities are installed, negotiate with service providers on an operational lease # back basis for the most advantageous rate.
5. Conduct a financial feasibility study for the acquisition of pre-existing utility facilities and easements.
6. Subject to a determination of feasibility, conduct a long-term acquisition program for the conversion of utility distribution facilities.

It should be obvious that other cities and county government will want to follow our lead therefore, I will be meeting with their representatives as well as the UCAN representative as early as next week.

For more information, Lee Thibadeau can be contacted at:

Home Phone 760-744-5728 Home Fax 760-744-8429 E-Mail papathib@incom.net