One of Arizona’s newly elected regulators will be working double time this year, raising concerns among some about a possible conflict of interest.
This election, Republican Andy Tobin won a full term on the Arizona Corporation Commission, which oversees public utilities, the rates customers pay for water and power and the incorporation of businesses. Meanwhile, Tobin will also be acting as program director of a new “legislative academy” at Arizona State University.
Tobin said ASU hopes the program will be “an asset to new lawmakers to bring factual data in an environment where they can learn, see and communicate better.”
A statement from ASU said the “nonpartisan” academy will help “citizen-lawmakers with the complexities of the legislative system and the pressing issues facing Arizona.”
Tobin said the academy could include trips around the state to learn about issues like natural resources and the economy.
Gov. Doug Ducey appointed Tobin — a former speaker of the Arizona House — to the commission at the beginning of the year, after former Chairwoman Susan Bitter Smith resigned over an attorney general’s investigation into possible conflict of interest violations.
In February, Tobin also began his job at ASU developing the program to educate incoming lawmakers, although the general public and media were not aware of his employment until recently.
Tobin receives an annual salary of $79,500 for his work on the commission and $100,000 from ASU, according to a university spokesperson.
“That’s just an outrage,” former commissioner and Democrat Renz Jennings said. “This commission is a very full-time undertaking and he should devote his time to that.”
Jennings has written critically about what he calls the growing influence of APS over the commission.
He said Tobin’s second job could become a conflict of interest, especially since the ASU Foundation will be soliciting donations from private and corporate donors.
“He’s not the guy to be doing this. To the degree that you don’t have to disclose how it’s funded, there’s a potential for a conflict,” Jennings said.
Jennings said the academy could become a way for regulated entities to funnel money anonymously that could benefit the commissioner. That suggestion Tobin firmly rejects.
“There’s nothing to see here other than what [critics] have wanted to fabricate,” Tobin said, adding the allegations were drummed up by opponents at the end of his campaign.
He said he filed financial disclosure information with the commission when ASU hired him and recused himself from a vote this year because it presented a conflict.
He expects that donors to the academy will be entirely transparent.
“I think you [a donor] would be very happy if that appeared on the front of the program so that your employees, your contributors and the public know the good work you’re doing with those funds,” Tobin said. “Everybody would want that disclosed.”
But no such explicit promise came from the ASU Foundation, which issued the following statement:
“As a private organization, the ASU Foundation is not required to disclose donor information. A donor can restrict his or her gift in support of a particular program, and any donor can specify gift terms to remain anonymous.”
This isn’t the first time Tobin has fended off claims that he may have a conflict of interest.
After his appointment, Tobin disclosed his son-in-law held a non-managerial position for one of the major installers of rooftop solar in the state, SolarCity, which has business in front of the commission. The Arizona Legislature eventually passed a law, changing the conflict of interest statute so he could vote on issues involving the company.
