Utility regulators criticized Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Now it wants them off the APS rate case

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club wants to remove two of the state’s top utility regulators from an ongoing APS rate case over comments they’ve made disparaging the far-right interest group.

Arizona Public Service is asking the Arizona Corporation Commission for permission to raise rates by as much as 14%. The Free Enterprise Club is one of several outside groups that has intervened in the case to argue against the rate increase.

And the group now wants Commission Chair Nick Myers and Commissioner Kevin Thompson booted off the case.

The dispute highlights an ongoing rift in Republican politics.

The Free Enterprise Club targeted Myers and Thompson when it backed two Republicans to challenge the duo in this year’s GOP Corporation Commission primary election. One of those candidates, Rep. Ralph Heap defeated Myers, ending his reelection bid.

In a motion filed on Wednesday, an attorney for the Free Enterprise Club argued that public statements made by Myers and Thompson show they cannot fairly weigh testimony and evidence presented by the club in the ongoing APS rate case.

The motion points to statements Myers made to KJZZ related to the ongoing campaign finance investigation into Corporation Commission candidate Ralph Heap, a Republican state lawmaker backed by the Free Enterprise Club who defeated Myers in the GOP primary this year.

Earlier this month, Myers claimed he rejected offers from both the Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Sen. Jake Hoffman to help him circumvent campaign finance rules in 2022 — claims both Hoffman and the organization denied.

“AZFEC raises this particular issue not to litigate these statements here, but to demonstrate the apparent lack of impartiality of Commissioner Myers regarding AZFEC,” Brennan Bowen, the club’s attorney, wrote in the motion.

Bowen also cited multiple social media posts made by Thompson criticizing the Arizona Free Enterprise Club.

“And this is why FEC can’t be taken serious when they talk about IRP’s, utilities, energy and ratemaking,” Thompson wrote in July after sharing a post criticizing witnesses the Free Enterprise Club called in the APS rate case.

That post accused the club of calling witnesses who lacked relevant expertise.

“Commissioners Thompson’s and Myers’s public statements concerning AZFEC demonstrate prejudgment, bias, and an appearance of partiality that Code of Ethics Rule 4.1 and due process do not permit. They should therefore be recused from this rate case,” Bowen wrote.

Both Thompson and Myers said they have no plans to voluntarily recuse themselves from the case.

“The items in this filing have nothing to do with my ability to fairly evaluate this rate case on its merits,” Myers said. “I stand by what I said, and I've found no basis to recuse myself. I intend to decide this case based solely on the record before the Commission.”

Thompson echoed those sentiments.

“I’ve always judged every proposal based on its merits,” he said. “I won’t be bullied into staying silent because some partisan activists don’t like their hypocrisy and antics pointed out. I stand by what I said.”

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club is asking the Corporation Commission to issue an order removing Thompson and Myers from the case. Myers and Thompson hold two of the five seats on the all-Republican Commission.