Of course it's not the 1:1 expense passthrough of PG&E's multidecade sponsorship of just Newsom's family that alone causes higher rates. It's the tens of milli

Of course it's not the 1:1 expense passthrough of PG&E's multidecade sponsorship of just Newsom's family that alone causes higher rates. It's the tens of millions in political contributions to not just Newsom at every stage if his career but also his allies & ilk. Plus tens of millions more in donations to favored "charitable" projects of family & cronies of politicians like Newsom & his allies. Plus harder-to-tally overpriced jobs & contracts steered to the "right" (regime-aligned) consultants, firms, & unions. (Did you notice how the glowing character reference in the Wapo article, about how immune to influence Newsom is, comes from a former Newsom advisor – & member of his wife's nonprofit board – who currently has PG&E as a paying client of his PR firm?) All the cash & favors are then topped off with a showy cheerfulness to "accept the responsibility" of extra costs from those state-idiosyncratic "regulations" you mention. But of course that's the quid pro quo of their monopoly remaining unchallenged, & all costs more-than-passed-on to ratepayers – so the ruling machine including Newsom can keep getting their beaks wet in all PG&E's spending & donation fountains. To look at only the formal campaign contributions against revenues, & accept as excuse a cover-story for extra corrupt expenditures ("regulations are very different"), & then conclude "no problem" is exactly why milking ratepayers this way, spreading the loot widely, is such a enduringly great racket.