Bob Anthony claims Corporation Commission is “impotent”

It looks like we found a group of folks who need to visit Greg with The Oklahoma Alpha Mens Clinic!

Last week, former Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony – the ole curmudgeon whose life mission is apparently to expose the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for ignoring their duty to protect Oklahoma consumers from greedy corporations and utilities and, instead, do the bidding of those very same greedy corporations and utilities – fired off another angry response to the Commission.

This time around, he called out his cohorts for pretending they're powerless to stop utilities from continuing to price gouge Oklahomans over the infamous 2021 ice storm.

He even went so far as to call the commission “impotent.”

Check this out:

In response to an attempt to sneak through approval of some $3 billion of ONG and PSO’s 2021 fuel costs by burying the items as attachments on the OCC’s generalized “24-hour Signing Agenda” for Tuesday, April 4, Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony has issued two deliberations statements:

https://public.occ.ok.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=13547340
https://public.occ.ok.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=13546644

The first lists numerous reasons why approving the proposed orders declaring ONG and PSO’s 2021 fuel costs (including Winter Storm costs) “prudent” would not only be premature at this point in time, but be would also be “improper, irresponsible, negligent and a slap in the face to the hardworking ratepayers of Oklahoma.”

Anthony makes the second filing in response to repeated “declarations of impotence” by his fellow Commissioners who claim they do not have the power or authority to investigate possible wrongdoing like fraud and market manipulation that may have impacted the utilities’ 2021 fuel costs. It details numerous places in the Oklahoma Constitution and Oklahoma Statutes that Anthony says do indeed give the Corporation Commission the power to investigate and take action against companies for such offenses.

Uhm, is impotence really the right word here?

Let’s be honest – the Corporation Commission gets rock hard when it comes time to collect campaign donations from oil and gas companies, rich people, and public utilities, so they're probably not as impotent as Anthony lets on.

Perhaps other words he could go with are “Corrupt,” “Bought,” “Slimy,” Unsculupous,” “Self Serving,” etc.

For what it’s worth, Anthony did clarify his word choice:

The impotence of my fellow commissioners is entirely psychosomatic; they have either been misinformed about the authority and jurisdiction of the Corporation Commission, or they simply do not want to investigate possible wrongdoing by some of this state’s leading corporate citizens and so deceive themselves into paralysis.

In the absence of a little-blue-pill for regulators, it is time for some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Psychological problems like regulatory impotence are based, in part, on faulty ways of thinking and learned patterns of unhelpful behavior. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy includes strategies to change those faulty thinking patterns, and, thereby, the problematic behavior. One of the first steps is usually learning to recognize the distortions in thinking that are creating problems, and then to reevaluate them in light of reality.

And the reality is that the OCC not only has the power and authority to investigate those highest-in-the-history-of-the-nation natural gas prices Oklahomans paid during the February 2021 Winter Storm, it also has a legal obligation to do so.

Okay, so he’s referring to a psychosomatic-addict-insane impotence! Who knew Bob “Firestarter” Anthony was a Prodigy fan? Breathe with me!

Anyway, I think it’s pretty cool to see Anthony calling out his former colleagues on the corporation commission. I just wish he was doing this headline-grabbing stuff while he was still an Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner! He probably should have called Greg with the Oklahoman Alpha Mens Clinic while he was still in office!

Update: I'm a moron and thought for some reason Bob Anthony was a former commissioner. As punishment for this error, I will lock myself inside an abandoned oil field site for 24 hours.