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Ken Toole is best choice for PSC

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Editor,

The State of Montana provides us citizens with a Public Service Commission (PSC) to regulate the electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, water & sewer, transportation and pipeline safety of natural gas and petroleum in our regions. There are five regions in this state, each of which is overseen by your current PSC commissioner. In our region 5, Ken Toole has served the Flathead, Glacier, Lake, Pondera, Teton and Lewis and Clark counties for the past four years.

As you can tell by the broad array of utilities that are regulated by the PSC, it is important to have experienced and effective commissioners to serve us. As our commissioner during his 4-year tenure, Ken Toole has excelled in his responsibilities to us. His leadership on the PSC led to a $16 million rate reduction by QWEST for Montana consumers. Ken opposed the buy-out of Northwestern Energy by a foreign investment bank, which is no longer in business. And thanks to Ken Toole, QWEST agreed to extend broadband service to 28 rural Montana communities.

We consumers need protection against the hidden agendas of big corporations that are profit-driven despite the excessive costs that their practices pass on to us Montana customers. Ken Toole led the effort before the PSC to require disclosure of utility executive salaries in Montana. He stood up to corporation lobbyists to protect us from the failure of energy deregulation when he chaired the legislative Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee. 

As our PSC vice-chairman, Ken gets results for Montana consumers and small businesses. He has no conflict of interest for this job while his opponent, Bill Gallagher does. Consider who will keep your utility bills down and promote new clean, efficient sources of energy that are critical for our stable, affordable energy future. Please vote for Ken Toole to work for you. Re-elect Ken for PSC on Nov. 2.

Sheila Bell
Polson

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