Gov. Charlie Crist has tapped a Tampa attorney and West Palm Beach administrator to serve on the always controversial Florida Public Service Commission.
Crist appointed Tampa attorney Julie Brown and West Palm administrator Eduardo Balbis to the commission Tuesday, according to a press release. The nominees backgrounds can be found here.
Brown and Balbis will join Jacksonville City Councilman Arthur Graham and state Rep. Ronald Brise, of North Miami, in seeking confirmation from the Senate during the next legislative session. Those confirmations are anything but a slam dunk, as evidenced by the recent failure of two Crist nominees this year.
In April, two candidates nominated by Crist to the board, Benjamin “Steve” Stevens and David Klement, failed to be confirmed by the legislature. Many expressed outrage that the failure was linked to the commissioners’ votes against rate hikes sought by Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy.