Posts Tagged: transparency

It’s no secret Californians pay some of the highest gas prices in the nation. And even though consumers and the economy have just gotten over last year’s historic gas prices, another spike seems to be knocking on our door. For more than 20 years I have focused on creating efficient energy markets – ranging from helping the prosecution of Enron executives to working on market manipulation issues across the U.S. and Canada. Over the past 18 months California gasoline prices have spiked repeatedly – with little relationship to world oil prices, or supply and demand.

Ann Ravel, California’s political watchdog, captured public attention in November when she squared off against an obscure but well-heeled group calling itself Americans for Social Responsibility.

The Arizona-based nonprofit poured $11 million at the 11th hour into the California campaign opposed to Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative, Proposition 30.  On the eve of the