Report from the field

Depending on who you ask, the EEI evangelism campaign to Seattle was eithe=
r a failure or a success. If you ask Stewart, he will say in his clipped, =
highly focussed manner that it failed. Seattle did not agree to convert to=
the EEI and immediately sign a completed Cover Sheet right there on the sp=
ot. Far from it. If you ask me, I think I pulled off a major political =
coup and have a vote for consolidation in my firm grip. I didn't even try =
to convince Paula Green, a bureaucrat who has dealt with Seattle power poli=
cy matters for over twenty years and who is very much "set" in her ways in=
a subliminal manner that is perfectly consistent with her title: "Deputy =
Superintendent," to come to the EEI Jesus. Somewhere on the long dark dri=
ve up the I-5 corridor, with rancid coffee sloshing around with a stale ma=
ple bar from a seedy gas station store in my empty, weak belly, somewhere u=
p there by the Centralia coal fired power plant that Transalta bought a cou=
ple of years ago amidst all that due diligence frenzy that Greg Wolfe had s=
tirred up within our shop, somewhere up there in the dark, miserable windy=
rain I settled upon my strategy. I would not even attempt a frontal attac=
k. We have sent the equivalent of John Bell Hood and his corp of Texans di=
rectly against the WSPP fortification (the Shari Stack gambit) and been bad=
ly mauled and hurled back. Secondly, Enron, or whatever is left of us, is =
in no position to claim the high moral ground. We have to get used to slin=
king around sheepishly in front of there conservative folks who had suspect=
ed our hubris all along. It wasn't a good time to argue from the implicit =
basis of superior intelligence. =20

Therefore, I decided to test drive my consolidation theory, and, had a spec=
tacular success. I had this intransigent, stubborn old policy gal leaning =
over the table, looking into my eyes and emphatically exclaiming: "I suppo=
rt that. Who could possibly be against that?" This after I basically said=
that lawyers could tie us all up for years arguing about an ever narrowing=
set of distinctions and that it was time to stop bashing either agreement =
and set up a Joint Drafting Committee and "harmonize" them. Excuse me for =
using this nauseating word "harmonize." It's right up there with "facilita=
te" or the dreaded "incentivize" as disguting words, but I swallowed my pr=
ide and used it with gusto. I laid it on real thick, claiming that the WSP=
P had done a great job in the west while the same thing was going on in the=
east and now it was time to harmonize the documents and get on with more i=
mportant matters, that it was stupid to tie up our valuable resources and t=
ime comparing these agreements and trashing them. I claimed that each agre=
ement referred to exactly the same concepts, only using different words, an=
d that these differences could be quickly resolved by competent energy atto=
rneys. =20

My test drive of this theory with a live candidate, an entrenched WSPP supp=
orter who aint gonna change was interesting. I got her to agree to a joint=
committee concept and state emphatically in front of all that she would en=
thusiastically endorse this idea. This is the first of several of these ty=
pes of conversations we need to have with various parties. I am going to h=
ead over to BPA and "convert" the infamous Brenda whoever to this new doctr=
ine. If we line up big guys like Seattle, BPA and others, critical big Mo =
may be generated and, in the ultimate scene, we send Elizabeth into the cav=
es (drafting conference room) against Mike bin Small and, hey, I'm willing =
to bet on the outcome of that encounter. I think we all know what would ha=
ppen then. Think about it. It is a marginal little drama that I have kind=
led up out of the depths of my despair and boredom, but, it might just pick=
up steam if it is nursed along. PacifiCorp's Jeremy Weinstein is taking a=
more strident, judicial review of due process approach to the WSPP, and wi=
th him leading a formal charge, this little argument I am trying to plant c=
ould be the compromise for peace. ----cgy