In Gov. John Kasich’s first budget, he slashed the Ohio Consumer’s Counsel in half, laying off 30 employees and severely injuring the agency from fully representing 4.5 million Ohioans against the well-financed utilities. When the top consumer cop asked to meet with the Governor to explain how this would hurt the average person, he refused. Kasich has since appointed Todd Snitchler to run the PUCO. Snitchler is a former politician with no significant background in public utilities. Snitchler recently gained national attention for using his Twitter account to negatively portray the renewable energy industry and climate science. But it is not the tweeting that should concern Ohioans. Kasich’s appointees at the PUCO are getting a reputation as not adequately protecting the interests of consumers and businesses, siding all too often with powerful special interests like FirstEnergy. [Read more…]