Tranel wants to restore professionalism to Public Service Commission
By CHUCK BANDEL
Valley Press
Monica Tranel, Missoula lawyer and Democrat candidate for a seat on the Public Service Commission, is hoping to restore professionalism to the regulatory panel if elected next month.
“The PSC has received public attention for bullying, spying, harassment and other inappropriate behavior among the current commissioners,” she said. “This misconduct is a distraction from the real work of the PSC, having taken a toll on staff and having demoralized everyone. I’m running to restore integrity, hard work and professionalism to the PSC”.
A former Olympic rower who competed in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, as well as a member of a US Women’s Rowing Team’s gold medal winning team, Tranel blames the PSC misconduct as a key reason electric rates have disproportionately increased over the past several years.
“I’m running because Montanans need to have someone at the PSC who will stand up for them and fight for affordable rates and better policies,” Tranel said. “PSC members have failed to show up for work, fallen asleep during public meetings and spied on and fought with each other.”
Those behaviors, she said, have stifled Montana’s renewable energy industry and led to a 20 percent increase in residents’ electric rates in the last 10 years.
Tranel grew up on a ranch in eastern Montana with nine siblings. She said her parents encouraged them to develop a strong work ethic and to value education.
“I read a lot and studied hard but I also managed cattle, rode horses and had lots of fun in some of Montana’s most beautiful places,” she said.
She and her husband, along with their three children, live in Missoula where Tranel owns and operates the Tranel Law Firm. She is a graduate of Gonzaga University and Rutgers University School of Law.
She said that legal background and her work with the PSC from 2001 to 2006 will serve her well if elected.
“Overall, I have more than two decades of experience in the public arena, fighting for consumers as an attorney, arguing in front of the PSC and in the courtroom,” Tranel said. “As an attorney, I have kept $10 million in the pockets of Montanans instead of allowing that amount to wind up as additional profits for monopoly utilities”.
Tranel said the current commission has not followed facts, science or the law in regulating Montana’s renewable energy industry. That in turn, she said, has caused a “harsh” blow to Montana’s public schools, roads and emergency responders.
“I have the experience needed to help make Montana an energy leader in today’s economy,” she said. “Montanans need someone at the PSC who will stand up for them and fight to keep their business and household electric bills affordable. And I have the track record of doing just that.”
A former staff attorney for the PSC, Tranel was a former legislative counsel to U.S. Senator Conrad Burns. She also served on the Montana Consumer Counsel as an attorney from 2014 to 2016.
“We need to have a competent, professional voice at the PSC,” Tranel said. “The voice of someone who believes in the importance of applying facts, science and the law in pursuit of a stronger Montana economy”.