Sunday's pick for Pa. consumer advocate appeals to some who worried about office's direction

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday has nominated Darryl Lawrence to serve as the state’s next utility watchdog — a position Lawrence has held on an interim basis in the two months since his predecessor’s stormy departure. And Sunday’s pick is being hailed even by some of those who decried the circumstances that led to the vacancy.

“I promised I would have an open and transparent process to appoint a Consumer Advocate,” Sunday, a Republican, said in a statement. “I am convinced that Darryl has all the tools required to advocate for the best interests of Pennsylvania consumers because that is what he has always done.”

If confirmed by the state Senate, Lawrence would be the voice for utility consumers who face poor service or steep hikes, representing their interests before the state Public Utility Commission. He would bring with him 20 years of experience working for the office — which is housed in the office of the Attorney General — most recently as a senior assistant consumer advocate.

Consumer groups have been awaiting Sunday’s pick ever since the departure of former advocate Patrick Cicero early this year. As WESA previously reported, Cicero said that under the guise of being told he would have to reapply for his job, he was given a choice between resigning or being replaced.

Cicero ascribed that to the fact that he’d been an outspoken opponent of the sale of municipal water systems to private utility companies. And he said investor-owned utilities businesses lobbied for his removal before Sunday took office in January — a claim Sunday denies.

Among other groups, the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Association and the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project had signed on to a letter in January urging Sunday to retain Cicero.

But on Tuesday both organizations championed Sunday’s selection of Lawrence as his replacement.

Lawrence will serve as “the voice for utility customers in the ongoing struggle to rein in burdensome rates, and champion policies that prioritize consumer protection over corporate interests,” said Jennie Shade, the Authorities Association’s senior director of government relations.

Having worked with the consumer advocate with a shared objective, Elizabeth Marx, executive director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, called Sunday’s nominee “a dedicated public servant” and “the right person for this job.”

Still, some Cicero supporters expressed wariness about the path ahead.

“Even though Darryl Lawrence is an excellent and honest man, he’s going to be under intense pressure to be independent,” James Cawley, a former chairman of the state Public Utility Commission, told WESA. “It’s the welfare of the consumer that’s on the line.”

Cawley said Sunday should have left Cicero in place, as he said previous incoming attorneys general have done: “It’s just the tradition.” And he said it seemed as if utility companies, who “get to hire the very best lawyers in the world,” were now able “to pick their opposition lawyers as well.”

Cicero himself has returned to work for Marx’s organization, the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, which aids low-income utility consumers, as chief counsel.

Pittsburgh Senator Lindsey Williams, a Democrat, said she looks forward to meeting the nominee, “learning more about his experience and plans to protect ratepayers across Pennsylvania.”

Kate Giammarise contributed reporting.