| Printed Page 2400, Feb. 24 | Printed Page 2420, Feb. 24 |

1. Ms. Anne M. Bowen
Home Address: Business Address:
4 Nautilus Road 19 Pope Avenue
Hilton Head, SC 29928 Executive Park
Hilton Head, SC 29928

2. She was born in Augusta, Georgia on August 14, 1962.

Social Security number: ***-**-****.

3. S.C. Driver's License Number: *******.

S.C. Voter's Registration Number: 4 400 472.

4. She was married to John H. Bowen on June 22, 1985.
She has two children: R. Rushton Bowen, age 6; M. Eden Bowen, age 10 months.

6. She graduated from the College for Financial Planning, (Denver, Colorado) as a Certified Financial Planner in 1992.

9. She worked for Gannet Newspaper Corporation as a sales executive from 1980 to 1987; sales executive for the Island Packet Newspaper from 1987 to 1989; Self employed in Financial Services since 1989.

10. She serves as Principal of Anne M. Bowen, Certified Financial Planner.

22. She has spent $49.30 on letters to all 170 members of the legislature.

26. Professional Organizations: Hilton Head Island Council of Estate and Financial Advisors; SC Society of Institute of Certified Financial Planners; The Institute of Certified Financial Planners (National); The Institute of Certified Financial Planners, registered practitioner, (National).

27. Civic, charitable, etc. organizations: Sea Pines Public Service District, Vice Chairman; Commissioner, Town of Hilton Head Island Water Commission; Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce, Executive Exchange; Hilton Head Speaker's Bureau; Board Member, Leadership Hilton Head Forum; Women's Association of Hilton Head; First Baptist Church of Hilton Head.

29. Five letters of reference:

(a) Honorable John C. West
Former Governor of SC
P.O. Drawer 3
Hilton Head, SC 29938

(803) 785-2171

(b) Honorable Thomas C. Taylor
Chairman, Beaufort County Council
P.O. Drawer 5280
Hilton Head, SC 29938
(803) 785-7606

(c) Paula Harper Bethea

P.O. Drawer 3
Hilton Head, SC 29938
(803) 785-2171

(e) Sara Johnson Borton
Publisher, The Island Packet Newspaper
P.O. Box 5727
Hilton Head, SC 29938
(803) 785-4293

30. First District

MR. COUICK: Mr. Chairman, that's all. Ms. Clyburn, I believe is present. Mr. Chairman, the next candidate is Ms. Mignon Clyburn. Ms. Clyburn, if you would come forward.
MS. CLYBURN: Is this forward?
MR. COUICK: Yes, ma'am. Ms. Clyburn, while you're standing, if you would raise your right hand and swear.
MIGNON CLYBURN, having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
MS. CLYBURN - EXAMINATION BY MR. COUICK:
Q. Ms. Clyburn, please make yourself comfortable. I'm not sure if you received a letter that I sent out earlier this week requesting you to bring evidence of your residency. Do you have a voter registration certificate or a driver's license?
A. Yes.
Q. If you would share that with Ms. Pendavaris. Mr. Chairman, I have Ms. Clyburn's voter registration card showing that she lives at 16 Darlington Avenue, Charleston, South Carolina, 29403. Ms. Clyburn, is that your correct, current address?
A. It is.
Q. Thank you. Would you please state for the record your full name?
A. Mignon Letitia Clyburn.
Q. Ms. Clyburn, you were supplied with a copy of your Personal Data Questionnaire Summary earlier today. Did you have an opportunity to review it and do you know of anything that needs to be corrected with that?
A. Yes, I did. Everything seems to be in order.
Q. Did you have -- would you object to that being a part of the permanent record of this hearing?
A. No, I will not.

So as far as that's concerned even though it's not day to day specific in reference to the operation of PSC, I think --
Q. That would be your overall theme would be try to bring the commission closer to the public concern?
A. To the public, right. Again, I think that there is a big line of ignorance.
Q. What part of that would you do as a commissioner and what part of that would be assigned to staff to do?
A. Again, I have a background in newspapers, so I would want to be more hands on. I know there is -- just looking at the structure of the agency, there is a person who is responsible for press releases and all of that, but I -- at each site or at each location where we would travel, I would be willing to, if it's permitted, use the relationships that I've developed over the past several years with several other media sources to, you know, let them know what's going on and hopefully sometimes when they see someone they're more familiar with, they would be more prone to either run or disperse the information that you may be distributing.

But they don't consider it worthy because they don't have an ongoing relationship with you, but if it is somebody in media with a background that they're accustomed to seeing at meetings once a year, they might be more prone to be more open and receptive to information that you might be disseminating.
Q. Ms. Clyburn, in this role as a commissioner, you certainly bring a new focus to the role of commissioner and a commendable one in terms of bringing it closer to the public, but do you see any tension there between your service as a commissioner who in essence is a judge on rate cases and also being a -- to some degree an activist in the sense of taking the opportunity to go out and make contact directly with the public about an ongoing case?
A. I don't think I need to be case specific. I think that would again be pushing things a little bit too far, but there are some basic things that I believe our community is just simply unaware of and, again, I think that dimension would be an asset.
Q. You mention that you now own and, I guess, or you're an associate publisher of The Coastal Times newspaper?

While they want their publication to be a viable one in terms of bottom line making money, they don't have anything to do again with the day to day operations, so the possible conflict in terms of -- I don't know if you're thinking about divulging certain information, that wouldn't come into play since --
Q. And that was one. And one -- the other one is the bottom line in terms of money. If all of a sudden, with an ownership interest, you notice SCE&G's advertising went up 1500 percent after your election, what do you need to do?
A. That is something that I would have -- I would really have to evaluate whether or not I could accept in good faith any utility monies. I would really have to look at that from SCE&G or any of the regulatories because I didn't want -- wouldn't want -- would not want the appearance of any conflict or any favoritism.

So there are some publications who don't accept cigarette ads or liquor ads and I feel that again, if I maintained ownership and if elected, then if need be, I would make that decision.
Q. Mr. Chairman, for the committee's benefit staff has had SLED do a check of judgments and any criminal convictions upon Ms. Clyburn and that check was negative. There were no entries there. The credit report was also a positive credit report in that there were no negative entries on that.

Just generally talking a little bit the role of the Public Service Commission, I'd like to throw out some terms to you, Ms. Clyburn, and see if you're somewhat familiar with them and I'm not expecting anybody

Generational mix, use of fuels to have a cleaner burn in terms of an environmental purposes, what authority does the Public Service Commission have in that area?
A. I'm afraid I can't remember that --
Q. And that's certainly fine. That's certainly fine. How about wheeling? Have you heard of wheeling?
A. Excuse me?
Q. W-h-e-e-l-i-n-g, wheeling of utility resources?
A. No, sir, I'm afraid not.
Q. How about demand side management? Demand side management?
A. If I am not mistaken, I'm thinking that it has something to do with the fluctuation that may occur during peak or low periods. Say, right now we would on a high demand side.
Q. Exactly.
A. And during, say, March or April, we're on a low demand side, so that there needs to be a balance with -- in terms of rates, so that it wouldn't have the peak and low
-- even though you're going to see fluctuations in your -- unfortunately when I open my bill, I'm going to see fluctuations, so that the fluctuations wouldn't be as varied.
Q. And you bring up --
A. You need to keep that in consideration when thinking of the whole rate structure for six months or a year.
Q. And a lot of environmental groups would like to see conservation caused by demand side management and the feeling they express is exactly the opposite of what you just expressed. What they would like to see is that during high peak times, energy costs more rather than less. From a public policy perspective, analyze that for me or as a reporter, what are the concerns you have on either side? I mean --
A. You're saying --
Q. -- from charging more for --
A. You're saying more at peak time? I really am as a consumer more in line with averaging out, spreading that out as opposed to hitting somebody at a certain time of year because of variances and the weather conditions, so I think I would be more of an advocate of, you know, looking at the past trends even though this past -- past couple of days has been kind of defiant of all of those in terms of the lows that we are experiencing in the country.

That are other types of ways I think to get people's minds thinking more in terms of conservation other than strictly price specific ones.
Q. Could you please tell the committee what your understanding is of the types of utilities regulated by the Public Service Commission?
A. Telephone and telegraph type facilities meaning Southern Bell. I say Southern Bell because that's what I use. The electric utilities, motor vehicle, transit motor vehicle type entities. These are the ones that I can think of right now.
Q. That's fine. And, Ms. Clyburn, what role should the PSC staff play?
A. Judging by some of my responses today, I think more of a support role. There is some phraseology and some specifics that -- of course, I'm not an attorney. I haven't been working with a co-op or a utility for years, so there are some things I'm going to be quite weak on.

I don't think I'm the dumbest person in the world, but by the same token, I don't know a lot of specifics. So in terms of staff, strictly support and their expertise in those areas and, you know, working as a collective, everybody benefits.
Q. The committee certainly is not looking for anyone that has an absolute knowledge of all these concepts. I'm really just trying to plumb and find out basically your experience level. But I think that from indications of previous question what they're looking for is a firm understanding of how you make decisions, what's important to you and what grounds those decisions as a matter of public policy. And I hope

What else would you want to tell the committee as a matter of things of public policy that are important to you and that you would take not necessarily as an agenda into your service at the Public Service Commission, but what makes things fair, what makes things right for you? What are you looking for to accomplish? What do you want to be the epitaph if one has to write it for you when you're through with your service?
A. As a business owner for nearly ten years, I recognize that there is a need to make a profit. You cannot live -- you cannot get motivated without one and in terms of utilities, because we're dealing with either monopolies or oligopolies, businesses that really don't -- aren't subjected to the same type of market, of course, as a newspaper would be, there is a need for this body, the Public Service Commission, to act as a governing body or a buffer so to speak between -- the voice between the overall masses of the community and the monopoly or oligopoly.

I think that fairness is the one word that comes to mind. Fairness to stockholders and fairness to persons who -- who are serviced -- who are users of services. Hundreds of thousands of people in our state who are the users of the services, they are entitled to the lowest rate possible.

By the same token, they -- in their pursuits in terms of business as well as working, they know that they can't get a paycheck without the entity making any money. So by the same token these utilities must have a reasonable rate of return in order for expansion to be more efficient, in order to finance plant and facility, again, expansions that would make services hopefully in the long haul more economical and more efficient.
Q. Yes, ma'am.
A. So an attempt to strike that balance I think would be a must. But fairness -- I mean fairness to everyone involved that, you know, you and I and everybody in this room cannot sufficiently or adequately run any utility. I mean we really can't and most -- we've got to recognize that economies of scale come into play and when they do again there needs to be a buffer. But there needs to be a fairness on both ends.
Q. Yes, ma'am. And the final couple of questions, you indicate on your Personal Data Questionnaire that you had expended a little in excess, I believe, of $150?
A. Well, $100 and $50 yet because I was waiting to see.
Q. The follow up more?
A. Right.
Q. Have you expended any more monies since that time?

People -- in degree people that I'm with just simply -- I've had to state do you know about and they're like I think I have, so there is a real across the board ignorance factor, I don't know how else to put it, about the interworkings of this particular entity.
Q. You're talking about the commission?
A. And I think -- yes.
Q. How about this committee? What can this committee do better, the selection committee, the screening committee?
A. I feel a little uneasy about it. I don't know. I might want to sleep on it. I really don't know. It's my first time and I'm real nervous, so I'm not sure and there is nothing you can do about that, but I'm not sure what else -- you've been most cooperative in terms of, you know, getting information out on a timely basis. Right now, I cannot off the --
Q. Thank you, Ms. Clyburn. Mr. Chairman, that's it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any questions from any members of the committee?
SENATOR COURTNEY: Mr. Chairman? Senator.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR COURTNEY:
Q. Ms. Clyburn, I want to agree with you when you say you're not the dumbest person in the world. You're obviously a very bright and articulate young woman and I admire you that you have the initiative to own and operate your own business. And I want to say, too, that you don't have to apologize for not being an attorney. These days you can brag about that.

I guess I have just a couple of questions, one is a philosophical type question. What do you see the role of the Public Service Commission to be? And I'm asking you is it an agency that's there to regulate industry to see that it makes a profit, a fair profit, or is it an agency there to protect consumers?

| Printed Page 2400, Feb. 24 | Printed Page 2420, Feb. 24 |