[HN Gopher] Top Texas regulator ousted as recording emerges of p...
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       Top Texas regulator ousted as recording emerges of pledge to
       protect Wall Street
        
       Author : stefan_
       Score  : 115 points
       Date   : 2021-03-17 17:00 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.houstonchronicle.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.houstonchronicle.com)
        
       | commandlinefan wrote:
       | This is what drives me crazy about all of the hand-wringing about
       | the weather disaster we had down here a few weeks ago: liberals
       | keep insisting that we Texans deserved it because we voted
       | regulation-averse politicians into office here, but it was
       | actually the regulators themselves who turned it from an
       | inconvenience into a humanitarian crisis.
        
         | incomplete wrote:
         | > liberals keep insisting that we Texans deserved it because we
         | voted regulation-averse politicians into office
         | 
         | wow, that's quite a sweeping generalization right there. as a
         | liberal, living in a very liberal part of the country, i can
         | promise you that i never saw or heard anything but sympathy for
         | all texans during that terrible time.
         | 
         | i'm truly sorry that you feel that this was not the case.
        
           | minikites wrote:
           | Conservatives believe that liberals are just as spiteful as
           | they are themselves.
        
         | jessaustin wrote:
         | I am similarly suspicious of the idea of collective guilt, but
         | when we hire incompetents for a particular task we can't be
         | surprised when that task is performed incompetently.
        
         | hindsightbias wrote:
         | > crazy
         | 
         | Projection does not lead to rational behavior.
        
         | FireBeyond wrote:
         | I wonder how long before D'Andrea goes to work for an energy
         | company?
         | 
         | Also, people on the right screaming about how gas prices have
         | gone up "under Biden", wilfully ignoring that 30% of Texas
         | refineries were shut down for 2+ weeks.
        
         | meowster wrote:
         | No matter the side, I prefer Hacker News when comments aren't
         | politicking.
        
         | macintux wrote:
         | Your very conservative governor insisted that you deserved it
         | because you'd rather die than have the feds involved in your
         | energy grid.
         | 
         | Usually you have to paraphrase someone to make them sound that
         | bad, but not lately.
        
           | edbob wrote:
           | He's not the governor, and I don't know anyone here (in
           | Texas, not HN) that cares what he says.
           | 
           | However, you did not paraphrase him so much as lie about what
           | he said. "you deserved it because you'd rather die than have
           | the feds involved in your energy grid" is not at all what
           | Rick Perry said. The actual quote is "Texans would be without
           | electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal
           | government out of their business. Try not to let whatever the
           | crisis of the day is take your eye off of having a resilient
           | grid that keeps America safe personally, economically, and
           | strategically." [0]
           | 
           | [0] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rick-perry-texans-should-
           | endu...
        
       | rch wrote:
       | https://archive.ph/cDsVD
        
       | mmhsieh wrote:
       | what makes this fella remarkable is only that he said the quiet
       | part loud.
        
         | stefan_ wrote:
         | It's amazing. The best part for me was
         | 
         | > "I went from being on a very hot seat to having one of the
         | safest jobs in Texas"
         | 
         | Some serious "seconds from disaster" energy there.
        
           | brundolf wrote:
           | Even better (from an article reporting on the original call):
           | 
           | > "I think they probably enjoy having just one person up
           | there because they can secure promises from me and I can't
           | say, 'Oh, well, my fellow commissioners wouldn't go along.'
           | It's easier for everyone, actually. At a time like this when
           | I'm communicating all the time with the Legislature, it's
           | easier to just be going through one person."
           | 
           | Just... just really laying it all out there. "Hey guys, I can
           | do whatever I want, let's make some back-room deals"
        
         | minikites wrote:
         | Conservatives recently realized that they can say the quiet
         | part loud and not only will nobody punish them for it, more
         | people will vote for you the louder you shout it.
        
           | Tarsul wrote:
           | only if you have clout. And never back down. So, you're right
           | some [!] conservatives can say whatever they want and don't
           | have to fret.
        
       | akudha wrote:
       | _insisted that repricing was illegal and potentially harmful to
       | ratepayers_
       | 
       | Is this really illegal? Even if it is, how can someone say it is
       | harmful to ratepayers with a straight face?
        
       | throwaway0a5e wrote:
       | >had privately assured Bank of America analysts
       | 
       | Knowing BofA I'm not at all surprised that people were recording
       | the call.
        
         | ethanbond wrote:
         | Knowing anything at all about how the real world works, not
         | surprised people were recording the call.
        
           | throwawayboise wrote:
           | Everything is recorded now. Even a private one-on-one in-
           | person conversation is likely being recorded. Did you check
           | the other person's phone? Or ask them to leave it outside the
           | room?
        
             | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-17 23:02 UTC)