601 South Figueroa Street

Suite 2500
Los Angeles, CA 90017-5704
Christopher E. Prince 213.623.9300
213.892.5049 213.623.9924 fax
cprince@sonnenschein.com
www.sonnenschein.com

February 19, 2009

VIA E-MAIL

California Public Utilities Commission

505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, California 94102

Re: A.06-12-005 and associated applications; Revised Alternate Decision of

Commissioner Chong

Dear Commissioners:

United Community Associations, Inc. joins in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s
request for an all parties meeting. UCA shares the LAUSD’s concern about the direction that
this proceeding has taken. As a threshold matter, the entire evidentiary process was, in our view,
tainted by serious discovery-related misconduct on the part of Expo (specifically, Expo’s secret
withholding of documents based on undisclosed and frivolous assertions of privilege). This
misconduct was compounded when UCA was denied the opportunity to conduct any pre-hearing
discovery beyond written document requests and was further denied the opportunity to review
critical documents that were improperly withheld.

Although the evidentiary hearing was flawed in that respect, it did conform to certain
basic standards of fairness: all parties had the opportunity to be heard on the issues, and all
parties had the opportunity to hear the arguments presented to the decisionmakers. Since the
Assigned Commissioner issued his proposed decision, however, both the appearance and reality
of fairness have all but disappeared:

Expo has made ex parte contact with a Commissioner without giving the appropriate 3-
day advance notice to all parties;

UCA’s requests for “equal time” with Commissioners who have granted requests for
ex parte communication have been ignored; and

An Alternate Decision was issued and revised apparently based on evidence that was
excluded from the evidentiary hearing, thus violating Public Utilities Code Section 1701(3)(e).

Beyond the outright violations of CPUC rules and governing statutes, an air of politics
has descended over this proceeding. The sheer number of ex parte contacts by Expo is highly
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February 19, 2009
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unusual as are the significant changes to both the proposed and alternate decisions. Given that
this decision is not even the final word on these applications, the level and amount of
maneuvering is both perplexing and troubling. UCA urges the Commission to move this process
back out into the open. Granting LAUSD’s request for an all parties’ meeting would be a good
first step in that direction.

Sincerely,

Christopher E. Prince

CVP/jam

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