Crist names Klement to Florida PSC vacancy
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Former journalist David Klement is getting an early start in his new job as a state utility regulator, after Gov. Charlie Crist on Thursday appointed Klement to immediately succeed Public Service Commissioner Katrina McMurrian.
McMurrian resigned from the five-member commission last month after Crist refused to reappoint her and Commission Chairman Matthew Carter. Their terms expire in January.
Crist instead appointed two new members without utility backgrounds to an agency that’s been hounded by accusations of being too cozy with the businesses it regulates.
One of those appointees is Klement, 69, of Bradenton. He had been a Bradenton Herald editorial page editor before becoming director of the Institute for Public Policy and Leadership at the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus.
The other is Benjamin “Steve” Stevens of Pensacola, co-owner of a bar and former financial officer for the Escambia County sheriff’s office.
Carter has said he plans to complete his four-year term, so Stevens will have to wait until January to take office.
Crist couldn’t appoint anyone to complete McMurrian’s term until he received recommendations from the Public Service Commission Nominating Council.
The nominating panel met Tuesday in Orlando and sent him the names of Klement, Stevens and two former Public Service Commission staffers, John Grayson, who had been inspector general, and Felicia West, who had been a staff attorney.