A top attorney at the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has accused three of his colleagues, including the agency’s executive secretary, of defamation following the release of private emails in which the attorney was accused of withholding public recordings and lying under oath.
Scott Muska, who serves as general counsel for PURA, sent a cease and desist letter on Oct. 30 to Executive Secretary Jeff Gaudiosi as well as Commissioner Michael Caron and retired Commissioner Jack Betkowski alleging that all three had damaged his reputation by spreading false and malicious statements.
The letter specifically referenced an email sent from Gaudiosi to Caron and another commissioner, David Arconti, in early October in which Gaudiosi said he no longer felt comfortable reporting to Muska and asked to be able to report directly to the commissioners, instead.
Gaudiosi went on to accuse Muska of engaging in “behavior that is not up to the ethical standards of a state agency” by withholding documents — which Gaudiosi said had prevented him from accurately responding to records requests — and giving “misleading and false statements” about those records while under oath.
The email was later published on a blog run by former state lawmaker Kevin Rennie on Oct. 24.
“These statements and are false and were made willfully and recklessly,” Muska said, adding “their subsequent publication and intentional disclosure to media outlets constitute defamation per se.”
The letter further calls on each of the recipients to retract any defamatory statements within 10 days, or face potential “legal remedies.” The letter also directs the recipients to preserve any relevant communications in case they are needed as evidence in a future lawsuit.
The letter is the latest in a series of controversies that have rattled PURA, which is tasked with reviewing and approving rates paid by Connecticut customers of electric, gas and water utilities. In October, former PURA Chair Marissa Gillett stepped down after facing several lawsuits from utility companies accusing her of bias and wielding unilateral control over the authority during her 6-year tenure.
Her replacement, Thomas Wiehl, was tapped by Gov. Ned Lamont along with three other new commissioners last month. Still, the lawsuits and threats of more litigation haven’t stopped.
Betkoski, who retired in February after a lengthy career at the authority, said Friday that he believed Muska’s claims had no merit and that he was not involved in any of the statements mentioned in the letter.
“I am very saddened to see the turmoil at the place I loved for 27 years,” he said in an interview with the Connecticut Mirror. “I hope with the new leadership there that this will be something they put behind us.”
Caron, who was one of the recipients of Gaudiosi’s email, told CT Mirror he had not shared the email with anyone, or made other defamatory remarks about Muska. “I’ve never done anything the letter suggests,” he said.
Neither Muska nor a spokesperson for PURA responded to requests for comment. Attempts to reach Gaudiosi for comment were unsuccessful.
Earlier this week, the Hartford Courant reported that state Attorney General William Tong’s office had hired an outside law firm, Shipman & Goodwin, to conduct a investigation into allegations of misconduct at PURA, including examining whether employees complied with the Freedom of Information Act and court-ordered discovery requests.
That contract was signed on Oct. 31, a day after Muska’s letter was sent.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office declined to comment Friday.
Shipman & Goodwin is a Hartford-based firm with a $270,000-a-year retainer to conduct outside legal work for the state. Last year, the firm was hired to conduct an investigation into the misuse of state vehicles by staffers in the governor’s office.
The attorney general’s office is currently representing PURA in a pair of active lawsuits brought by utility companies.
One of those cases is joint lawsuit by Eversource and United Illuminating’s parent company, Avangrid, alleging that Gillett overstepped her authority while leading PURA. Commissioner Caron was deposed in that case on Wednesday, during which he revealed that he had been sent Muska’s cease and desist letter, according to a transcript of the deposition.
The other case — a challenge of PURA’s denial of rate increases sought by two gas companies owned by Avangrid — has hinged on allegations that Gillett helped to write an op-ed critical of the utility companies and then covered up her involvement. Gillett has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The judge in that case, Matthew Budzik, has been probing whether attorneys representing PURA, including Muska, withheld information from the court about Gillett’s contacts with the authors of the op-ed and the auto-delete settings on her phone.
A hearing in that case is currently scheduled for Nov. 12.