Lawyers representing former chief utility regulator Marissa Gillett conceded in court Tuesday that she and her staff knew of the deletion of electronic records, but misled a judge by failing to disclose the erasure and claiming the records could not be located.
In an unusual colloquy with the judge presiding over a utility suit, an assistant attorney general defending the Public Utility Regulatory Authority answered “yes” when asked whether PURA misled the court by choosing not to admit that it was aware records sought by the court had been erased from Gillett’s telephone by an auto delete program.
A prolonged exchange between Judge Matthew J. Budzik and assistant attorney general Seth Hollander focused on a missing and disputed text message exchange that is at the center of bias allegations against Gillett and that contributed to her abrupt resignation late last month.
The suit before Budzik was brought by two Avangrid natural gas subsidiaries. It attempts to buttress the bias allegation by referring to the text message exchange that suggests Gillett, ostensibly a neutral arbiter of regulatory questions as PURA chief, could have secretly collaborated with two legislative supporters on a news opinion column or op-ed castigating the utility industry.
The industry, which had been challenging PURA for months over rate decisions, became aware of the text exchange after The Courant published a portion the newspaper obtained from the telephones of one of the legislative authors through a public records request. In the portion of the exchange obtained by the newspaper, Gillett and the legislator discuss an op-ed and a draft she is preparing.
An image of the text exchange between PURA Chair Marissa Gillett and state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, obtained through a Freedom of Information request. The portions blocked out are private numbers. Hartford Courant.
When the gas companies went to court and obtained an initial order from Budzik requiring Gillett to produce her side of the exchange from her phone, as well as any related communications, PURA responded that it was unable to locate any such electronic records.
It wasn’t until months later, after further pressure in court from the gas companies and second more comprehensive ruling from Budzik, that PURA conceded the sought-after text message exchange probably existed at some point on Gillett’s phone but had been irretrievably deleted by a program she activated on the telephone when she bought it.
Marissa Paslick Gillett, Chair of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority answers a question during the Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee reappointment hearing on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
The gas companies were back before Budzik in New Britain Superior Court in their continuing effort to strengthen their bias allegation by obtaining more information about the text messages. Among other things, the companies want a forensic records search at PURA and a court order requiring the two legislative authors to submit to questioning at depositions about who contributed to the op-ed.
PURA and the legislators oppose the continuing efforts by the gas companies to obtain additional information through the legal process known as discovery. Among other things, PURA and the legislators argue that the bias allegation is moot because of Gillett’s resignation and Gov. Ned Lamont’s announcement this week that he has nominated a new chairman and three new commissioners to an expanded and reconstituted PURA.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) Bureau of Energy and Technology Policy located at the Joseph H. Harper, Jr. Building at 10 Franklin Square in New Britain on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant)
The gas companies countered that they are entitled to further evidence of bias. They are claiming bias as one of the grounds for reversing a year-old PURA decision that not only denied them rate increases, but reduced the rates they had previously been allowed to charge.
Budzik sounded at times Tuesday as if he were growing impatient with PURA. At one point, referring to Gillett’s and PURA’s response to his initial order, he said Gillett “turned off” her phone’s auto delete function and then said, “we looked really hard” but couldn’t find anything.
CT top utility regulator admits controversial text messages at center of court case deleted
The judge said he was holding Hollander and PURA General Counsel Scott Muska personally responsible for a misleading response to the court.
“What happened?” Budzik asked.
At the conclusion of a series of questions from the court, Hollander said he believes PURA was aware that the sought after text messages had been erased from Gillett’s telephone at the time of Budzik’s initial discovery order but that “someone in PURA” decided not to comply by admitting the material had been deleted.
