David Bradley: Commission needs to act as ‘catalyst’ to create jobs

Beyond merely serving as an elected member of a regulatory agency, David Bradley says he regards having a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission as having the opportunity to be an agent for big change.

“There are such great opportunities for the commission to act as a catalyst,” says Bradley, 57, chief executive officer of La Paloma Family Services since 1993.

Two-thirds of the world lives in what Bradley termed “power poverty.” And lacking electricity almost always means lacking clean water, which takes electricity to deliver.

“The cost of delivering water is electricity,” says Bradley, a Democrat who has represented Legislative District 28 as a member of the Arizona House for the past eight years.

Bradley holds both a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in business administration from the University of Maryland. He also served eight years in the U.S. Navy.

“It’s the opportunity the commission has to stimulate a core business that has something to sell to the rest of the world,” he says of the panel’s role.

Bradley says the commission should act to create jobs by regulation that can stimulate industry, particularly in the area of renewable energy sources such as solar power.

“This is the central issue we disagree with the Republicans on,” he says.

Bradley says his view of an active commission is contrary to most people’s understanding of the commission, something he says he hopes to change. Many voters, he says, mistakenly believe the commission has the authority to set rates for Salt River Project electricity customers, which it doesn’t.

“You see their eyes glaze over when you explain the commission to them,” he says.

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