CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM State consumer advocate John Cole, above, thinks competition from cell phones and Internet phones will likely encourage the new owner of Verizon Hawaii, now called Hawaiian Telcom, to keep its rates down after its rate moratorium expires in 2009.

Consumer advocate
strives to be apolitical

Question: What is your position on the legislation that would begin capping Hawaii gas prices later this year?

Answer: Well, I'm actually getting involved in that now. I'm talking to a couple of people. I'm getting a consultant because my office has no experience in this law. I have some concerns about the law in general. But I'm going to deal with the law as written. I'm going to do my best to make sure it's done in the best possible way for consumers.

Q: What are your concerns?

A: It has been expressed by other people the possibility of the caps being higher than actual prices. Right now, if the caps were in effect, the caps would be higher than the price right now, though the price would have been lower in the past. There's also supply concerns about outlying areas.

I have some concerns particularly now that prices are rising on the mainland and we're not that different pricewise than, say, the West Coast.

Q: Hawaiian Electric Co. wants to raise Oahu base electricity charges by about 7.3 percent. What's your position?

A: We're actually in a discovery phase right now. We are asking the company for information. We've had over 300 information requests from our office so far to the electric company. So we have volumes and volumes of responses. Basically it's taking a look at the whole company that their expenses are justified and correct.

Q:: How did you go from getting a biology degree to a law degree?

A: Actually, I had always wanted to be a doctor. I had the science degree and I graduated from UH-Manoa here. My wife, who was my fiancee at the time, got into law school in St. Louis. Through helping her study I got kind of interested in the law. What I liked about science was analytic problem-solving stuff. I found there were similarities. I was pushing 30 and she talked me into taking the LSAT. After I finished up law school, we moved back here.

Q: At one point you worked for Democratic state Reps. Ed Case and Marcus Oshiro and later for Gov. Linda Lingle, who is a Republican. Was that a political shift?

A: No, actually. I try to stay apolitical. I try to avoid the party labels. I worked for (Kauai Democrat) Bertha Kawakami first, then for Ed Case and Marcus. I was actually in this office as a staff attorney. After Lingle got elected, I was asked if I'd considered helping her policy team. One of the policy members knew my wife. I tried to look at the person first more than the issues or the party. I actually worked on Ed Case's run for governor in the 2002 primary.

Q: You opted not to ask Carlyle Group to put more cash into the Verizon Hawaii deal, even though you were concerned about the level of debt financing. But the state Public Utilities Commission later required Carlyle to come up with more cash to do the deal, and Carlyle agreed. Were you surprised?

A: When the PUC put their decision out, I was undecided, wondering whether they might walk away from the deal. When they decided to accept the conditions, I was not disappointed, for sure. It provides added protections for consumers and I'm happy for that. I was not disappointed, maybe a little happy.

Q: What did Carlyle tell you during your discussions?

A: I really don't know how much I should talk about it. The negotiations are confidential. But there was reluctance on both sides. Carlyle didn't know if they could make their numbers work, get the additional cash. Verizon didn't seem willing to contribute somehow to make the deal go through.

I'm comfortable with what we did. We looked into it closely and crafted it to make something that would benefit rate payers, with the moratorium on raising rates until 2009.

Q: What was your impression of the Carlyle Group?

A: Very professional, very polished. They certainly knew their stuff. They definitely do their homework. When we sat down, Verizon folks were there, too. They came with their business plan and helped explain it to us and tried to answer questions. But they didn't seem aloof or anything like that.

Q: What were your impressions of the consumer agency as a staff attorney? Is there anything you want to change?

A: A couple of things. One would be to try to maybe affect policy a little more. They seemed a little more reactive or reluctant to talk about policy-type things at the Legislature. Also consumer education. I'm redeveloping the Web site to make it simpler and easier to learn about what we do and how to be better consumers. We recently added an education specialist, which has been a position here for a while that had been unfilled. We're starting to get out into the community to talk to business groups, set up newsletters, go before neighborhood boards. We're trying to get out into the community more.

Q: What is likely to happen to Verizon's rates after the moratorium ends in 2009?

A: I think that's going to depend on the competitive environment. Right now even cell phones and Internet telephone service may cause enough competitive pressure on them to keep prices down as much as they can.