TALLAHASSEE -- As Public Service Commissioner Nancy Argenziano listened to utility hearings via teleconference from her North Carolina home, her fingers moved constantly, firing off a stream of messages on her BlackBerry to her chief aide.

Thousands of messages.

Some of them were nitpicking about the sound system; others were critiques of the utility arguments; some were commands and questions for her aide, Larry Harris; and some were snide remarks about other commissioners.

``What a jerk,'' she said, referring to fellow Commissioner Nathan Skop, during a July 17 hearing. On July 14, she asked her aides to ``be downstairs watching faces especially [Commissioner Lisa Edgar]'' and report back if they saw any ``rolling of eyes'' when Argenziano spoke up. She laughed when her aide referred to another member as a ``mean-spirited anorexic.'' And on Aug. 17, Argenziano wrote: ``Got to say Skop did good all day. Wants to be friends again.''

The e-mail records and instant messages obtained by the Herald/Times from staff and commissioners at Florida's utility regulator offer a glimpse into the intrapersonal relationships at the embattled agency, and a stream-of-consciousness window into the unbridled thoughts of Argenziano.

The former state senator has called for an investigation of the Legislature's influence on the PSC, and accused many at the agency of being ``too cozy'' with the utilities they regulate. She said she worked from home for the past several months because she was recovering from complications from breaking her leg while vacationing in North Carolina. She said her doctor there required her to keep her leg elevated.

Her more than 2,400 BlackBerry PIN messages were retrieved Sept. 10, along with those from other commissioners, after the Herald/Times revealed that commission aides had given the PIN codes of commissioners to a Florida Power & Light attorney. PIN messages -- PIN stands for Personal Identification Numbers -- bypass the state server and, at the PSC, were not intended to be recorded.

Of the nearly 3,000 PIN messages recovered, Argenziano had more than 2,400. Other commissioners appeared to use PIN messaging less frequently or had fewer retrieved because if they used the device for e-mails and text messages or to download other data, that would crowd out the PIN data, said Lee Kissell, the PSC's chief of information technology.

DOUBLE STANDARDS

Argenziano's PIN messages reveal a distrust of fellow commissioners, especially Edgar and Skop, a constant skepticism about the veracity of Florida Power & Light's data, and a double standard: While Argenziano insisted that her aide write down all communications with lobbyists, she relied on communicating with him through BlackBerry PIN messages that didn't leave a paper trail and a Google e-mail account whose data resides outside the state server.

That contradiction, and the fact that Argenziano held herself out as an outspoken critic of the PSC, prompted Associated Industries of Florida to question her impartiality in the rate case and call for the agency's inspector general to investigate her.

The records ``show that she is violating her code of conduct, her oath of office and she's had ex parte communications with people that she's not supposed to have had,'' said Barney Bishop, president of AIF, a business lobbying group that has sided with Florida Power & Light in its request to raise base rates by $1.3 billion.

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