TALLAHASSEE -- Two days after the Public Service Commission banned some BlackBerry messaging in its hearing room, the Florida Commission on Ethics will decide whether e-mails sent by BlackBerry may have snagged Commissioner Lisa Edgar in a potential violation of state law.

The commission will meet in a closed-door session Friday to decide if there is probable cause to a citizen's complaint that accuses Edgar of using her staff aide to receive a message from a Florida Power & Light official during a November hearing to set fuel charges for FPL customers.

PRIVATE TALKS BARRED

The PSC regulates electric companies. State law prohibits its five commissioners from discussing any pending issues with any utility executive except in an open meeting. Failure to follow the so-called ``ex parte'' law can result in a $5,000 fine or removal from office.

The ethics complaint is one in a series of allegations about improper relationships with utility officials that have dogged the PSC in recent weeks. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been investigating the agency for potential ethics violations, state Senate leaders have called for reforming the agency, the PSC's lobbyist resigned under fire and three agency staffers were put on paid administrative leave or reassigned for giving their private messaging codes to FPL.

Tensions are so high that PSC spokeswoman Cynthia Muir got into a physical confrontation with a TV news crew from Tallahassee-based Capitol News Service Thursday when a reporter attempted to ask Commission Chairman Matthew Carter a question.

The ethics complaint against Edgar was filed in April by Stephen Stewart, a Tallahassee businessman who has been a consultant on utility regulation cases. He accuses Edgar of violating the ``ex parte'' law, based on an e-mail trail between Edgar and her aide, Roberta Bass, during a Nov. 6hearing.

Stewart obtained documents showing that during the meeting, Bass sent an e-mail via BlackBerry to Edgar, saying: ``Need to talk to you.''

Edgar replied: ``Now or in a few minutes?''

Bass responded: ``Just talked with Ken.''

And Edgar replied: ``Come to the corner . . . please.''

Stewart alleges that the ``Ken'' referred to was FPL lobbyist Ken Hoffman. He said the only time Edgar spoke during that morning's hearing was to unsucessfully request that the commission delay a ruling on a report about a disgruntled FPL worker who drilled a hole in FPL's nuclear reactor.

``Was this opposition the subject of the conversation between Ms. Bass and Ken [Hoffman] that could not wait?'' Stewart asks in his complaint.

Edgar has denied any wrongdoing. Bass has not responded to requests for comment.

PREVIOUS INSTANCE

Bass appeared to facilitate communications between Edgar and FPL executives earlier that year when she sent an email to FPL attorney Natalie Smith containing no words, only the private messaging code, or PIN, of Edgar's BlackBerry.

Documents obtained by the Herald/Times show that Bass sent that e-mail in February 2008, and in October she gave her own BlackBerry PIN to the same attorney. By using the PIN system for messages, users can bypass the state e-mail system and avoid creating a traceable paper trail.

After the Herald/Times disclosed the use of the PINs by Bass and other PSC staff members, PSC Chairman Carter ordered that all instant messaging functions of the agency's state-issued Blackberries be disabled.

A Sarasota-based government watchdog group challenged that decision on Thursday, warning that attempts to reprogram the devices to disable the messaging function or allowing staff to continue to use the devices could permanently delete the electronic records. The group, Citizens for Sunshine, a nonprofit devoted to transparency in government, filed a public records request seeking copies of all the PIN messages on the state-issue Blackberries.

``If they use the wrong process to conduct this forensic recovery they possibly will lose the data,'' said Michael Barfield, legal consultant to the group.

He said the use of PINs by staff aides was a troubling development, especially given the PSC's rules against contact with utility company officials on pending cases.

`CONCERNS US'

`It certainly concerns us,'' he said. ``What you can't do directly, you should not do through the use of liaisons or aides.''

But PSC General Counsel Booter Imhof said Thursday that he has been assured by the PSC technology staff that disabling the instant messaging functions on the devices will not interfere with the recovery of those messages.

``We have a temporary device that can save what's on those devices and we have activated that,'' he said. He denied reports that the Blackberries had been reprogrammed and said that the messages on the devices were being downloaded and logged so that they could respond to the requests for records.

Staff writer Marc Caputo contributed to this report. Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com

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