Former Commissioner and NARUC President
Marsha Smith is a former Idaho PUC Commissioner and NARUC President.
Conversations with three Commissioners, some members of Staff, and two illustrious recently-retired regulators from the Gem State.
PUF: Talk about your time at the Commission, and what you focused on.
Marsha Smith: I started at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission in June 1981 as a deputy attorney general for the Commission and held that position for about nine years. Then I became the director of policy and external relations, which means I did the legislative work and some of the interaction with the regional organizations.
In January 1991, I was appointed to the Commission by Governor Cecil Andrus. I was subsequently reappointed for three more terms by three different Governors. I retired in February 2015, and then unfortunately Mack Redford, one of our Commissioners, died at the end of June and the Governor's office asked me to come back. I went back at the end of July until the end of that year. I was a Commissioner for twenty-four and a half plus years, and I retired twice.
PUF: What was most rewarding for you during those years even before you were a Commissioner?