By Michael Brooks
WASHINGTON — Current and former colleagues gathered at FERC headquarters Thursday to praise departing Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur.
As the commission does not hold open meetings in August, Thursday marked LaFleur’s last as a sitting commissioner before her term ends Aug. 31. When it does, she will have served 3,336 days, according to Chairman Neil Chatterjee, making her the second-longest serving commissioner in the agency’s history (519 days short of William L. Massey, who served from 1993 to 2003).
“Rare are those who … through grace, logic and verve make a genuine difference,” said former Commissioner Marc Spitzer, one of 12 she served with during her tenure. “That’s Cheryl LaFleur.”
She was also the longest serving chairman, with 704 days at the helm, Chatterjee said, including two stints as acting chair. During the meeting, LaFleur stacked her three nameplates — chairman, acting chairman and commissioner — in front of her.
LaFleur arrived first among her colleagues to the hearing room, where a packed audience with few open seats awaited her. The meeting began slightly late; it was only until Chatterjee walked in with Commissioners Richard Glick and Bernard McNamee right behind him that it became apparent why. Each wore a Boston sports jersey in imitation of LaFleur’s tradition of supporting her teams during playoff runs: Patriots for Chatterjee, Red Sox for Glick and Celtics for McNamee.
After the meeting’s official proceedings, Chatterjee brought forward Spitzer; former Montana Public Service Commission Chairman Travis Kavulla; Jamie Simler, former director of the commission’s Office of Energy Market Regulation; and LaFleur legal adviser Steven Wellner. Along with her current colleagues, they all praised LaFleur as wise, gracious and having a good sense of humor.
“She’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and always has a story or analogy for pretty much any occasion,” Wellner said.
Simler choked up as she spoke about how supportive LaFleur is of her staff, especially during the quorum-less period in the early days of the Trump administration, in which she was eventually the only commissioner at the agency. (See LaFleur Recounts Turbulent Tenure at FERC.) “No matter what your title was, we had the security of knowing that you cared … about the agency, the staff, the decisions and getting things right, or as close to right as possible.”
Chatterjee also praised her for leadership during the period. After serving as chair, “I now have a greater appreciation for how difficult a period that must have been, not just because of the stress of the backlog that was accruing, but just maintaining morale among our wonderful staff,” he said.
“You’re the embodiment of what it means to be not only a good regulator, but a good person,” McNamee said. “Washington will be something less because you’re not a part of it.”
LaFleur thanked all her current and former staff members, many of whom were in the audience, and called her time at FERC “the most rewarding professional experience of my life.”
Chatterjee handed her the gavel to close out the meeting one last time.
