SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A spokesman for Governor Jerry Brown says his re-election campaign has returned donations to PG&E executives.
The governor's office says it's the prudent thing to do while federal prosecutors investigate five years' worth of back-channel communications between company employees and the Public Utilities Commission.
The e-mails allegedly show PG&E executives secretly negotiating with CPUC officials on matters related to rate hikes and financial penalties.
This all comes as the commission is weighing more than a billion dollars in fines against PG&E for the San Bruno pipeline disaster in 2010.