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SPRINGER:Mr. Chairman, may I make another inquiry of Mr. Torigoe? <br />GALDONES:Proceed. <br />SPRINGER:I looked at, reviewed that section briefly that you just quoted back <br />to us; and I take Ms. Song€s objection seriously as I looked literally at the document. I <br />don€t see the provision for the Hearings Officer to make oral presentation before us. Can <br />you give me some guidance there? <br />TORIGOE:Right. And it doesn€t, well, let me just turn back -. <br />SPRINGER:It doesn€t, I don€t see anything disallowing it, either. <br />TORIGOE:That€scorrect;and,then,so,thisbeingaContestedCase <br />proceeding, we do try to do substantial justice and we don€t necessarily have the same <br />kind for formality it would follow in a court. But, of course, this is going to be reviewed <br />by a court ultimately if one of the parties feels that€s necessary, so we do need to proceed <br />with some caution. The normal practice has been to allow the Hearing Officer to come <br />and to present to you the report and to take questions. I don€t think we€ve ever had a <br />specific objection, such as Ms. Song as raised; but since she has raised it, we need to take <br />it seriously. And, so, that is why my remarks were cautionary that, you know, I think the <br />rules do reflect in what is written a basic preference that the parties have opportunity to <br />respond in writing to the Hearing Officer€s Report. And, so, to the extent that we open <br />up too much to the Hearing Officer, you know, presenting what may end up looking like <br />argument in support of his conclusions and his report without allowng the parties an <br />opportunity to respond to it in writing, then there will be arguments about this. <br />Now, I think the Chairman is concerned that the Commissioners have an opportunity to <br />make sure that they understand what the Hearing Officer has done; and there is a line that <br />is difficult to draw between, you know, asking the Hearing Officer questions that ensure <br />that you understand what happened and that is consistent with just what€s in the record. <br />And the Hearing Officer may have a difficult time not going over that line and starting to <br />justify what he has said, which some of the parties may not agree with. And, so, I would <br />advise you to proceed with caution in your inquiry of the Hearing Officer. <br />SPRINGER:Thank you. <br />GALDONES:Further discussion? Commissioners, so that we€re clear, <br />considering the objection raised by Ms. Song and the discussion that, or the instructions <br />from counsel, the procedurally correct, I€ll use the terminology, procedurally correct <br />thing for us to do is just to accept the reports, make the decision on those reports that are <br />before us this morning. But the Chair was trying to be liberal and trying to be fair with <br />all the Commissioners and allow you folks the opportunity in case you folks did have any <br />questions regarding any of the reports, which is a fine line; and we need to proceed with <br />caution if that is the procedure that we will be adopting. So this is where I will be asking <br />9 <br /> <br />