June 15, 2004 The Honorable William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court of the United States Washington, DC 20543 Dear Mr. Chief Justice: I am writing on behalf of Ohio Citizen Action, the state's largest environmental organization, with 100,000 dues-paying members. Until American Electric Power (AEP) is reimbursed the full cost of your May flight to Columbus on their jet, we must reluctantly insist that you recuse yourself from any cases to which the utility is a party. AEP has put you in this position by perversely refusing to accept reimbursement. "The state court said a commercial airline was out of the question because of security issues and Chief Justice Rehnquist's knee problems," (Toledo Blade, June 12, 2004). Neither argument is convincing. Millions of Americans with serious infirmities take commercial flights, and airlines know how to accommodate them. Further, if there is danger of an attack on you, why entrust your safety to a private pilot and aircraft, when your employer, the U.S. government, has thousands of specially-trained pilots and specially-designed aircraft for such assignments? We have seen photos of the inside of the Raytheon Hawker 700/800 jet, so we know that what this ride offered was very pleasant travel, more pleasant than anyone who does not run a utility or rule on utility cases can ever expect to experience. We learned on Friday that the Columbus event committee donated the $3,800 budgeted for the flight to the American Red Cross. It is no reflection on the Red Cross, a fine organization, to say that this gesture did nothing to remove your conflict of interest. You have still received a thing of value from AEP -- the flight -- and AEP has not been reimbursed the full amount for the equipment, maintenance, fuel and pilot. We were pleased to see that, within days of returning from Columbus, you appointed a six-member committee to study federal judicial ethics. Ethical issues are embarrassing, and it is common for all parties to fudge them by declaring the issue to be only "the appearance of impropriety." In this case, the issue is actual impropriety. It can only be cured by AEP finding a way to accept full reimbursement, or you recusing yourself from all cases to which AEP is a party. Sincerely, Catherine Turcer, Legislative Director Ohio Citizen Action