wheeling

n. 1. in the electric industry, the transfer of power between utility companies, especially through the networks of one company on behalf of another. 2. the transfer of money between political organizations in order to skirt campaign funding laws. Subjects: English, Money & Finance, Politics, Jargon

Editorial Note: The second sense appears to be specific to New Jersey. Etymological Note: Both senses are jargon versions of a more general meaning of wheeling ‘a turning aside or deviation.’

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Citations: 1986 Joseph A. Davis Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report (Apr. 19) “After Long, Hard Lobbying Effort: Senate Passes Hydropower Bill Giving Edge to Private Utilities” vol. 44, no. 16, p. 843: Melcher tied up the Senate for several days over a more technical issue of importance to small and public utilities—their ability to get power “wheeled” to them across the transmission lines of larger private utilities. Without wheeling, small utilities located in the middle of private utility service areas would have to generate their own power, buy it from their competitor, or build expensive transmission lines to an outside source. 1987 Warren T. Brookes Chicago Sun-Times (Oct. 29) “Special interests spark re-regulation drive” p. 51: “Mandatory wheeling” is a regulation forcing utilities like Edison to let their major “captive” industrial customers to buy lower cost power from other producers over their own lines. 1990 Electric Utility Week (Mar. 26) “Large Public Power Seeks National Organization To Handle Wheeling” p. 1: The Large Public Power Council last week called for industry formation of a national voluntary, independent organization to handle transmission wheeling on a regional basis, similar to industry’s North American Electric Reliability Council, whose charter is to protect reliability. 2004 Bob Jordan Asbury Park Press (Feb. 13) “County: Pay-to-play needs state ban first” p. 2: Freeholder Amy H. Handlin, who in recent months has emerged as an advocate for government reform, and Monmouth County Republican Party Chairman William Dowd both said yesterday that the practice of “wheeling”—in which money collected elsewhere in the state is used in Monmouth County campaigns—must be addressed first by the Legislature. 2004 Larry Higgs Courier-News (N.J.) (Apr. 4) “Dem: Comprehensive ethics reform in works” p. A11: Kean and Lance said the Democratic proposals don’t address the practice of “wheeling” whereby contributors “launder” contributions by making them to a different county political organization, which in turn donate the money to the contributor’s county organization. 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer (May 12) “Ethics and New Jersey; Solid start, no excuses” p. A14: The best bill in the whole bunch is A-1660, a comprehensive measure the Senate passed last year. It covers all levels of government and eliminates the back-channel practice known as “wheeling,” which lets contributors skirt limits as counties transfer money back and forth. 2004 Benjamin Lesser Record (N.J.) (Aug. 12) “Party leaders’ fund transfers aid senator’s rise” p. A12: In fact, he is a beneficiary of a process that allows party leaders to amass hefty contributions and then transfer, or “wheel,” the funds directly to a candidate’s campaign account.…Campaign watchdogs and other critics point to a troubling underside to wheeling. These flurries of transfers—often done in the final days of a campaign—allow wily donors to evade campaign contribution limits, they say. 2004 Nina Rizzo Asbury Park Press (N.J.) (Oct. 20) “Campaign financing issue for freeholder Handlin criticizes rivals’ ‘wheeling’” p. 1: Handlin has said she would not institute pay-to-play reforms at the county level until the state bans wheeling, a commonly used term for when a political party in one county legally sends campaign money to a political organization in another county.…Handlin…compared wheeling to an offshore bank account where the deposited funds are virtually untraceable. 2005 The Record (N.J.) (Apr. 10) “Curb the political bosses”: Political bosses also wield power by transferring money from county organization to county organization, often in the closing weeks of a campaign, to help get their candidates elected. Although Mr. Codey has talked a good game about ending this practice—commonly referred to as “wheeling”—don’t hold your breath.

Posted 11 Apr 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend