After the primary election polls closed yesterday, SFR visited a few candidates’ post-election parties. Below are our interviews with some of the winners: State House Speaker Ben Luján, Sr., former PRC staffer (and new Santa Fe County Commissioner) Danny Mayfield and 2nd-term County Assessor Domingo Martínez. (Cross-posted at sfreporter.com.)

Ben Luján, Sr.
State Representative, Dist. 46
Luján: 50.87% (2,115 votes)*
Carl Trujillo: 49.13% (2,043 votes)

It’s not surprising that the venerable speaker held onto his seat; he’s done it for more than 30 years. What’s shocking about this election is that he squeezed by his opponent, the young and comparatively inexperienced Carl Trujillo, with only 72 votes. SFR caught up with Luján after the election was over.

“It was a very low voter turnout,” he told SFR over the phone last night. “A lot of my people thought, ‘Oh, you don’t have anything to worry about,’ and didn’t vote—but enough of them did [vote], and we’re very grateful for that.”
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According to court records, on May 18, the Land of Enchantment Federal Credit Union sued formerly embattled Public Regulation Commission Vice-Chair Jerome Block, Jr. for $2,115.70. The credit union wouldn’t talk—the woman on the line even refused to give her name—but Block called SFR back promptly with an explanation: It wasn’t his money.

Despite a string of scandals that culminated a New Mexico grand jury indictment last April (all of which SFR covered extensively), Block has held onto his seat on the PRC with comparatively little uproar.

“I had to co-sign for an uncle of mine,” Block tells SFR. “I don’t really have much accounts over there.” Block says he didn’t know about the debt, but when the suit was filed, he paid it. “Now it’s taken care of, and that complaint is going to get lifted by the end of the week,” Block says.

Republican land commissioner candidate Bob Cornelius “has taken a strong position on openness and transparency in government,” according to the Albuquerque Journal’s endorsement. If only the same were true of his campaign.

Over the phone, Cornelius is charming, intelligent and progressive. His attractively-designed website touts his credentials as a political science major at Eastern New Mexico University and a partner in an alternative energy company that “will create hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in annual revenue for the city of Clovis.”

Problem is, Cornelius never graduated from ENMU. The biogas “company” has yet to nail down a single investor, and the mayor of Clovis—whom Cornelius says he’s met with about the project—doesn’t recall hearing about it. Both of Cornelius’ two campaign finance reports were filed late, and his only real source of revenue is a $100,000 bank loan to himself—which he then re-loaned to the campaign. What gives? Continue reading »

Hank Hughes, the executive director of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness and former director of St Elizabeth’s Shelter in Santa Fe, has announced his campaign for Public Regulation Commission (Dist. 4). SFReeper caught him on a snowy Friday to talk about alternative energy, homelessness in New Mexico and joining a scandal-ridden state commission.

First, the obvious question: Why are you running?

The behavior of the current [Public Regulation] Commission is [not] very ethical, and I think it needs a lot of improvement in that area. I’m also very interested in renewable energy, and I think the PRC needs to play a role in promoting alternative energy so New Mexico can be a leader in that area.

Don’t you feel like you’re stepping into an ethical minefield here?

A lot of the ideas are already out there, like having an ethics commission. People are pretty aware of the ethical issues, so it’s a pretty good time to work on that, and I think there’d be a lot of public support for it. Obviously it’s not going to be easy…

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As promised, here’s the good stuff:

The preceding page began:

“The Commissioners must lead by example————”

The PRC let reporters in to view super-thick binders with copies of a couple hundred survey ethics survey, like this one. Most were not redacted. Indeed, most responders didn’t bother to offer suggestions at all. Nearly half of the employees who got surveys didn’t fill them out, for whatever reason.

According to the PRC’s new spokesman Gerald Garner Jr:

Of the 265 surveys distributed, 127 were completed…Approximately 30 of the completed questionnaires contain redacted items. The redactions were made because they contained anonymous personal criticisms of individuals at the NMPRC.

Judging by the tone and content of many handwritten responses, some of the harshest criticisms were likely directed at high-level managers and the PRC’s elected commissioners. That’s not much of a surprise, but specific allegations of unethical conduct are what’s of public interest here—and those are precisely what the PRC has chosen not to disclose.

Some series, if vague charges did make it past the PRC’s black pen.

Assault, embezzlement, sexual harassment, campaign law violations—is that all you got?

I’ll post more after the cut. Keep refreshing!

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