Serving the High Plains
The constitutional amendment voters approved in 2020 changing the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission from five elected members to three appointed ones was aimed, in large part, at ensuring a more qualified board to handle technical and important issues.
The belief also was that the commission would have more credibility than previous boards, which had their share of controversy — even scandal.
So much for good intentions. It turns out the Republican grocery store owner from Clayton, appointed to the PRC last month by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, didn’t actually graduate from college.
Brian K. Moore therefore doesn’t meet the eligibility requirements for PRC commissioner. He resigned unexpectedly last week. The news came from the Governor’s Office, which announced that James F. Ellison Jr. had been appointed to replace Moore. The news release said Moore submitted his resignation to the governor “stating that he did not meet the statutory educational qualifications for the appointment.”
The law creating a new PRC of three commissioners appointed by the governor mandates that all commissioners hold at least a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, such as business administration, finance or engineering.
The Governor’s Office blamed the PRC Nominating Committee, whose brief and former chairman — former House Speaker Brian Egolf — resigned from the Nominating Committee on Dec. 2 after the general counsel of the State Ethics Commission determined there was probable cause that Egolf violated state law by appointing himself to the PRC Nominating Committee. Egolf, D-Santa Fe, resigned from the committee Dec. 2, hours after it decided on its nine finalists to send to the governor.
“Individuals submitted to the governor for appointment consideration ... were vetted by the PRC Nominating Committee, a process independent of the governor’s office ...,” stated last week’s news release from the Governor’s Office.
Back on Dec. 30, when Lujan Grisham announced her appointments of Moore, Gabriel Aguilera and Patrick O’Connell to the PRC, her office described Moore as a former state legislator, president and CEO of Ranch Market supermarket in Clayton, and someone who had served on the Renewable Energy Transmission Authority Board and the governor’s Economic Recovery Council.
“He attended the University of Denver,” the news release stated. Moore’s PRC application states under an Education heading: “University of Denver — majoring in Business Finance and Statistical Analysis.” Cydney Beadles, a Nominating Committee member, said she, and likely other committee members, assumed Moore had graduated from college.
“There’s no reason to believe that this was anything other than an honest mistake on all fronts,” Beadles said.
Honest mistake or not, the whole purported point of the constitutional amendment voters were sold in 2020 was to create a professional regulatory body of highly qualified commissioners. How could the vetting not include the question: “Did you graduate from the University of Denver? It’s not clear in your resume.”
In the end, the qualifications of all three board nominees are impressive. But there is still the issue of political balance. The statute creating the new PRC mandates that no more than two of its commissioners may be members of the same political party.
Two of the new appointees, Aguilera and O’Connell, are Democrats. Ellison is registered as “declined to state.” Technically, that meets the statute’s criteria, but does it truly meet the intent of having more political balance on the commission?
The new, professional PRC is off to a shaky start.
— Albuquerque Journal