PRC dispute
Group accuses PRC incumbents of ethical violations
New Mexico Public Regulation Commission elections are typically a sleeper for most voters, but this year’s primary campaign has become a political brawl that pits two incumbent candidates against the environmental group New Energy Economy.
NEE has accused Democrats Lynda Lovejoy, from northwestern New Mexico’s District 4, and Sandy Jones, from southwestern District 5, of ethical violations for accepting campaign donations from an Albuquerque company contracted to build solar plants for New Mexico utilities that are regulated by the PRC.
NEE filed a motion on May 23 for both commissioners to recuse themselves in a pending case with El Paso Electric Co., which wants the company Affordable Solar to build a 2-megawatt plant for the utility in southern New Mexico.
Jones and Lovejoy deny any legal or ethical violations. They say NEE is manipulating the issues to favor opposition candidates in their districts. And they accuse the group of violating legal requirements to stay out of politics as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.
The accusations have gotten personal, with the incumbents calling on NEE Executive Director Mariel Nanasi to resign from the organization, and Nanasi charging Jones and Lovejoy with violating PRC codes and oaths of conduct.
“(Nanasi) is accusing us of ‘impropriety,’ but I have to say, that question needs to be turned around to her,” Lovejoy told the Journal. “... She’s knee-deep in politics in this campaign.”
Nanasi said the incumbents appear to be using their office for personal gain.
“If the donations they’ve received don’t rise to the level of ‘appearance of impropriety,’ I don’t know what else would,” Nanasi said.
Apart from donations, Affordable Solar’s registered lobbyist, Mark Fleisher, worked as a paid consultant for Lovejoy and Jones in 2014. He’s provided some voluntary services in their current campaigns.
Jones and Lovejoy will respond Monday to NEE’s
motion for recusal in the El Paso Electric case. But they say Affordable is a private, non-regulated firm, making donations from it a non-issue.
Public Service Company of New Mexico chose Affordable last year to build five solar plants. Jones and Lovejoy helped approve those projects in a 3-2 vote last fall, despite a hearing examiner’s conclusion that the bidding process was “unfair” and “uncompetitive.”
The commissioners say utilities choose their contractors, not the PRC.
“We only decide if the cost is just or reasonable,” Jones said.
Affordable Solar CEO Ryan Centerwall said his company simply backs pro-solar candidates.
“We want to support elected officials who can be solar advocates,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jones and Lovejoy accuse Nanasi of creating a new political action committee, Responsible Leadership NM, to support opposition candidates in their districts, and of providing support to another PAC, Retake Our Democracy, for the same purpose.
Nanasi called those accusations “baseless,” although she did make individual, personal donations to Retake Our Democracy.
“That reflects my personal values,” Nanasi said. “NEE has nothing to do with election year politics.”