Simonich writes: Utility PNM biggest loser in election
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich received 151,587 votes in the Democratic primary election, the largest total of any candidate. Even so, some consider Heinrich the week’s biggest loser.
This is because he endorsed and campaigned for his hunting buddy, Garrett VeneKlasen, who lost the Democratic primary for state land commissioner.
As a sitting senator who thought he had plenty of clout, Heinrich should be embarrassed by his failure to carry VeneKlasen across the finish line.
Though Heinrich’s reputation was dented with VeneKlasen’s defeat, he is not the election’s biggest loser.
Neither is Democratic state Rep. Carl Trujillo, even though he lost his seat to an uninspiring newcomer who ran on a bad public record and a handful of generic talking points.
Trujillo’s campaign began to collapse after a former lobbyist, Laura Bonar, accused him of sexual harassment. Trujillo is wounded but says he is innocent. He still might have a future in New Mexico politics if an investigative subcommittee of the House of Representatives clears him of the harassment allegations.
If Trujillo and Heinrich aren’t the worst off after a bruising election, who is? That is an easy one.
It’s no individual candidate. Rather, the state’s largest electric utility, Public Service Company of New Mexico, claims the dishonor.
The company is typically referred to by its acronym of PNM. That shorthand might as well stand for Petty, Nauseating and Manipulative. Or it could be Political, Nefarious and Mercenary.
As a monopoly utility, PNM cannot simply charge whatever rates it pleases. It must persuade the five-member state Public Regulation Commission that it needs more money from its 500,000 customers to cover the cost of providing them with power.
PNM made no attempt to disguise its avarice in the election. Its parent company donated $440,000 to a political committee that campaigned to re-elect public regulation Commissioners Sandy Jones and Lynda Lovejoy.
The utility company’s ratepayers had no say-so in this move to influence the election. PNM wanted Democrats Jones and Lovejoy voting on the company’s rate increases, a circumstance that should have humiliated both candidates.
In any case, it bothered voters. They ousted Lovejoy and Jones.
Lovejoy’s defeat was surprising because she was running under a favorable setup.
Two challengers lined up against her. Many people figured they would split
the votes of those dissatisfied with Lovejoy, enabling her to get another term.
Instead, Lovejoy lost to a former commissioner, Theresa Becenti-Aguilar. A featherweight who rarely participated in debates about rate increases because the subject matter is technical and complicated, Becenti-Aguilar occupied herself with other mundane matters, such as evaluating candidates for the job of publicist of the commission.
So Lovejoy will be replaced by an equally unimposing figure. But at least Becenti-Aguilar will return to the commission as someone who is perceived as independent of a corporate colossus trying to shape the board that regulates it.
Worse for PNM is that Jones lost to former state Sen. Steve Fischmann, a policy wonk with experience in the corporate world. If Fischmann wins the general election in November, he will be a commissioner who pores over the details of rate cases to make sure consumers and companies are treated fairly.
In an idealistic world where a fair shake is what matters, PNM would be happy to see a Commissioner Fischmann evaluating its proposals for higher rates. The real world is different.
The best that can be said of PNM is that it was — in the overworked lexicon of bureaucrats — transparent.
It wanted malleable regulators, a panel of Pillsbury Doughboys that could be prodded and nudged along.
That’s not the way it worked out. PNM lost the most, in public trust and standing with ratepayers, without ever being on the ballot.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.