SANTA FE — The stormy tenure of Jerome Block Jr. as a member of the Public Regulation Commission is over.
Block, who was facing impeachment proceedings that started during a recent special legislative session, pleaded guilty in state District Court on Wednesday to numerous felonies, including identity theft, credit-card fraud and embezzlement.
As part of his plea deal with the state Attorney General’s Office, Block will resign from the PRC and never run for public office in New Mexico again.
Block, 34, declined comment, but his lawyer Carolyn “Cammie” Nichols, said the PRC will receive his letter of resignation “in the next few days.”
Public Regulation Commission member Jerome Block Jr. stands with his attorney Carolyn “Cammie” Nichols during a court hearing Wednesday at which Block pleaded guilty to criminal charges. He has also agreed to resign from the PRC. (EDDIE MOORE/JOURNAL)
Under the state Constitution, Gov. Susana Martinez will appoint Block’s successor on the five-member PRC. Whoever is selected will serve out the remainder of Block’s term, which is slated to expire at the end of 2012.
Democratic and Republican leaders hailed the news that Block had stepped down. The move saves the state up to $1 million it could have cost to go forward with the impeachment process.
Block has also agreed to plead guilty to two felonies connected to charges he misspent public campaign funds during his successful run for the PRC in 2008. He cannot officially plead to those charges, which were recently reinstated by the state Court of Appeals, until they are officially transferred back to District Court.
Charges against his father, Jerome Block Sr., in the campaign financing case — which in part involved Block Jr.’s claim that he used the state-provided campaign funds to pay a country-western band to play at an election-season event that never took place — are dropped, according to the AG’s Office.
Painkiller addiction
Block is pleading to six felonies in total and faces up to 4 1/2 years in prison. He will not be sentenced until after he has enrolled in a drug treatment program. Block recently admitted he is addicted to the prescription painkiller oxycodone.
Successful completion of a drug program would help Block make an argument that he should not receive jail time for the felonies, Attorney General Gary King said after Block’s court hearing.
“I will not personally be disappointed if he does not get jail time,” King said.
The attorney general said Block will also pay the state between $8,000 and $10,000 in restitution.
Records show numerous questionable charges to Block’s state-issued gasoline credit card since January. The gas charges — which totaled more than $8,200 in less than six months — include multiple fill-ups within minutes of one another, often at the same Española gas station.
Block has denied he traded gas for drugs, and King said any drug-use connection to those charges was not within the purview of the AG investigation.
Left unanswered on Wednesday is why Block was making the multiple fill-ups so close to one another and who, if anyone, may have gotten gas at public expense on Block’s state PRC account.
“It appears there were different cars fueled at the same pump,” King said.
‘Borrowed’ car
The identity theft and fraud charges stem from Block apparently tricking another employee at the PRC into giving him his Social Security number, then using that number to buy gas and items like chimichangas and cigarettes at a gas station after his own fuel account was revoked this summer, when the strange charges first came to light.
The embezzlement charge, according to Chris Lackmann of the AG’s Office, comes from Block claiming to borrow a 2006 Accord from a Santa Fe dealership in July, then keeping the car for weeks, even after the dealership owner text-messaged Block numerous times to ask for it back.
The Accord was found by police in downtown Santa Fe, near a business operated by Block’s mother, after the dealership reported it stolen. Block has said the car problem was an accident and that he left the keys in Los Angeles after attending a conference there.
Block also hasn’t had a valid driver’s licence since summer 2010, after he failed to pay a fine for a reckless driving ticket or appear in court. Block recently paid $146 to take care of the ticket.
A spokesman for the Motor Vehicle Division said Wednesday that Block’s license was still suspended because proper paperwork hasn’t been provided to MVD.
Impeachment process
Earlier this month, a legislative subcommittee had been appointed to look into the allegations against Block, and its members voted last week to subpoena records from the Attorney General’s Office.
The panel had been planning to meet Nov. 1 to hear evidence gathered by its attorney and decide whether to recommend impeachment to the full House. A total of $1 million had been earmarked by the Legislature to pay for impeachment-related costs.
Rep. Zach Cook, R-Ruidoso, the subcommittee’s co-chairman, was surprised Wednesday to learn of Block’s resignation.
“That’s news to me,” Cook said.
However, he said the likely result of the impeachment proceedings would have been Block’s removal from office, albeit at a much higher cost.
“If it would have gone forward, it would have been a very similar result,” Cook said.
King said Block would not have gotten the same deal he pleaded to Wednesday if the Legislature had gone through with impeachment.
“If he’d been impeached, he would have lost any negotiating power he had,” King said.
High-ranking Democratic and Republican officials, including Gov. Susana Martinez, had previously called for Block to resign and welcomed Wednesday’s news.
“The governor is glad that Mr. Block is stepping down. As you know, early on, the governor pointed to his serious pattern of misconduct as reason for why he was unable to effectively serve the public, and she is pleased that his constituents will soon have new representation,” Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said.
The Governor’s Office didn’t specify Wednesday when a successor will be named, although Darnell said: “The governor will appoint a replacement who will serve with integrity and represent the people of New Mexico well on the PRC.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Javier Gonzales said Block was doing the “right thing” by resigning.
“We hold our elected officials to a high standard and an expectation of accountability, and his resignation is just what was needed to uphold that standard and let the healing process begin,” Gonzales said. “Now that we have put this behind us, we will move forward with a field of strong, ethical candidates who are eager to get to work on the PRC protecting consumers and building an environment that supports healthy job creation.”
Block’s resignation marks the second consecutive year a PRC member has either resigned or been forced out of office.
Former District 4 Public Regulation Commissioner Carol Sloan was removed from office in July 2010 by the Supreme Court after being convicted by a Gallup jury for attacking a woman she believed was having an affair with her husband.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
