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Opinion editorials Handling of Pit Appeal Calls for a Time-Out |
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opinion editorialsThis editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by editorial page staff and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers
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Sunday, November 22, 2009
Keep the Kitten, Give Us PRC Accountability
Just when you thought the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission couldn't get any more ludicrous comes news that members, in their infinite wisdom, are hiding results of their first-ever ethics survey.
That's not a very auspicious start to improving your image to one of upstanding, ethical behavior.
It was insulting enough when they decided an employee survey was the way to address the issue when the leadership has two members facing felony charges, another who settled a tawdry six-figure lawsuit being questioned for violating state law, and a fourth who knowingly hired a two-time embezzler.
But commission members asked the questions, ranging from whether employees had observed unethical behavior to whether they thought it was OK to keep a kitten given by a regulated entity. They should have been professional enough to face the answers in public.
Should have been. Instead, they first tried to keep the survey results secret, and then, when faced with a slam dunk public-records lawsuit, got busy with the wide-tipped black markers. Apparently they were worried about embarrassment. That rationale is rather laughable, considering Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. is accused of embezzlement and evidence tampering; Commissioner David King, who settled a sexual harassment suit on taxpayers' dime, is being investigated for making bulk water sales to two PRC-regulated water utilities; Commissioner Carol Sloan is accused of beating her husband's alleged mistress in the head with a rock; and Chairman Sandy Jones hired a $72,000-a-year assistant even though she had been convicted of stealing $90,000.
Jones says the goal of the survey was to increase awareness of ethics among employees. Apparently the commissioners believe taxpayers who fork over $90,000 a year for each of their salaries are only entitled to a censored amount of that awareness.
It is tragic that PRC commissioners are not required to and thus have absolutely no background in utility regulation, yet are entrusted to handle those complex issues for all New Mexicans. (In the interest of full disclosure, those commissioners have spent more than $45,000 of your money over the past two years traveling to conferences and seminars and workshops, trying to get up to speed.)
Unfortunately, the learning curve on being accountable to taxpayers and ratepayers appears much too steep. These survey results — and how they were handled — emphasize once again why the Legislature must re-evaluate the qualifications and selection process of PRC members.
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