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Saturday, October 24, 2009
Can the PRC Clean Up Its Act?
By Thomas J. Cole
Journal Staff Writer
At the ethically challenged state Public Regulation Commission, the five elected commissioners and other employees were recently asked to take an ethics survey.
The results are to be used in designing ethics training and in updating the code of conduct at the commission, which regulates utilities, insurance companies and others.
The goal is to make the commission a leader in ethics, Chairman Sandy Jones says.
You got to like a guy who dreams big.
As you may know, two commissioners are awaiting trial: Jerome Block Jr. on charges he misused campaign funds and Carol Sloan on charges she beat up a woman she thought was having a fling with her husband.
As you may also know, the state paid $850,000 to settle a sexual-harassment case against Commissioner David King, and a felon is working as Jones' executive assistant.
The commission recently formed an ethics commission, which designed the survey that went out Oct. 16 to employees via e-mail.
The workers were told they could respond by filling out the survey without giving their names and dropping it in a locked box at the PRC office in Santa Fe.
Among the questions:
"What does the word 'ethics' mean to you?"
"Have you ever been asked to do anything you felt was unethical by someone who has supervisory or managerial power over your position at the PRC?"
"How do you think the PRC is perceived by the public?"
Employees also were asked questions about situations that they could face in the workplace.
For example, workers were asked whether it would be ethical to disclose confidential PRC information, to accept a kitten from a regulated entity or to do volunteer work on a commissioner's campaign.
Here are some questions that weren't asked but could have been:
"Is it ethical for a candidate for the commission to lie about his use of taxpayer-provided campaign funds?"
"Is is ethical for a commissioner to beat her husband's suspected lover over the head with a rock?"
"Is it ethical for a commissioner to grab the butt of his assistant?"
"Is it ethical for a commissioner to hire a two-time convicted thief?"
Friday was the deadline for employees to respond to the ethics survey. A team with representatives of both management and rank-and-file workers is to tally the results.
"This is just kind of a first step to see where we're at," says Jones, the PRC chairman.
He says commissioners want to increase awareness among employees of ethics issues and toughen ethical standards. The hope is a more professional operation and increased public confidence.
"We've had some challenges here at the commission," Jones says.
That's an understatement, but he says the ethics campaign isn't in response to the recent troubles of commissioners. Rather, it's a reaction to the public's loss of confidence in government as a whole, Jones says.
"There's clearly unrest in the citizenry that government may not be acting the way it should," he says.
Jones also says he fears that if the commission doesn't act to improve its ethics, the Legislature could mandate ethics reforms that may not be in the best interests of the commission.
"It seemed to me we ought to take a long, hard look at ourselves or someone else is going to," Jones says. "I want the PRC to lead."
You should be rooting for change at the commission. It does important work but has long been a cesspool.
Then-Commissioner E. Shirley Baca was arrested at the Albuquerque airport in 2004 after marijuana and a pipe were found in her suitcase.
Joe Ruiz was convicted last year of shaking down insurance companies while deputy insurance superintendent.
Eric Serna resigned as insurance superintendent in 2006 after disclosures that a government contractor had contributed $129,000 to a charity that had been headed by Serna. He was never charged with a crime.
Clearly, those at the top of the PRC haven't been leading by example, and those down the food chain at the commission have been tarred with the same brush.
Jones says he wants "Think Ethics" to become a workplace slogan at the commission.
That's a much better slogan than "Not Guilty."
UpFront is a daily front-page opinion column. Thom Cole can be reached in Santa Fe at (505) 992-6280 or at tcole@abqjournal.com
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