The committee begins interviews with PRC applicants

Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal

Fifteen candidates are currently in the running as potential candidates for a new, three-member Public Regulation Commission, which the governor will appoint to replace today’s five elected PRC commissioners in January.

A bipartisan, seven-member nominating committee began interviewing candidates last week. He will select at least five by Nov. 14 from which to choose Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Assuming they all receive Senate approval, the three new appointees will take office on Jan. 1, completing a four-year process that began in 2019 to transform the PRC from an elected body to a publicly appointed one.

The redistricting is being mandated under a constitutional amendment that received broad bipartisan support in the state legislature and that voters approved in the November 2020 election with 56 percent support. The reform aims to “professionalize” and “depoliticize” the PRC, which has been rocked by controversy through highly controversial decisions and corruption by some commissioners in recent years.

However, the nomination process is closely monitored by public service, business groups and environmental organizations to ensure transparency in the vetting and selection of candidates due to the commission’s extensive regulatory oversight of organizations that provide essential services in New Mexico.

Its decisions affect all consumers by setting the rates for utility services, including electricity, water and gas services, as well as telecommunications and transport.

To meet transparency expectations, the nominating committee webcasts all candidate interviews for direct public scrutiny, said House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, who chairs the committee. There is also a dedicated page on the PRC website, www.nm-prc.org/nominating-committee/cap/, with information on all nominees.

“From our first meeting, we decided to err on the side of public participation at every point,” Egolf told the Journal. “Voters made the decision to install a well-informed, professional PRC, and we want to make sure the process has the public’s confidence.”

Bipartisanship is woven into the structure of the nominating committee, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers each choosing two representatives to the committee and the other three members being nominated by state agencies.

Still, while most groups believe the current interview process appears transparent, some question the committee’s initial vetting of potential candidates.

More than 60 people initially applied to the commission to be considered as candidates. But in October, a three-member subcommittee vetted the full list through a closed process, whittling it down to just 25 nominees. The committee then selected 15 finalists for face-to-face interviews.

“We are pleased with the transparency shown by the nominating committee (now) as they whittle down the list, but we must express our disappointment that the same transparency did not exist to begin with,” New Mexico Business Coalition Executive Director Carla Sontag told the Journal in an email . They “trimmed” the list down to just over 20 people, “without any transparency about how it was handled.”

Egolf said many applicants simply do not meet the minimum educational qualifications or experience. Others failed to complete the questionnaires or provide the required information.

“The subcommittee took a long time to review the list and make recommendations to the full committee,” Egolf said.

In addition, this initial vetting process is best managed confidentially to protect applicants’ personal information, said Doug Howe, a longtime utility executive and former PRC commissioner who helped write the constitutional amendment.

“Some of the conversations about vetting initial lists have to be very candid about an individual’s ability and viability to be a candidate,” Howe told the Journal. “If it were me, I wouldn’t want all of this aired.”

The final list of interviewees included a diverse group of engineers and lawyers with a mix of Democrats, Republicans and independents from across the state, Egolf said.

In addition to professional qualifications, the commission is looking for nominees with balanced views who consider all sides of issues and who respect state mandates in implementing laws such as the Energy Transition Act, which aims to build a carbon-free electricity grid by 2045, Egolf added .

“I’m looking for someone who will approach the job with an almost refereeing finesse,” Egolf said.

Many groups provided public input in September, including environmental organizations that stressed the need for candidates who prioritize limiting climate change and building renewable manufacturing.

“Climate change needs to be at the center of how we move forward,” Sierra Club Rio Grande Branch Director Camilla Feibelman told the Journal. “We need candidates who understand this and are ready to steer the boat towards a renewable future.”

Some groups still oppose converting the PRC to an appointed commission and remain concerned about the loss of voters’ rights to directly elect commissioners, plus the possibility of governors stockpiling the PRC with people aligned with their own policies going forward. Three nonprofits, for example, petitioned the New Mexico Supreme Court in September to strike down the constitutional amendment.

But safeguards are built right into the reform, including a bipartisan balance on the nominating committee, a requirement that governors choose at least one commissioner from outside their own party and final approval of appointees by the Senate, Howe said.

“No process is completely separate from politics,” Howe said. “But we tried to make it as balanced as possible.”

The following are 15 PRC candidates selected for interviews: Gabriel Aguilera, H. Ward Camp, Kenneth W. Costello, Carolyn Glick, Cynthia B. Hall, P. Chola Khoury, Joseph D. Little, Glenn Lyons, Brian K. Moore, Patrick O’Connell, Arthur J. Donnell, Jeffrey H. Peace, Amy L. Stein, Scott Carnes, and James F. Ellison.