The Attorney General's Office this week formally protested a conflict of interest ruling made last week by a Public Regulation Commission hearing examiner.
The issue now has dueling rulings.
Hearing examiner Ashley Schannauer found last week the hiring of Albuquerque attorney Marcus Rael by a European energy company is a conflict because Rael's law firm receives a great deal of work from the Attorney General's Office. The attorney general has come out in favor of a controversial proposed merger between the Public Service Company of New Mexico and Connecticut-based Avangrid, owned by Iberdrola of Spain.
About the same time last week, the Disciplinary Board of the state Supreme Court ruled there wasn't a conflict of interest.
Balderas' office this week filed a request to the hearing examiner that said "this finding by the Disciplinary Board should alleviate any lingering concerns the Hearing Examiner or the Commission may have."
The applicants for the merger Tuesday also asked Schannauer to reconsider his finding and defer to the disciplinary board.
Schannauer had ordered Rael to stop working for Iberdrola. Balderas argued neither he nor Rael has a conflict of interest. And late last week, an attorney for the Disciplinary Board of the state Supreme Court found no conflict in the matter.
Schannauer, while finding Rael had a conflict, stopped short of ruling Balderas also had one. The hearing examiner said this was outside the Public Regulation Commission's purview. If a ruling is desired on that issue, the examiner said, it should be taken to court.
But Schannauer said in his order the commission "will consider Iberdrola's and the Attorney General's actions as they weigh" whether the merger should win approval.
The merger applicants asked in their Tuesday filing that "any evidence of or inferences drawn from the alleged conflict of interest be disregarded entirely and specifically not considered in the review" of the merger proposal.
The commission on Wednesday will begin evidentiary hearings in the merger proposal that are expected to last through Aug. 20, with a break for the weekend. The commission is expected to make a final decision on the proposed merger this summer or fall. That ruling can be appealed by either side to the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Some, including the three utility companies, say the merger will help advance New Mexico in the growing area of renewable energy, such as solar and wind. Others say the utility companies primarily have profit motives and can't be trusted to act in the public's best interests.
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August 11, 2021 at 11:00AM
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New Mexico attorney general protests conflict of interest ruling - Santa Fe New Mexican
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