[this post is a DRAFT pending time to proof it]
PNM, a major utility regulated by the PRC, dropped $440,000 just this month into a PAC heavily supporting Sandy Jones and Linda Lovejoy in this year's two PRC races. An Albuquerque Journal story over the weekend discusses that and the last-minute rush of oil companies to support Land Commission candidate George Muñoz. In each case the utilities and oil companies are seeking to kill off the growing popularity of a more progressive candidate (Steve Fischmann here and Janene Yazzie in Navajo country) the big companies feel threatens their outsized profits.
For PNM to contribute $440,000 in two weeks' time is unusual -- unprecedented, so far as I can tell. The only time this specific entity (PNM Resources) had previously been used this way in New Mexico was to give a much smaller amount to the Republican Campaign Committee in 2010. Since, PNM has contributed a lot of political money, to prominent Republicans and Democrats who can help it -- but in far smaller amounts, so far as I can tell.
The big bucks would seem to mean PNM really cares about this one. It stands to make millions of dollars more in the next few years under a Jones-led PRC than a PRC with Fischmann (and Yazzie) on it. Jones has overruled hearing examiners (and the PRC counsel's advice) to back PNM's wishes in some recent 3-2 votes, two of them now on appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court. [Interestingly, the PNM-funded PAC immediately paid big bucks to Republican Susana Martinez's chief political guru to make things happen -- and the things so far have included costly TV ads (allegedly misleading) and a bunch of mailers.)
All this makes for some weird stuff: for example, when a mailer from the PNM-funded PAC says Jones "saves New Mexicans money by successfully advocating for lower utility rates," that essentially means a company that likes utility rates to make it a solid profit is paying to tell you to vote for a guy who will lower those rates. The company that fights hard before the PRC to get a higher percentage of our money is paying for mailers stating that their favored candidate "successfully advocates for lower energy rates to keep prices down and more of your hard-earned money in your pocket." The utility that fought renewable energy in various ways for years is advertising a PRC candidate as protecting our environment by ensuring use of 20% renewables by 2020.
To put it another way, all this advertising says the candidate is "standing up for consumers." He makes decisions that raise or lower utility income and lower or raise what we pay. How does knowing the utility is paying big bucks to re-elect him affect one's reading of those mailers?
The contributing PNM entity's statement stressed the legality of the contributions under current law, and asserted that the contributions also were appropriate:
"PNM Resources' participation is legal, appropriate, and necessary to help ensure a fair election. Important policy decisions will be made by our next generation of elected officials, and we want to ensure that voters have the information to understand each candidate's position on key public policy issues. PNM Resources' shareholders are funding the company's participation in New Mexicans for Progress."
Others have questioned the "appropriateness" of such a huge contribution. New Energy Economy spokesperson Mariel Nanasi called it "shocking," while Yazzi said it was designed to retain regulators who don't regulate.
Mr. Jones is not legal permitted to coordinate activities with the PNM PAC. We should presume he's not breaking the law. However, he's close to some top PNM execs. A PRC source (unidentified for obvious reasons, but someone I spoke to at length) says certain PNM people often visit with Mr. Jones before PRC meetings. (That doesn't necessarily mean they're discussing anything they shouldn't, of course.) And Mariel Nanasi reports seeing PNM lobbyists at a Jones fundraiser on February 5th. And around the time PNM made its last-minute contributions, Jones was complaining of the large influx of money from environmental and consumer-oriented groups favoring his opponent.
And it's interesting to read an internal PNM memo from 2014, when Jones was running for this PRC seat:
PNM, a major utility regulated by the PRC, dropped $440,000 just this month into a PAC heavily supporting Sandy Jones and Linda Lovejoy in this year's two PRC races. An Albuquerque Journal story over the weekend discusses that and the last-minute rush of oil companies to support Land Commission candidate George Muñoz. In each case the utilities and oil companies are seeking to kill off the growing popularity of a more progressive candidate (Steve Fischmann here and Janene Yazzie in Navajo country) the big companies feel threatens their outsized profits.
For PNM to contribute $440,000 in two weeks' time is unusual -- unprecedented, so far as I can tell. The only time this specific entity (PNM Resources) had previously been used this way in New Mexico was to give a much smaller amount to the Republican Campaign Committee in 2010. Since, PNM has contributed a lot of political money, to prominent Republicans and Democrats who can help it -- but in far smaller amounts, so far as I can tell.
The big bucks would seem to mean PNM really cares about this one. It stands to make millions of dollars more in the next few years under a Jones-led PRC than a PRC with Fischmann (and Yazzie) on it. Jones has overruled hearing examiners (and the PRC counsel's advice) to back PNM's wishes in some recent 3-2 votes, two of them now on appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court. [Interestingly, the PNM-funded PAC immediately paid big bucks to Republican Susana Martinez's chief political guru to make things happen -- and the things so far have included costly TV ads (allegedly misleading) and a bunch of mailers.)
All this makes for some weird stuff: for example, when a mailer from the PNM-funded PAC says Jones "saves New Mexicans money by successfully advocating for lower utility rates," that essentially means a company that likes utility rates to make it a solid profit is paying to tell you to vote for a guy who will lower those rates. The company that fights hard before the PRC to get a higher percentage of our money is paying for mailers stating that their favored candidate "successfully advocates for lower energy rates to keep prices down and more of your hard-earned money in your pocket." The utility that fought renewable energy in various ways for years is advertising a PRC candidate as protecting our environment by ensuring use of 20% renewables by 2020.
To put it another way, all this advertising says the candidate is "standing up for consumers." He makes decisions that raise or lower utility income and lower or raise what we pay. How does knowing the utility is paying big bucks to re-elect him affect one's reading of those mailers?
The contributing PNM entity's statement stressed the legality of the contributions under current law, and asserted that the contributions also were appropriate:
"PNM Resources' participation is legal, appropriate, and necessary to help ensure a fair election. Important policy decisions will be made by our next generation of elected officials, and we want to ensure that voters have the information to understand each candidate's position on key public policy issues. PNM Resources' shareholders are funding the company's participation in New Mexicans for Progress."
Others have questioned the "appropriateness" of such a huge contribution. New Energy Economy spokesperson Mariel Nanasi called it "shocking," while Yazzi said it was designed to retain regulators who don't regulate.
Mr. Jones is not legal permitted to coordinate activities with the PNM PAC. We should presume he's not breaking the law. However, he's close to some top PNM execs. A PRC source (unidentified for obvious reasons, but someone I spoke to at length) says certain PNM people often visit with Mr. Jones before PRC meetings. (That doesn't necessarily mean they're discussing anything they shouldn't, of course.) And Mariel Nanasi reports seeing PNM lobbyists at a Jones fundraiser on February 5th. And around the time PNM made its last-minute contributions, Jones was complaining of the large influx of money from environmental and consumer-oriented groups favoring his opponent.
And it's interesting to read an internal PNM memo from 2014, when Jones was running for this PRC seat:
That is, in 2014, according to a PNM executive, Mr. Jones responded to news of an endorsement by saying "he could use some help with the campaign." The exec, uncertain whether that was an actual request "for PNM's help considering the delicate situation regarding helping those that regulate us", passed it upward. The "delicate situation," I think, is that it's illegal under New Mexico law. I stress that the PNM exec wrote in the memo that he wasn't sure that saying Jones could use some help with the campaign was an actual request for help, and therefore we shouldn't jump to any conclusion either.
In any case, it's interesting that Jones "really liked Ron [Darnell, a PNM Senior VP] and that Ron has helped him better understand the utility business." Some of that help in understanding the utility business might have included this letter:
What that seems to say is that Mr. Jones had been asking how our homeowners' solar panels are affecting PNM's bottom-line. The utility tells him that the impact was just $352,855 (in lost fixed costs recovery) in 2010, but has risen under rules helping develop renewables, and will reach nearly six and a half million dollars by 2016. I can't imagine PNM thought that impact was a really great thing -- but here it is in 2018 advertising a candidate based on the fact that he's pushing renewables along.
Interesting. Kind of sad, from my point of view.
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