Steve Fischmann rather than Ben Hall for the PRC

Our choice between Steve Fischmann and Ben Hall for the Public Regulation Commission is clear.

Fischmann is a smart former state senator who's spent years working for the public good on regulatory matters and fighting usurious interest charged by payday loan companies.

Hall, 82, has “good ol' boy” charm and a welcome bluntness. 

 

Fischmann understands our desperate need to use more renewables and for a functioning utility system that's fair to both the public and businesses – and considers environmental consequences.

Hall agrees we should move toward more renewables, but he's not so sure human activities have much to do with climate change.

Fischmann has a positive record as citizen, legislator, and businessman.

Hall's record is so full of financial and legal trouble that it won't all fit here. (Today's blog post has more details.)

Hall has littered his life with bankruptcies (one personal, and a business he denies he controls), liens (more than a dozen state and federal tax liens, and others filed by subcontractors or other creditors), and judgments. In 2015, Hall's ex-son-in-law won a $53,916.83 judgment against Hall, charging Hall never repaid a loan. Hall immediately declared bankruptcy. (Hall says the man lied, there was no loan, and Hall went bankrupt “so he wouldn't get a damned dime.”)

 

In 2013, the PRC paid $200,000 to Jocyln Gonzales, who in 2011 was standing by her car and was hit by a PRC vehicle Hall was driving. He admitted fault but said he was driving slowly.

Hall says the tax liens were forty years ago (despite significant liens in 1998 and 1999, and one in 2007 against Sierra Blanca Construction). He says Sierra Blanca Construction wasn't his company. (His wife and daughter were President and Secretary.) He added no one could be a contractor for forty years and not have some disputes. 

 

His 2014 PRC campaign apparently paid him and his lady friend. He reportedly claimed the Secretary of State had okayed paying himself. Secretary of State Dianna Durbin wrote him that Hall's campaign couldn't legally pay Hall. In October 2014 Hall told the Albuquerque Journal he paid Maria Cottom and himself $25 per hour, but paid himself only for campaign work after 5 or on weekends. To me, he said, “I didn't pay her any money, I didn't pay me any money,” and “I never paid anyone $25 per hour in my life, so I don't know where he got that.” The reporter stands by his stories, adding that Hall never sought or obtained a correction. 

 

Hall claims his initial campaign reports were wrong because “the girl who filled out my forms” was inexperienced. He says that once he filed amended reports omitting the self-payments, Durbin cleared him of wrongdoing. 

I also asked Hall if it was true that he gambles a lot at Casino Apache Travel Center. He replied, “I don't know as it's a lot,” adding, “I used my own money.”

Hall's extraordinary history of financial and legal difficulties doesn't qualify him to handle a bunch of our money, or make important public decisions. If he's “a thief and a liar” as one former adversary called him, that's a problem. If he's thoroughly honest but mismanages money, that's a problem. If it's all just bad luck, I'd still worry that his bad luck could affect the PRC. 

Fischmann's a strong candidate. Someone we need, as our climate changes. Hall's problems only make our choice even clearer. 

                                                    -30-

[The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 21 October 2018, as well as on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air during the week on KRWG and on KTAL (101.5 FM).]


[Near as I can tell, Hall was untruthful or inaccurate with me on several points:

He said his tax liens were "40 years ago," which would be 1978.  In fact, he had tax liens in the 1980's and in 1991, 1992, 1998, and 1999; and Sierra Blanca Construction had one as recently as 1997.  (He denies that Sierra Blanca Construction is his company, and says he's just the qualified contractor.  His late wife, Wanda, and his daughter were listed as Sierra Blanca's President and Secretary, respectively.)  Hall's  one-time opponent, Bill McCamley, alleged that:

“ • From 1983-1998 there were 14 tax liens placed on Mr. Hall and his construction company totaling $356,233.89.

“ • 10 of these liens were for failure to pay Federal taxes, and 4 liens were for failure to pay State taxes.

“ … • From 1983-1998, there were 7 liens placed on Mr. Hall by individuals, subcontractors, and the Ruidoso State Bank totaling $112,681.59 for failure to pay for completed contracted services.]

[Hall denied paying himself or his significant other $25 per hour for campaign work in 2014.  He denied paying himself at all.  These statements contradict numerous campaign filings (eventually amended) with the New Mexico Secretary of State, a letter from the Secretary of State commenting on his paying himself, and his comments quoted in two 2014 Albuquerque Journal articles.

He denied making those comments, adding "I don't know where he got that."  The reporter, Thomas J. Cole, said the quotes were accurate, adding that Hall had not requested or received any kind of retraction or correction.  Further, the articles have indicia of accuracy.  "I don't see what the big damn deal is" is just the way Hall would phrase his response.  Secondly, there's an extra level of detail beyond what Cole would be unlikely to invent, in that he quotes Hall as saying he paid himself and Cottom but only paid himself for work after 5 p.m. or on weekends because of his PRC job.  It seems highly unlikely Cole would have thought to make that up.  He also quoted Hall as claiming the Secretary of State had told him it was legal to pay himself for campaign work.  (In a letter dated 29 October 2014, then Secretary of State Deanna Duran bluntly denied her office had told him any such thing.) That's another detail Cole wouldn't have likely invented.  (In addition, there were two separate articles . . ., suggesting more than one conversation -- without, apparently, any criticism of the first article; but that's my speculation.)  At any rate, Duran apparently absolved him of legal wrongdoing after the amendments.]


[Hall blamed the filings that mentioned payments to himself on "the girl who filled out my forms for me," saying that she was new and made mistakes.  That seems unlikely; and the filings persisted through several amendments, and correction was only made after the election and after earlier amendments (including Nov. 17 and Nov. 21] didn't make the change.  When he amend again on November 22, some put in entries claiming the payments to Cottom were reimbursements for expenses she'd paid.  But with other entries, there was no such change.  For example, the October 4 and 5 entries originally had payments of $500 (10/4) and $465 (10/5) to Hall and Cottom for "Campaign Work" (which at $25/hr. would have been 16 hours, or 8 apiece, of going from house to house campaigning).  The final amendment eliminates mention of Hall, keeps the amounts the same, and replaces "Campaign Work" with "Door-to-Door Advertising."  Unlike the 10/2 entry, for going door-to-door in Deming, where the entry switched from paying them both for "campaign work" to paying her but included the notes "Campaign Forum" and "paid to helpers," the 10/4 and 10/5 entries have the campaign paying her for going door-to-door  -- for 16 hours on the 5th and a little more than 12 on the 4th.  And the mention of the "forum" adds a new mystery.  The earlier entry seems to be paying him, in part, for attending the campaign forum.  But now with him out of the payment picture, the amount is the same, and part of what the campaign is paying for is her attendance at the forum.  A further amendment might be in order.

"The girl wasn't experienced and made mistakes" sounds a little like "the dog ate my homework"  -- or, as one of Grant and Tenya's grandkids had it on a T-shirt yesterday, "the unicorn ate my homework" -- and if I'd been employed at the secretary of state's office in 2014, I might have suggested an investigation. note: see below for images of the actual entries mentioned]

[He seems also to be lying either when he says he owns Sierra Blanca Construction or when he denies that!
In a 2018 candidate profile in the Albuquerque Journal, Hall says he "owned and operated a construction business for 40 years."  I think he's said that elsewhere.  And it seems probable: three construction companies, including Sierra Blanca, list as addresses either his residence or another address he's associated with.  (The other two are or were Hall Brothers Development, Inc. and ABC Building Corporation.)  To me, when I asked about Sierra Blanca's lien and bankruptcy, he said it wasn't his company, he was just the required "licensed contractor" associated with the business.  (His late wife was listed as the President and his daughter as the Secretary, I think.  He was not listed in the filings I saw.)   Without his years with Sierra Blanca Construction it's not clear how he'd have 40 years owning and operating a construction business. 
But maybe he lent his name to his wife's business, and worked for her a little, but also owned and operated something else for some of those years.]

2014 Second General Report -- October version

2014 Second General Report -- November 22 version