Gary King
Attorney General Gary King has referred a case involving his cousin to the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Santa Fe “to avoid any potential conflicts,” the Albuquerque Journal is reporting.
The case involves a request from the Public Regulation Commission’s top attorney to determine whether the sale of water by a company owned in part by Commissioner David King to two water utilities governed by the PRC violates state law. David and Gary King are first cousins and partners in two businesses, Pine Canyon Ranch Inc. and King Land and Cattle Co.
From the Journal:
“David King is part-owner of Estancia Basin Water Supply, which for years has sold water to two utilities, New Mexico American Water Co. and Thunder Mountain Water Co., which serve customers in the Edgewood area.”
Gary King is not involved in Estancia Basin Water Supply.
An AG spokesman was quoted by the Journal as saying that the decision to refer the case to the DA was made by the chief deputy attorney general, and that Gary King wasn’t involved.
This isn’t the only case in which Gary King is facing conflict-of-interest allegations. His office is prosecuting the case against the former secretary of state and others even though one of the defendants, Elizabeth Kupfer, used to work for King. In addition, when Kupfer worked for the previous AG, she once carried out the firing of one of the two prosecutors now working on the case against her.
Defense attorneys plan to use the situation to argue that Gary King’s office has no business prosecuting the case. Gary King has said he doesn’t believe there’s a conflict in that case.