{"id":3809,"date":"2008-10-06T17:04:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-06T23:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/10\/block-has-no-business-being-elected-to-the-prc\/"},"modified":"2008-10-06T17:04:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-06T23:04:00","slug":"block-has-no-business-being-elected-to-the-prc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/10\/block-has-no-business-being-elected-to-the-prc\/","title":{"rendered":"Block has no business being elected to the PRC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Let me get this straight: Jerome Block Jr.<\/a>, the Democratic candidate for the seat on the Public Regulation Commission being vacated by Ben R. Luj\u00e1n<\/a>, has been less than honest about his criminal history and education and lied about his abuse of the state\u2019s public financing system and taxpayer dollars, and now he wants voters to believe he\u2019s under attack because the media is out to get him with \u201cnot only wrong information, but outright lies?\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Outrageous. But, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>, that\u2019s exactly the stunt he\u2019s trying to pull in advertisements designed to combat the negative press he has earned.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The facts: Candidate Block said on an Albuquerque Journal<\/a> questionnaire that he had been charged with but found not guilty of drunken driving when, in fact, the case was never adjudicated and charges were dropped, which is very different. He told The New Mexican<\/a> that he didn\u2019t recall being charged with disorderly conduct 10 years ago, and that\u2019s why he didn\u2019t disclose it during an interview with the paper in 2007. (He repeated to The New Mexican during that interview the incorrect information about the result of his DWI case.)<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He also claimed on the Journal questionnaire<\/a> that he earned an associate\u2019s degree from the \u201cUNM Anderson School of Banking,\u201d which, as fate would have it, doesn\u2019t even exist. And he told The New Mexican at the time that he earned the \u201cequivalent\u201d of an associate\u2019s degree from the banking school at UNM. The Anderson School of Management does not offer associate\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the newest and, by far, the most egregious transgression: Block admitted recently that he lied when he reported paying taxpayer money he obtained through the state\u2019s public financing system to San Miguel County Clerk Paul Maez for his band to perform at a rally in May. Though the band was paid with taxpayer money, it never played.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until news reports about the abuse of taxpayer money surfaced that Block refunded the $2,500 to the secretary of state and admitted he had lied about the band performing at the party.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Block\u2019s actions are under investigation by the secretary of state and attorney general. Common Cause alleges that he\u2019s violated state law. Democratic officials from Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> and Luj\u00e1n on down are distancing themselves. The only other candidate in the race, Rick Lass<\/a>, is picking up a host of endorsements a Green Party candidate would not normally receive.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t sum it up any better than did an Oct. 2 editorial in the Albuquerque Journal<\/a> calling on Block to leave the race: Despite all of this, \u201cvoters are supposed to believe Block will remember — and then do — what\u2019s best for New Mexico\u2019s consumers and businesses as a regulator of insurance, telecommunications, transportation and other big industries? The guy who says he didn\u2019t come clean on his campaign finance reports because he didn\u2019t want any publicity and didn\u2019t know how to do the paperwork? Forget it.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAn investigation — and, if warranted, prosecution — shouldn\u2019t wait; Block shouldn’t either,\u201d the editorial states. \u201cNew Mexicans deserve answers before Election Day on whether the integrity of the public campaign finance system will be protected. They deserve a candidate who isn\u2019t tainted by his own lies. Block should leave the race. Like his explanations, his exit will be late and clumsy, but it needs to happen.\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

The PRC is one of the most powerful regulatory boards in any state in the nation, and commissioners are paid $90,000 per year in taxpayer dollars. Block has proven he should not be entrusted with such a job.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me get this straight: Jerome Block Jr., the Democratic candidate for the seat on the Public Regulation Commission being vacated by Ben R. Luj\u00e1n, has been less than honest about his criminal history and education and lied about his abuse of the state\u2019s public financing system and taxpayer dollars, and now he wants voters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}