{"id":4449,"date":"2009-04-08T15:42:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-08T21:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/04\/prc-chairman-isnt-seeking-blocks-resignation\/"},"modified":"2009-04-08T15:42:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-08T21:42:00","slug":"prc-chairman-isnt-seeking-blocks-resignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/04\/prc-chairman-isnt-seeking-blocks-resignation\/","title":{"rendered":"PRC chairman isn’t seeking Block’s resignation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Public Regulation Commission Chairman Sandy Jones<\/a> says indicted Commissioner Jerome Block Jr.<\/a> has done a good job in his first few months in office, and Jones isn\u2019t calling on Block to resign.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\u201cI can tell you, since he\u2019s been here he\u2019s been pretty solid,\u201d Jones said in an interview. \u201c\u2026 He comes to work early every morning, he\u2019s done a good job at the Legislature, he\u2019s working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones, who like Block is a Democrat, said he\u2019s \u201cnot particularly surprised\u201d that Block was indicted today<\/a> because he knew there was a grand jury. \u201cSeldom do grand juries convene without issuing indictments,\u201d Jones said, \u201cbut by the same token not everyone that gets indicted is convicted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t call on him to resign right now,\u201d Jones said. Block has said he won\u2019t resign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jones said he can speak only to his experience since Block took office in January and knows little about what happened during last year\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

Jones also said Block is only one of five members of the commission, so the public \u201cis safe with the decisions we\u2019re making.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I didn\u2019t think that, I would be more concerned,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n: Block deserves his day in court<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Meanwhile, Brian Col\u00f3n, chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico<\/a>, said in a prepared statement that the charges against Block Jr. are \u201cvery serious\u2026 and like anyone else in our society he deserves, and will get, his day in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democratic Party believes in open, honest and transparent government,\u201d Col\u00f3n said. \u201cWe hold all our elected officials, regardless of party, to the highest ethical standards. There is no greater crime against Democracy than the breaking of the public trust between an elected official and their constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Block and his father Jerome Block Sr., a former PRC member, were charged with violating the elections code, conspiring to violate the elections code, tampering with evidence and conspiring to tamper with evidence. The charges against the younger Block also include embezzlement of between $500 and $2,500.<\/p>\n

Block Jr.\u2019s publicly funded campaign was plagued by scandal last year. He filed a false campaign report, paid a band to play at a rally that never took place and lied to newspaper reporters about his criminal history and education. He was fined by the secretary of state for filing the false report and ordered to return $10,000 of the money he was given under the public financing system. He was also fined for making a contribution to Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign, which is an invalid use of the public funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public Regulation Commission Chairman Sandy Jones says indicted Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. has done a good job in his first few months in office, and Jones isn\u2019t calling on Block to resign. \u201cI can tell you, since he\u2019s been here he\u2019s been pretty solid,\u201d Jones said in an interview. \u201c\u2026 He comes to work early […]<\/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-4449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4449","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=4449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}