New Mexico's First Judicial District Courthouse

The man who lost to Jerome Block Jr. in November for a seat on the state’s Public Regulation Commission (PRC) said Wednesday that the eight indictments of Block handed down today by a grand jury are a “strike” against him, but the PRC chair says Block is doing “a good job.”

“I think it’s another example of another corrupt New Mexico official and how long will Jerome block Jr. get away with this behavior,” said Rick Lass, the Green Party candidate who lost the race despite scandals surrounding Block.

Lass did not learn of the indictments until contacted by the Independent. Asked if he was calling on Block to resign, Lass said, “It’s not about me anymore. That stopped in November. It’s about, is Jerome Block representing his constituency? This is a strike against him.”

Jerome Block Jr.

Jerome Block Jr. and his father were indicted today by a state grand jury on election-related charges.

Both men 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 Jerome Block also include embezzlement of between $500 and $2,500.

Block Jr. was indicted on eight felony counts. Block Sr., a former member of the PRC, was indicted on four felonies.

Jerome Block Jr. didn’t appear to be considering resigning from his $90,000-a-year job representing northern New Mexico on the powerful regulatory board.

“I’m elected, I’m here, I’m not going anywhere,” he was quoted by the Santa Fe New Mexican as saying before closing his office door to the reporter.

Public Regulation Commission Chairman Sandy Jones said it’s too early to demand Block’s resignation. Jones said Wednesday that Jerome Block Jr. has done a good job in his first few months in office, so Jones isn’t calling on him to resign — at least yet.

“I can tell you, since he’s been here he’s been pretty solid,” Jones said in a phone interview. “What I do know is, up to now, as I’ve worked next to him over here, he comes to work early every morning, he’s done a good job at the Legislature, he’s working hard.”

Jones said he’s “not particularly surprised” that Block was indicted today because he knew there was a grand jury. “Seldom do grand juries convene without issuing indictments,” Jones said, “but by the same token not everyone that gets indicted is convicted.”

“I wouldn’t call on him to resign right now,” Jones said.

Jones said he can speak only to his experience with Block since Block took office in January.

“Now, what happened in the campaign I don’t know. I understand he had an issue with the secretary of state. I thought that had been worked out, but apparently it’s not worked out with the AG,” Jones said.

He added that Block is only one of five members of the commission, so the public “is safe with the decisions we’re making.”

“If I didn’t think that, I would be more concerned,” Jones said.

A grand jury had been meeting since last month, and the indictments were filed late Wednesday morning.

The charges stem from Block Jr.’s publicly funded campaign for office last year. According to the Albuquerque Journal, Block, who is in his first term on the PRC, paid a band to play at a rally that never took place. Block later had to pay a fine and return $10,000 of the more than $100,000 in taxpayer money he received for his campaign after admitting to filing false reports.

He was also fined for making a contribution to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, which is an invalid use of the public funds.

During the campaign, Block Jr. was also in hot water for lying to newspaper reporters about his “past brushes with the law and his education,” the New Mexican article states. One of those testifying before the grand jury was Las Vegas Optic managing editor and reporter David Giuliani, who testified about Block Jr.’s lies and later admissions that he was lying.

In fact, the donations from the actor to Nader came less than a month before the Democratic National Convention in Denver — which reminded me of something. I thought that I had heard that Kilmer was in Denver when I was in the Mile High City during the week of the convention. I was there to report on the action. Kilmer, who ultimately did not appear in Denver, was scheduled to appear at a Nader rally.

Kilmer was supposed to attend an “Open the Debates” rally along with Sean Penn, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and punk icon Jello Biafra. The Ralph Nader campaign Web site even advertised that Kilmer would attend less than a week before the rally.

But there was no mention of Kilmer on the recap of the event from the Ralph Nader blog.

A blog from the Denver magazine 5280 noted that a ‘Val Kilmer-less Ralph Nader” spoke in Denver.

Val Kilmer couldn’t make it to Denver, which was bad news for fans of Real Genius and supporters of Ralph Nader. Kilmer was supposed to speak at Nader’s Open the Debates rally on Wednesday night. The no-show diminished the event’s Hollywood factor, leaving Sean Penn as the lone movie star who took the stage during the night at Magness Arena (worthy indie musicians Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine did speak and sing for the crowd).

So assuming Kilmer is not interested running for governor as a Democrat, here’s something else to keep in mind: it is very difficult to win as a third-party candidate in New Mexico — perhaps impossible. Kilmer should ask someone like Rick Lass. Steve Terrell reported on Roundhouse Roundup and in the Santa Fe New Mexican that PRC candidate Lass switched party affiliations to Democratic from Green Party after his loss to comically bad Democratic candidate Jerome Block Jr.

Carol Miller has, perhaps, done the best of any Green Party candidate. She received 17 percent of the vote in a 1997 special election to replace Bill Richardson as representative in the 3rd Congressional district after Richardson was tapped for a spot as U.N. ambassador under President Bill Clinton. Republican Bill Redmond ended up winning, but was ousted in the 1998 election by Tom Udall (who has since become Sen. Tom Udall). In that election, Miller managed only 6,103 votes.

So will Kilmer be able to do what these other third-party candidates have been unable to do — appeal to Democratic voters in a significant enough of a way to win an election? History says probably not, but, then again, no celebrity has run for statewide office in New Mexico.

Can the straight ticket be abolished?

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that a movement is afoot to eliminate the straight-party voting option that critics say contributes to voter laziness in elections in New Mexico. But the paper adds that resistance is likely inevitable.

Green Party Public Regulation Commission candidate Rick Lass on Wednesday told The New Mexican he believes straight-ticket votes were the main factor in his defeat by scandal-scarred Democrat Jerome Block Jr. “I think probably more than half the people who voted for Block didn’t know they were voting for Block because they just voted straight-party,” said Lass, who said he plans to lobby to abolish the straight-ticket option.

Carol Miller, Independent candidate in the congressional race for the Third District, expressed similar sentiments to the New Mexico Independent as the tallies for straight party votes in San Juan County came in Tuesday night.

According to the San Juan County elections Web site, more than 21,000 voters pulled the straight-ticket lever for either Democrat or Republican, meaning they virtually ignored any candidate running outside of the two major parties. That’s almost half of the 46,014 total votes tallied in San Juan County, with 72 of 73 precincts reporting.

“I hope we eventually get rid of the straight party and I think that would really change things,” Miller told the Independent.

But as the New Mexican’s Steve Terrell points out, getting rid of the straight-ticket option has been tried several times in recent years.

State Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, has introduced several such bills since 2001, all of which have died in committee without being heard on the Senate floor.

“Straight-party voting encourages people not to think, not to be informed,” Komadina said.

Democratic Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque agreed Thursday that Komadina’s defeat was aided by the straight-ticket option. “This is one issue where I agree with Sen. Komadina,” Ortiz y Pino said. “Straight-ticket voting doesn’t make much sense. Right now it cuts (Democrats’) way, but it could cut against us in the future.”

Read Terrell’s article for an overview of straight-voter abolition movements in other states.

Grisly violence escalates

A beheaded man was hung from an overpass in Cuidad Juárez Thursday in what was a gruesome display even for this northern border city that has long suffered drug-related violence, the Associated Press reports.

Shortly after the grisly sighting about 5 a.m., police found the victim’s head in a black bag in a nearby plaza, said state police spokesman Alejandro Pariente.

Pariente said the body was wearing black jeans, a red T-shirt and white sneakers, and was handcuffed. A banner apparently directed at rival drug-gang members was hung next to the corpse.

The victim’s father identified the 23-year-old man.

On Tuesday, a man wearing a pig mask was found hanged in a residence in Ciudad Juarez, the AP reported. Near the body was a message police believe was from drug gangs threatening to do the same to others.

Juarez, across the border from El Paso, has registered one of the highest murder rates in the country, with more than 1,000 people killed so far this year.

Veteran protests Democratic gains

Las Cruces veteran Lou Schrader is flying his American flag flying upside-down in his front yard to protest the election of Barack Obama, the Las Cruces Sun News reports. Schrader said he did the same both times Bill Clinton was elected.

“We have descended into a one-political-party nation,” he told the Sun News. “The Democrats have taken over everything. We’re going to be taxed out of existence.”

“It’s not that I’m a racist; I just don’t like this guy as an individual,” he added. “Some of the things Barack Obama said during his campaign has scared me to death, (such as) ‘let’s spread the wealth.’ Excuse me, that’s socialism.”

The Sun News added:

Las Cruces police showed up at Schrader’s home Wednesday to check whether the flag was a distress signal.

According to U.S. Code, … the flag shouldn’t be displayed upside-down “except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”

Green Party candidate Rick Lass drew a large portion of the ballots, however — 43.8 percent – and was the preferred choice in Santa Fe County, which gave Lass 62.7 percent of the tally, compared to Block’s 37.3 percent.

Block pulled in numbers higher than 70 percent in Democratic-leaning counties like Mora and Rio Arriba. He also did exceptionally well in Republican-leaning counties like Union and Harding,  where he won about three-quarters of the vote, indicating voters in those counties were more comfortable with a Democrat than a Green. The Republicans had no candidate in the race.

On Monday, the day before the election, the Secretary of State’s Office upheld its decision requiring Block to pay $21,700 in fines by Nov. 14, although he also has the option of seeking arbitration.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that Block was being fined $10,000 for misreporting $2,500 he gave the San Miguel County clerk’s band for a performance that never took place and for improper use of that money, according to a “final notice of action” from Secretary of State Mary Herrera, which said:

“The band never played any event for your campaign in return for your payment, and the information you have provided fails to indicate that (your financial statement) regarding that payment was accurate.”

In addition, the New Mexican said:

The Democrat was fined an additional $1,000 for giving Hillary Clinton $700 to help with her presidential campaign debt.

Also, Block must reimburse the state $10,700. Block has received just over $101,000 in public campaign funds for the primary and general elections, while Lass, who didn’t have a primary, has received nearly $65,000.

Lass is seeking the District 3 PRC seat being vacated by CD3 congressional candidate Ben Ray Lujan, while Marks is seeking a second term representing District 1 on the powerful regulatory body.

In case you didn’t know, the PRC regulates gas and electric utilities, insurance companies, telecommunications, transportation and other industries doing business in New Mexico. The job of PRC commissioner pays $90K a year and this year several candidates for PRC are running as publicly funded candidates, including both Lass and Marks.

Unfortunately, neither Jerome Block Jr. (Lass’ Democratic opponent) nor Tim Cummins (Marks’ Republican opponent) accepted KNME’s offer to appear on the show. That was a major disappointment, and in both instances it appeared as though it was very much a strategic decision to flake out.

Friday night, the KNME broadcast included edited versions of the interviews I conducted with both Lass and Marks. The versions below, however, are the full, unedited interviews. Each runs approximately 20 minutes.