June 8, 2018 • Local News
Las Cruces Sun News: PRC District 5: Fischmann ousts Jones; recount in GOP race
LAS CRUCES - Stephen Fischmann defeated incumbent Public Regulation Commissioner Sandy Jones in Tuesday's Democratic primary for the District 5 seat.
Fischmann, a former state senator from Las Cruces, won by a margin of 1,208 votes, or 52.37 percent of the vote.
Reached by phone in Santa Fe, Fischmann said the November election to the PRC "is crucially important for all of New Mexico. Energy, and how we handle energy, will have a huge impact on the welfare of New Mexicans going forward both from a cost and environmental standpoint."
The Democratic nominee overcame a legal challenge to his qualifications for the office in April, while he and Jones traded allegations of improper campaign donations.
Jones criticized Fischmann for accepting "dark money" contributions from a political action committee connected to environmental organization New Energy Economy and its director, Mariel Nanasi.
Jones also suggested Fischmann violated ethics rules by accepting donations from parties that had been involved in previous cases before the PRC, though he later claimed the statute is unclear.
Meanwhile, Fischmann hit Jones over donations from Affordable Solar, a contractor involved in two utility projects regulated by the PRC. Jones also voted, along commissioners Linda Lovejoy and Patrick Lyons, to overrule PRC staff and approve a PNM project awarded to the contractor. Jones has denied any ethical violation, as the PRC was not involved in the bidding process.
Moreover, the utility's parent company, PNM Resources, gave $440,000 to the political action committee New Mexicans for Progress, which issued mailers attacking Fischmann late in the campaign.
"I’m hoping that with all the contentiousness of the primary we can get past it and all parties will just start focusing on building a better future," Fischmann said.
Automatic recount in GOP race
On Wednesday morning, the Secretary of State's office confirmed there would be an automatic recount in the Republican primary for the PRC seat.
Under New Mexico law, an automatic recount is required when the margin between the top two candidates in a race is less than one-half of 1 percent of the total votes cast.
With all precincts fully reporting, former PRC Commissioner Ben L. Hall of Alamogordo, seeking to reclaim seat he held from 2011 to 2015, held 30 more votes than rival Chris Mathys, a Las Cruces businessman and former Fresno, California, city councilor.
With 15,225 ballots cast, that 30-vote margin amounts to 0.2 percent of the total.
Once the state canvassing board orders the recount, all 11 counties will conduct machine recounts of their local ballots, with 5 percent of the ballots selected at random to be hand-tallied and recounted by machine to audit the tabulators' accuracy. The recount must be complete in time for certification of the election results on June 26.
The three-way GOP primary also included first-time candidate Joseph Bizzell, an electric and gas contractor from Valencia County. Bizzell won his home county but trailed in the other 10, finishing with 28.08 percent of the total vote.
The five-person Public Regulation Commission regulates New Mexico utility companies, telecommunications, commercial transportation, pipeline safety, ambulances and the state Fire Marshal’s Office. Commissioners serve four-year terms.
District 5 covers the entire southwest corner of the state.
The general election is Nov. 6.
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