OPINION: Ethics complaint against Egolf wobbles ahead

Jan. 12—The hearing officer was late. His tardiness seemed almost predictable in a slow-moving ethics complaint that's part of a bigger mess in New Mexico's underperforming government.

Alan Torgerson, a retired federal magistrate, is presiding in state Rep. Miguel Garcia's complaint against House Speaker Brian Egolf. Torgerson scheduled a conference on the case for Thursday but said he forgot the date, causing his delayed arrival.

"It's the first time in 52 years I've been late for a hearing. I'm deeply embarrassed," Torgerson said.

He needn't have worried. There's plenty of embarrassment to go around.

It starts with Egolf, D-Santa Fe. In a display of bravado, he appointed himself to a nominating committee that culled through applicants for the state Public Regulation Commission. Egolf's panel eventually sent the names of nine finalists to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Garcia, D-Albuquerque, a longwinded, on-the-record enemy of Egolf, said the speaker's self-appointment violated the Governmental Conduct Act and the state constitution.

Egolf countered that he was on solid footing. He had solicited an opinion from Raúl Burciaga, the lawyer who heads the Legislative Council Service. Burciaga's view was Egolf choosing himself for a powerful government committee would be unusual but permissible.

Buoyed by that assessment, Egolf ascended to chairman of the nominating committee. It unanimously chose the finalists for the PRC on Dec. 2.

In what was either freakish coincidence or convenient timing, the State Ethics Commission that same day made a halfhearted move against Egolf.

Jeremy Farris, executive director of the ethics commission, notified Egolf the agency's general counsel had found probable cause Egolf violated the Governmental Conduct Act. But Farris also seemingly offered Egolf a way out of this jam.

"To correct the alleged violation, you must resign from the Public Regulation Commission Nominating Committee within ten days of the date of this letter," Farris wrote.

In another lucky coincidence, Egolf had resigned from the committee right after he and the rest of his panel selected their finalists.

Egolf told me he had notified Farris' agency 10 days earlier that he would resign. In addition, Egolf says, he has a written communication proving Farris' own general counsel, Walker Boyd, flip-flopped on whether Egolf did anything wrong.

"Mr. Boyd had said my appointment did not appear to be a violation of the Governmental Conduct Act," Egolf told me. "He asked me to resign as part of a settlement offer. If I agreed to what he proposed by Dec. 1 and resigned by Dec. 10, Mr. Boyd said he would seek dismissal of Miguel Garcia's complaint."

Egolf said he refused the offer. The speaker called Boyd's offer a bullying tactic.

Egolf declined to provide me with a copy of Boyd's written offer of a dismissal. Boyd said he could not comment on the case.

If what Egolf says is true, the ethics commission should investigate itself, then disband after issuing a report whitewashing its conduct.

The story of Egolf's nominating committee and Lujan Grisham only gets worse.

The panel made former Republican state Rep. Brian Moore a finalist for the PRC. Lujan Grisham then selected Moore for one of the three seats on the regulatory agency.

Neither Egolf's committee nor the governor bothered to check Moore's résumé until it was too late to sidestep humiliation. Moore did not meet the minimum educational requirements to serve on the PRC. He had to resign from his $190,000-a-year government appointment before he attended his first meeting.

Egolf placed the blame on PRC staff, saying it failed to properly vet two late applicants, one being Moore.

In turn, Lujan Grisham in a media handout blamed Egolf's committee for a lack of thoroughness. The governor can't absolve herself. She had every chance to pore over Moore's educational background and question him.

Torgerson scheduled a public hearing on Garcia's complaint against Egolf for April 10. Egolf told me he believes the case will be dismissed. He based this on ethics commission staffers telling him he could "correct" any possible misstep by resigning from the committee, which he did.

As for Garcia, a retired teacher, he admitted he was stumped by Torgerson's questions on how Garcia wanted to handle discovery and other technical procedures before the hearing.

"You might want to consider getting legal counsel," Torgerson told Garcia.

Why should Garcia have to bear the expense of hiring an attorney when the ethics commission's lawyer found the complaint against Egolf to have merit?

Egolf, Lujan Grisham, Burciaga, Farris, Boyd and Torgerson are all attorneys. It's not like they cornered the market on smarts — or punctuality.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.