State's top newsmaker of '21 is a No. 1 surprise

Dec. 3—My newsmaker of the year in New Mexico is 67 years old, labors mostly in the background and doesn't sit for interviews.

Few would recognize Ashley Schannauer, masked or unmasked, as he navigates a political storm in a pandemic. But tens of thousands of electric customers have come to know him by reputation.

A hearing examiner for the state Public Regulation Commission, Schannauer has turned captains of industry into groveling pitchmen.

He has recommended that the commission's five elected members reject a merger of Public Service Company of New Mexico and Avangrid, a subsidiary of the Spanish company Iberdrola.

Absent Schannauer's stinging review, the merger might be as good as done. His work has the utility companies looking desperate as they mount a counterattack.

Company executives say their $8.3 billion union would mean more jobs and more clean energy for New Mexico. Just stick to their plan and progress and prosperity would be a cinch.

An old saying applies to such promises: What businesspeople say they will do is less important than what they have done.

Schannauer took nothing for granted. He found Avangrid's service record in the Northeastern United States bad enough to cause worry about what might happen to customers in New Mexico.

A lawyer without an ounce of flamboyance, Schannauer declined to answer questions from me.

"I don't want to be rude, but I'm not able to speak to the news media during the pendency of a case," he wrote in an email.

The utility companies have no muzzle. They have run a series of full-page advertisements this week, mostly in the form of testimonials. One ad attacked an opponent of the merger without mentioning Schannauer.

But Schannauer is the sole reason for the advertising blitz. His recommendation carries more weight with the commission than all advocacy groups combined.

PNM is a monopoly utility long accustomed to having its way. Schannauer stood against the company and most of the state's political establishment by saying the proposed merger would do more harm than good.

The companies' approach to winning over the PRC and New Mexico residents through advertising has raised more questions than it has answered.

A full-page ad Tuesday in The New Mexican was built around claims by four people from Maine, a state where Avangrid operates. One man who signed the ad was a building contractor. The contractor previously wrote a letter to the editor of The New Mexican advocating for the merger.

Could a Maine contractor's abiding interest in New Mexico have something to do with Avangrid's hope of building a transmission line in the East? It would slice through Maine forests, part of a giant electric cord running from Canada to Massachusetts.

Maine voters rejected the transmission line in a referendum last month. Avangrid is suing to proceed with the project.

Tuesday's ad signed by the contractor carried the state seal of Maine. The same ad ran Wednesday but without the seal.

Maine Rep. Seth Berry, a relentless critic of Avangrid, complained about a business using the state seal, as though Maine's government backed a venture in New Mexico for electric companies.

Berry said he's asking the Maine attorney general to file criminal charges against those responsible for the ad. The case won't ever reach criminal court, but Berry's idea shows Avangrid's critics are as tenacious as its boosters.

Another full-page ad in The New Mexican was signed by George Pataki, who was a three-term Republican governor of New York. Pataki is perhaps best-known for unseating Mario Cuomo, a three-term Democratic governor.

Before the advertisement ran, Pataki submitted a letter to the editor of The New Mexican supporting the merger. It was an early sign of Avangrid seeking help from the East in hopes of locking up a spot in the power grid between Texas and California.

Politics and business expansions don't operate separately. John Baldacci, a former two-term Democratic governor of Maine, is vice chairman of Avangrid's board of directors.

Baldacci headed Maine's government during the same eight years that Democrat Bill Richardson was governor of New Mexico. Richardson recently wrote a letter to the editor advocating for the merger.

Schannauer wasn't as well-known as the politicians pushing the proposal by PNM and Avangrid. He wasn't known at all.

His skepticism reminded New Mexico residents that the Public Regulation Commission's job is to balance the interests of ratepayers with the needs of utility companies. The system often misfires.

Still ahead is the PRC's vote on the proposed merger. Based on their statements this week, three of the five commissioners are poised to reject it.

The case wouldn't end there. The PRC decision, no matter how it goes, will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Every insider knew that could happen. Few expected one lawyer on the PRC's staff to raise so many questions and such a ruckus. Ratepayers are better for it.

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