Rep. Daymon Ely

STATE News:

SANTA FE — Thursday, the hearing officer for the State Ethics Commission  dismissed the complaint filed by New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas against Rep. Daymon Ely.

Balderas’ complaint had argued that Ely violated the Governmental Conduct Act by “attempting to interfere with a law enforcement prosecution” and misused his legislative authority by threatening to use his position to “constrict the authority of the Attorney General in similarly situated cases”.

The AG’s complaint was dismissed with prejudice and therefore cannot be refiled in any form.

Rep. Ely, a Democrat from Corrales, is an attorney who has represented Bernalillo and Sandoval counties since 2017.

“The hearing officer found that the Attorney General failed to provide any facts supporting his charges. While the Attorney General’s complaint against me was a shocking misuse of the Ethics Commission, the larger issue is his failure to protect New Mexico consumers. For example, in a recent settlement against a solar company alleged to have ripped off thousands of New Mexicans, the Attorney General’s office received $1.2 million for its operations, the private attorneys hired by the Attorney General received $700,000 but the affected consumers received nothing.

The investigation into the Attorney General’s representation of consumer interests also includes his use of outside, private attorneys. These consumer cases, in the past, have been done “in house”, by public lawyers responsible only to the citizens of New Mexico. Now, the Attorney General appears to be using private attorneys in consumer cases as a common practice. At least some of the attorneys hired have provided campaign contributions or other forms of support to the Attorney General.

For that reason, I am going to propose in the January 2022 session a constitutional amendment to create an office of consumer affairs. This office will remove the power of protecting consumers from the Attorney General’s Office and place it in a body whose sole purpose and motive is assisting New Mexicans.”