(Source: Alamogordo Daily News)

By Michael Johnson, Alamogordo Daily News, N.M.
Sep. 9--Tularosa businesswoman Stephanie DuBois says she will make another run next year for a seat on the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission.
DuBois, a member of the Democratic Part of Otero County, will seek the Democratic nomination in District 2, which covers all or part of 14 counties.
DuBois was the Democratic nominee for the seat in 2006, losing in the general election to Republican David King.
"I am running on public money, so I'm the clean candidate with the clean money," DuBois said. "I can't take corporate money no money from the utilities or unions."
King can't run again because of term limits, and the seat is open.
"I want to be a voice for the consumer, which I think is lacking right now," DuBois said. "It seems like every time PNM asks for a raise, they just give it to them. I don't know what that's about."
Another announced candidate for the seat is Republican Pat Lyons, who currently is the state land commissioner.
DuBois lost to King in the 2006 general election by about 12,000 votes.
"I only had $10,000 of public money to run on the last time around," she said. "King has been in government ever since his uncle appointed him to something 30 years ago."
District 2, which includes the southeast quadrant of New Mexico, is one of three seats up for grabs in 2010 on the five-member panel that regulates utilities, telecommunications, insurance and other industries.
"There's not much of anything they don't regulate," DuBois said. "The PRC is more powerful that the state Legislature. It only takes five of them to do an increase, or not do an increase. You need two-thirds or three-fourths of the Legislature to put something through. That makes (the PRC) a very powerful board, especially when it regulates your whole life."
DuBois said the job pays about $90,000 per year.
"We'd like to see someone on (the PRC) who doesn't have DWIs, sexual harassments, assault and batteries, and those who know that you can't give public money away," she said. "You can't mandate ethics, but I'd like to think that grown-ups would, at least, play by the rules."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
-----
To see more of the Alamogordo Daily News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.alamogordonews.com/.
Copyright (c) 2009, Alamogordo Daily News, N.M.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.