Selling Fuel to Intoxicated Drivers, Ethics Issue in Proposed Merger & Public Financing Challenges | 7.23.21

The Line opinion roundtable offers reactions and insight on the New Mexico Supreme Court’s recent decision that gas stations have a duty to refuse to sell fuel to drunk drivers. Under the ruling, businesses could be held liable if a drunk driver then injures someone. The NM Supreme Court made the decision in the wake of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man killed by an intoxicated driver who had run out of gas, walked to a station for a small amount, then returned to fill up before causing the deadly accident. The Line panel also explores the ethics complaint filed against Attorney General Hector Balderas over his handling of a proposed merger for the Public Service Company of New Mexico. Avangrid, the company looking to acquire PNM, hired Marcus Rael, Jr., who is a close friend and frequent contract attorney for Balderas. The Line also looks at the balance of such deals, which are supposed to weigh the costs and benefits to shareholders against those of ratepayers. And, the group discusses the challenges around public financing of political campaigns, as demonstrated in the current Albuquerque mayor’s race, where challenger Manny Gonzales has been denied public money due to forged signatures and other documents. Should the presence of some non-matching signatures disqualify potentially thousands of other valid ones? Line Guests: Inez Russell Gomez, editorial page editor, Santa Fe New Mexican                                                                                                                     Serge Martinez, UNM Law School   Diane Snyder, former state senator