State Auditor Hector Balderas on Thursday called for Public Regulation Commission Chairman Pat Lyons to step down because of what Balderas said was an improper use of a state vehicle.

Lyons' use of a Ford F-250 truck for approximately 65 days, potentially violating the rules of a federal program, resulted in more than $1,100 of questionable costs to the public, Balderas said.

The call for Lyon to resign coincided with Thursday's release of a special audit of the scandal-plagued Public Regulation Commission that found sloppy record-keeping at the agency.

Separate from the audit, Balderas also announced Thursday that he had forwarded to the proper authorities several emails from or to Public Regulation Commission employees containing possible communications about the purchase of illegal drugs.

The scrutiny of the possible purchase of drugs by state workers comes after former commission member Jerome Block Jr. said publicly that drug use at the agency was more widespread than the public knew. Block, who is scheduled to be sentenced Friday, resigned last fall after pleading guilty to several felonies and admitting to a prescription drug addiction.

One email message made public by the State Auditor's Office on Thursday was dated Sept. 13, 2011, and reads in part, "I was stressed out, because the state auditor came for all my emails, and the only ones weird for the ones you went to me saying I have a DR#% problem, and I lied about coc#$#ne."

Someone using a Department of Transportation suffix sent the email to a Public Regulation Commission employee.

On Thursday, Lyons, a Republican, said Balderas, a Democrat, was playing election-year politics by calling for his resignation.

"The state auditor is supposed to work to help make state agencies get better, not to ... get out there and showboat to further his political career," Lyons said in response to Balderas' criticism. Balderas is running for the Democratic nomination for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.

In addition, Lyons defended his use of the Ford F-250, saying commission members are provided a vehicle to travel back and forth to their homes. The commission chairman maintained Thursday that his use of the truck wasn't improper, but he gave it up until the issue is resolved.

"What you have is an incompetent attorney who is trying to do a state auditor's job," Lyons said of Balderas. "He's made it personal going after me."

Balderas shot back, saying Lyons "is in denial and does not believe accountability applies to him."

Balderas and Lyons have sparred publicly about this audit in the past. In September, Lyons questioned the ability of Balderas' office to conduct the audit, which led to seeking an independent firm conducting the audit. Balderas said Lyons was obstructing the audit initially. (See September article here)

The audit released Thursday comes several months after Block pleaded guilty to fraudulent use of his state-issued gas card, embezzlement, identity theft, violations of campaign-finance laws and embezzling public funds during his 2008 campaign.

Among other things, the review revealed sloppy record-keeping pertaining to commission members' and employees' use of state-issued vehicles, including the failure by commission members to get prior approval for out-of-state vehicle use and non-fuel expenses purchased with state-issued gasoline cards. Those expenses included car washes, emergency repairs and oil changes, the audit found.

The audit also found repeated instances in which commission employees purchased premium gas instead of buying regular unleaded fuel, as required by state rules, Evan Blackstone, Balderas' chief of staff, said.

That results in about $3,000 in overcharges to taxpayers, Blackstone said.

Most Public Regulation Commission members interviewed Thursday, including Lyons, who represents southeastern New Mexico, said they embraced the findings of the special audit, although Lyons and commission member Jason Marks of Albuquerque made sure to distinguish between the audit and the Auditor's Office news release in which Balderas called for Lyons' resignation.

"Unfortunately there is this personal thing going between Chairman Lyons and Balderas, and I think they're both throwing gasoline on the fire," Marks said of the vitriolic back-and-forth. "I am not going to excuse that things were sloppy there. It's pure speculation. But I would imagine if you audit any state agency, the records will be like ours."

In the past month, the regulatory agency has adopted reforms, a fact that PRC members pointed out repeatedly.

Earlier this month, the commission adopted recommendations from a management study, including reducing the number of employees who are exempt from the personnel rules for hiring and firing. Other recommendations included a proposed move of railroad regulation out from under the commission to the state Transportation Department and streamlining the handling of consumer complaints into one division.

Commission members earlier had also adopted a policy that tightened up how government-owned vehicles are used.

"I'm hopeful we are working in a positive direction, day by day," said Theresa Becenti-Aguilar, who represents northwestern New Mexico on the commission. "The public perception may be that there's so many things going wrong. That's not the case."

Added fellow commission member Douglas Howe of Santa Fe, who was appointed to replace Block: "I think the commission is trying hard to turn things around. I think they are doing good things."

New Mexico's 112 state lawmakers are reviewing legislation during the 30-day legislative session to change the Public Regulation Commission. As a template, they are using a report issued last fall by Think New Mexico, a Santa Fe think tank.

Its executive director sounded optimistic about coming changes to the state agency.

"Think New Mexico's PRC reform legislation continues to gather momentum and make progress toward passage, independent of the newly released report from the State Auditor and the continuing revelations about the questionable activities of former Commissioner Jerome Block Jr.," Think New Mexico's Fred Nathan wrote in an email.

The entire special audit report can be downloaded on the Office of the State Auditor’s website at www.osanm.org.

— Digital news editor Geoff Grammer contributed to this article.

Contact Trip Jennings at 986-3050 or at tjennings@sfnewmexican.com.