State Public Regulation Commission member Jerome Block Jr. admitted Tuesday he is struggling with an addiction to prescription drugs, but he refused to step down despite a growing drumbeat of calls for his resignation.

Block acknowledged an addiction to oxycodone, a strong narcotic pain-reliever and cough suppressant similar to morphine, codeine and hydrocodone. Oxycodone is the active agent in OxyContin.

"I've been battling an addiction with a prescription pills medication and it's something that's been rough. I'm getting treatment for it. It's a daily battle," Block said during a small news conference after a Tuesday morning commission hearing. Although he declined to name the drug at the news conference, during a short interview later in the day with The New Mexican he identified the pills as oxycodone.

The first-term elected commissioner representing north-central New Mexico went on to imply that the scrutiny he came under after accusations of misusing public campaign money during the 2008 election helped push him toward addiction.

"That didn't help," Block said during the afternoon interview.

Block has had a spotty attendance record at commission meetings, and on Tuesday he made his first public appearance since he became embroiled in a new series of scandals earlier this month.

He didn't provide many details about his addiction or what led to it. He refused to make available any medical records or answer whether he had checked into rehab, although he acknowledged undergoing therapy. He said he had been addicted about 2-and-a-half years, but that now he is clean and feeling better.

Block wouldn't answer whether his addiction had played a role in the alleged abuse of state-issued gas cards.

According to state records, Block racked up more than $8,000 through June on his state gas account, the most of any member of the state regulatory body. On more than two dozen occasions in those six months, Block used his gas card twice in the same day, seven of those times within less than half an hour, according to fuel-expense records provided by the commission. A dozen times, he used the card three times in the same day; half those times he bought fuel twice within half an hour. Those factors and the varying types of fuel purchased led state investigators to conclude he purchased fuel for multiple vehicles.

Investigators from the state Attorney General's Office earlier this month searched vehicles used by Block, whose driver's license reportedly was suspended a year ago.

In addition, PRC officials have forwarded to outside agencies questionable spending on gas-card accounts belonging to two state Public Regulation Commission employees after the men said the spending wasn't theirs.

PRC Chief of Staff Johnny Montoya said last week that commission employees Jason Montoya and Paul Montoya had questioned several weekend charges on their accounts in July.

The questionable spending came after the PRC canceled Block's state-issued gas card and after Block had borrowed Paul Montoya's gas card and had requested Jason Montoya's Social Security number, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office. A state agency that issues the gas cards uses the last six numbers of an individual's Social Security number as a unique user identification to access gas card privileges.

Allegations of Block's gas-card abuse — including state-funded purchases of convenience store snacks — are the latest cloud to darken the Democrat's troubled tenure on the Public Regulation Commission, which oversees electric, gas and water utilities, as well as some telecommunications, transportation, pipeline and insurance companies.

Despite the latest scandal and the bipartisan calls for his resignation, Block remained steadfast in his resolve Tuesday to stay in his $90,000-a-year job and serve out his term, which ends in 2012.

"I love my job," he said. "I love the employees here. Most importantly, I want to get this behind me," he said of his addiction.

Asked whether he was serving his constituents' interests, Block replied, "I think I am perfectly capable of doing the job, I think I have made good decisions and represented the constituents well."

As for removing Block before his term is up, the only options appear to be legislative or judicial. A felony conviction could trigger his removal. The New Mexico Supreme Court removed former commissioner Carol Sloan last year after her conviction of a felony battery charge. Block already faces felony criminal charges in connection with spending of public campaign funds.

The state House of Representatives also could start impeachment proceedings. But House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, said Tuesday that without a fresh criminal indictment or "concrete information" that Block has broken the law it would be premature to form a committee to investigate the allegations against the commissioner.

However, KOB-TV on Tuesday reported that Luján said he would consider a committee of inquiry during the September special legislative session.

Block and his father, former state Public Regulation Commission member Jerome Block Sr., were both indicted on charges related to use of public funds in the 2008 campaign, but the case still hasn't gone to trial. Block Jr. paid $21,000 in penalties after lying on a campaign report. The state Court of Appeals earlier this month reinstated some criminal charges against Block and his father, who helped him with the campaign reports.

Santa Fe police also recently identified Block as a suspect in a stolen-vehicle investigation. Police say he took a car on a test drive and for weeks didn't return the car or respond to efforts by the car dealer to contact him.

House Minority Leader Tom Taylor, R-Farmington, who sent a letter last week to Luján requesting a committee to consider impeachment proceedings, said forming such a group is past due.

"We have a bad reputation in New Mexico with elected officials," Taylor said. "I just think it is a violation of the public trust not to investigate it."

If a committee were formed and its members found enough evidence to draft articles of impeachment, the House would have to vote on and approve the articles. If the full House voted to impeach, the Senate would then conduct a trial into whether the accused official should be removed from office. An official is removed only if the Senate votes to convict.

The Legislature has not contemplated impeachment proceedings since fall 2005, when the House empaneled a committee to investigate allegations of corruption against then-State Treasurer Robert Vigil. That committee hired a staff lawyer, former Supreme Court Justice Paul Kennedy, and was considering specific charges against Vigil when the treasurer decided to resign.

However, such impeachment proceedings can be expensive, adding fuel to calls by leaders of both major political parties for Block Jr. to resign.

Fellow Public Regulation Commissioner Jason Marks on Tuesday again called on Block to resign, but said he would work with Block if he stays on.

"The commission doesn't get to choose who serves with us," Marks said. "We can't force him out of his seat. I hope that Commissioner Block will continue to think about this, and think about what is best for his constituents, what's best for the commission and for the state of New Mexico. And I think the answer to that is that he resigns. But if it's his choice to stay, then District 3 needs a representative and I will work with him."

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