Democrat Jerome Block Jr., who last week came out on top of the six-candidate primary race for the District 3 Public Regulation Commission seat, might not be getting a free ride in the general election after all.

Longtime Green Party activist Rick Lass, 42, of Santa Fe said Wednesday that he's his party's nominee for the position, and he is collecting petition signatures to qualify for the November general election ballot.

He said he's also collecting $5 donations from supporters to qualify for public financing of his campaign.

"Elections shouldn't be about free rides," Lass said in an interview Wednesday. "It should be about debating the issues."

He noted that Block, son of former PRC member Jerome Block Sr., won the primary with about 10,000 votes, according to unofficial returns. "Ten thousand votes out of 260,000 registered voters shouldn't decide who gets a $90,000 job."

"Everyone has the right to run," said the younger Block, who is on leave from his job as a Santa Fe title insurance sales manager. "We'll continue to work hard and campaign over the next few months."

Lass must submit about 1,400 valid voters' signatures before June 24 to qualify for the ballot and must collect 260 individual contributions of $5 each to qualify for public financing. In the primary, the younger Block and three other candidates used the public-financing system.

Lass said he was out of state Saturday when he was called by Green Party members and told he'd been nominated for the PRC seat, which he hadn't campaigned for. He said he was taken by surprise at the nomination and he thinks the Green Party was surprised by the younger Block's victory.

"I had endorsed Bruce Throne for PRC," Lass said. "I think most of the Greens assumed that Throne or Joe Maestas or Paul Campos was going to win." He said the Green Party wouldn't have run a candidate if any of those contenders, whom party members considered progressive and "solid on the issues," had won.

Lass works as director of Voting Matters, an election-reform organization founded in 2006.

He ran for the state House of Representatives in Santa Fe's District 47 in 2002, getting about a third of the vote in a race won by Democrat Luciano "Lucky" Varela. In 2004, Lass won the Green primary to run for the state Senate District 25, but withdrew before the general election. "I realize that (Democrat) John Grubesic and I agreed on just about every issue," Lass said.

Lass managed Green Party candidate David Bacon's unsuccessful District 4 PRC race in 2006. Until this week, he was managing independent Carol Miller's campaign for the 3rd District U.S. House seat.

The current 3rd District PRC member is Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat who is not seeking re-election so he can run for Congress.

The PRC's 3rd District covers north-central and northeastern New Mexico.

The five-person elected commission oversees utilities including Public Service Company of New Mexico and Qwest, and regulates the insurance industry. The PRC also is responsible for pipeline and fire safety.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.