By Jim Scarantino
UPDATE: ATTORNEY GENERAL KING ISSUES STATEMENT ON PRC WHISTLEBLOWER LAWSUIT:  From the AG’s spokesman, Phil Sisneros:

Attorney General King took immediate action to address the various concerns mentioned in the email from Mr. Feliciano.  The email mentioned a number of issues including alleged misconduct, a request for legal representation, and a legal opinion.  The allegations and requests raise a number of questions that are now being reviewed by the appropriate devision in the Attorney General’s Office.  There are serious allegations contained in Mr. Feliciano’s communication and AG King is treating them as such.  It was Attorney General King who produced the Whistleblower Protection Act and asked the legislature to pass such protection for three years until they were passed, clearly this lawsuit is of great interest to him.

Aaron Feliciano, the former Compliance Director of the Public Regulation Commission’s Insurance Division, alleges in a lawsuit that he was fired for reporting violations of law and abuses of authority.  The suit, filed in Santa Fe District Court, names the PRC, former Superintendent of the Insurance Division Morris J. Chavez, and former PRC Chief of Staff Dan Mayfield as defendants.
Chavez resigned March 4, 2010.
Mayfield resigned to run for county commissioner.
Feliciano’s complaint alleges that as Compliance Director he was responsible for enforcement of the NM Insurance Code.  This included policing insurance companies, advising Chavez regarding enforcement activities, “vetting and interviewing candidates for positions within the Insurance Division, and ensuring that the Insurance Division operated in a fiscally prudent, proper and responsible manner.”
A full copy of the lawsuit is at the bottom of this post.  The lawsuit claims:

Defendants Chavez and Mayfield, however, were more concerned with obtaining government jobs for their friends and political allies, making nice with insurance companies, and avoiding statutory responsibilities to enforce the New Mexico Insurance Code for, and on behalf of, the citizens of New Mexico.

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