There is a missing ingredient in all the fuming, the reporting, and the letter writing about the "ethically challenged" Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr.

It is not just the failure of the authorities to bring him to trial for misuse of campaign funds during the last election. It is not that he is apparently a confessed drug addict. It is not that he has repeatedly abused the privilege (not a right) of a gas card, such as using it seven times in one half-hour period as one example.

The missing ingredient is not that he has missed a third of the meetings of the PRC, for which he is being paid the not insignificant salary of $90,000 a year.

It is not, as one letter wrote, that he is "innocent until proven guilty." It is not that he took a new car for a supposed test drive but didn't bother to return it. It is not that he has stoned-walled both sides of the aisle, which have called for his resignation.

All of the above, from spoiled-brat behavior to actual illegal and unethical activity is, without a doubt, the makings of great news coverage. But let's take a step backward and ask the question: "How did he get there in the first place?" The answer is simple: The voters elected him, and he can't even be fired for incompetence or malfeasance but can only be forcibly removed before an election by impeachment. If my math is correct, this young man was elected to be a commissioner at the tender age of 32, old enough to have served in the military, but too young for real financial judgment.

The PRC is an important regulatory body whose basic responsibility is to protect the citizens of New Mexico from fiscal abuse and other hardships at the hands of all manner of suppliers of the needs of our residents. PNM, other energy suppliers, communications and transportation services, are all providers with the potential of monopolistic and unfair practices that affect all of us. I'm not suggesting for a minute that any of these businesses in fact perform in any manner that doesn't serve us well at fair prices. But the PRC is in place to ensure that such is the case.

PRC commissioners must use sophisticated analytic techniques and in-depth economic research in order to fulfill their duties. One could easily suggest that years of significant business experience and senior management assignments would be a bare minimum to qualify for a commissioner's job. Surely the PRC is not meant to be an educational facility for adolescents.

And yet our voters in this northern district elected to this position a then-32-year-old kid with minimum education and virtually no relevant hands-on experience whatsoever. Shame, shame on us. Sure the kid came from a well-known family from the region (like another unqualified electee) with the benefit of instant name recognition, but don't our voters recognize that this position actually requires some qualifications? Do our voters really think this is just a beauty contest like Miss America? Is it really just a question of what party the kid belongs to? Are the Democrats saying that this is the best they've got?

These are difficult times in America, in New Mexico, and actually in the whole world. Appropriately, people have different opinions and a mixed bag of solutions to our economic struggles as well as all the other challenges an increasingly populated and diversified world is facing. Shouldn't qualifications be of more than passing importance?

While there have been many young people who have risen to heroic challenges, such as Joan of Arc, electing an inexperienced youth to a position that by definition demands a wealth of experience is just plain voter irresponsibility to a maximum degree. We can fault Jerome Block Jr. for many real deficiencies, but maybe it's time to turn inward and question the seriousness with which we exercise our privilege to vote.

Santa Fean Gregg Bemis is an industrialist/adventurer and a concerned senior citizen.