Due mostly to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, one of the five Democratic candidates for Jerome Block Jr.'s old seat on the state Public Regulation Commission won't be using public campaign funds available to candidates for the regulatory body. 

And that candidate — Danny Maki, son of well-known lobbyist and former Richardson aide Butch Maki — has taken a huge early lead in campaign contributions in the race for the seat vacated last week by Block. 

Block's career ended when he agreed to plead guilty to several felonies, including misuse of public campaign funds in his 2008 election. 

Danny Maki, who worked for the PRC when Congressman Ben Ray Luján was a commissioner, has collected nearly $12,000 in contributions, according to his campaign-finance report, filed this week with the Secretary of State's Office. 

The two other candidates to file reports are Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza, who reported $1,712 in contributions, and banker Brad Gallegos, who reported $1,693. Two others who have said they are running — Santa Fe County Commissioner Virginia Vigil and Las Vegas, N.M., businessman Martin Suazo — didn't file reports. Both said they hadn't begun their fundraising efforts. 

Espinoza, Vigil and Suazo all said this week that they will use the public financing system. Gallegos said he is leaning toward using public funds. He said he doesn't want to give the perception that he's indebted to the banking industry, even though the PRC doesn't regulate banks. 

No Republicans have announced they are running for the heavily Democratic District 3 commission seat, and no Republican filed a campaign-finance report this week. Several Republicans, however, are among the 88 applicants being considered by Gov. Susana Martinez to complete Block's term on the commission. 

Those using public financing in the District 3 Democratic primary will receive almost $40,000 in public money, officials from the Office of the Secretary of State said Thursday. That's based on a formula set in state law. 

Candidate Maki said in an interview this week that the main reason he's not seeking public funds is the July ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The high court struck down part of an Arizona public-financing law that allowed "matching funds" for publicly funded candidates who are outspent by opponents who don't use public campaign money. 

Under New Mexico's law — which was modeled after Arizona's — a publicly funded candidate in that situation could receive dollar-for-dollar matches from the state, up to twice the initial amount he or she received. 

That law is still standing in New Mexico, but it's on thin ice. Thomas Dow, general counsel for the Secretary of State's Office, said he believes the law is subject to a court challenge and, in light of the Supreme Court decision in the Arizona case, could be overturned. 

A conservative political-action committee this year sued the city of Albuquerque over a similar provision in its public campaign-finance law. Dow said that in a settlement, the city agreed not to enforce its matching-funds provision. 

Dow said the Secretary of State's Office has been warning PRC and statewide judicial candidates — the only state offices in New Mexico in which public campaign financing is available — that the secretary of state could choose not to enforce the matching funds provision next year. 

It's unclear whether matching funds have ever been issued in the state, which adopted the public financing law in 2003. Dow said he's not aware of any such instances. 

Maki's finance report shows several $500 contributions. 

Two of his major contributors, Moses Mercado and Amador Dean Aguillen, work for Ogilvy Government Relations, a major Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, whose clients include telecommunications giants Verizon and T-Mobile. The PRC regulates the telecommunications industry. 

Other Ogilvy clients in recent years include the drug company Pfizer, Chevron, the American Petroleum Institute, the Recording Industry Association of America, Viacom and Cash America, a payday loan company. 

Other $500 contributors to Maki are Stephen Crout, a former legislative aide for Richardson in Congress and a lobbyist for Qualcomm, a San Diego-based telecommunications company; DPH Investment Group, a limited liability corporation in Florida; Albert Naranjo, an employee of Los Alamos National Laboratory; and Bernadette Naranjo, who lists the same address as Albert. 

Among Maki's other contributors is former first lady Barbara Richardson. She gave him $250. 

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.