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SANTA FE — Attorney General Gary King says his office will review whether there were legal or ethical problems with Gov. Bill Richardson's use of an electric utility lobbyist as an on-loan staffer, including during this year's legislative session.

King said Thursday his office was acting in response to a request by a clean-energy advocate who questioned the propriety of the lobbyist working in the Governor's Office, particularly during a session when the administration was advocating energy legislation.

A lobbyist for Public Service Company of New Mexico, Art Hull, worked for the governor as part of a loaned executive program that's intended to give private sector officials a view of how state government works.

Hull remained on PNM's payroll while he worked in the Governor's Office and didn't receive a state salary, said Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for Richardson.

Gallegos said Hull served mainly as a liaison between the Governor's Office and Republican legislators.

"We wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict. So he wasn't involved in any of the negotiations on energy legislation," said Gallegos.

Ben Luce, who's leading a newly formed watchdog group called Break the Grip!, asked King to investigate Hull's work for Richardson.

Luce said in a letter to King that "it appears that the administration has made an illegal donation of state facilities and services to PNM via the access and position afforded Mr. Hull, and in a manner that afforded PNM undue influence over the administration's policy proposals and lobbying efforts."

Jeff Buell, a spokesman for PNM, the state's largest electric utility, said Hull worked for the Governor's Office from mid-November until April.

"He was there to act under the direction of the governor's staff. He was not representing PNM," said Buell. "We don't view anything about his service to the governor as inappropriate. It was an opportunity for him to gain a lot of professional experience and it was an opportunity for him to also to lend his expertise to the governor in any way the governor saw fit."

Buell said Hull's work through the loaned executive program was at the request of the governor.

King said in a telephone interview that his office would review the matter and consider "whether or not New Mexico allows the use of loaned executives, for instance, and . . . what resources can be made available to them."

Luce questioned whether it was legal for the administration to allow Hull to use state office space and equipment.

King said his office would consider whether that's covered by the state constitution's anti-donation clause, which prohibits New Mexico from making donations to private individuals or entities.

Luce suggested that Hull had been assigned to work on legislation that was enacted this year to create a quasi-government authority that can finance, build and operate new electric transmission lines and power storage facilities.

However, Gallegos emphasized that Hull "was not involved in any way in the drafting of legislation, in policy-making decisions, and most important, he did not participate in negotiations of the bill."

He said Hull informed the governor's staff of concerns voiced to him by legislators about bills, including the renewable energy transmission measure.

Luce, who was part of the negotiations over the transmission authority bill, acknowledged that Hull "didn't interact directly with us" on the measure.

Luce said Hull "likely would have known what positions the administration was taking with us as things developed day-to-day. So he would have functioned as the eyes and ears of PNM inside the administration on those negotiations. We have no reason to believe that wasn't the case."

The transmission authority is intended to help promote the production of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, by improving regional transmission systems that distribute electricity. The authority can become involved in a transmission line project if at least 30 percent of the energy is from renewable sources.

Luce worked on clean energy issues during the session and until recently had been a supporter of administration policies. Last month, however, he broke with the administration, complained that the Governor's Office was influenced by PNM and called for the repeal of clean energy initiatives enacted this year, including the transmission authority.

Luce contended the administration advocated changes in the transmission authority measure that would have weakened the renewable energy requirement for a power line project - potentially benefiting PNM and other utilities if authority-backed transmission facilities were used mostly to move electricity generated by coal-fired and nuclear power plants. The changes were dropped and were not part of the bill signed into law, however.