An announcement is expected later today.
Gov. Bill Richardson spent about two weeks considering Democrats Macias and Bernadette Sedillo before making the decision early this morning.
Macias will be one of two judges on the children’s court.
Macias was the more controversial of the two candidates, and the governor will take some heat for appointing him. Sources tell me Sedillo didn’t interview well and
Macias, however, hasn’t practiced law in about a decade and doesn’t have an active law license, though he can easily remedy that.
The choice will likely be unpopular in Sunland Park, where residents are still upset over the arrest of their mayor by the county sheriff’s department when Macias was county manager in the late 1990s, and a nasty legal battle over the locating of a landfill in their community in the 1980s by a company represented by Macias when he was a practicing attorney.
The permanent stink is a constant reminder of their dislike for Macias.
Macias does, however, bring an impressive range of experience to the job. In addition to being an attorney, a former state senator and county manager, he was the director of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance and the head of a bi-national environmental agency based in
Macias will make an annual salary of $96,581.