The Republican candidate in the
Republican Steve Foldy said he does not consider Democrat Joseph Guillory an incumbent, even though Gov. Bill Richardson appointed Guillory to the bench four months ago. Foldy, a corporal with the sheriff’s department, said he is more versed in the law than Guillory, who was recently endorsed by the Las Cruces Sun-News.
“The Sun-News may not have a good track record when it comes to endorsements,” Foldy said, making a reference to former Magistrate Judge Reuben Galvan, who resigned last year amid rape and bribery allegations. Galvan had been endorsed by the newspaper.
Guillory said Foldy has lots of ideas about changes he wants to make, but lacks the knowledge to implement them.
“My opponent wants to do a lot of things in this position he knows nothing about,” Guillory said, adding that he does have some law enforcement training.
Guillory said his four months on the bench give him much better experience than that touted by Foldy.
“There’s a lot to learn, and thank God I have a good mentor in Judge (Oscar) Frietze,” Guillory said.
Frietze is the court’s chief presiding judge. With the exception of suspended Magistrate Judge Carlos Garza, all magistrates attended the forum. The four Democrats (five, if you count Garza) are all up for re-election this year, but only Guillory is opposed.
For the remainder of Tuesday’s forum, Guillory and the other Democrats opted to let Frietze speak for them, so the forum became a back-and-forth between Frietze and Foldy.
Frietze said the biggest challenge the court faces is its small, old building, but pointed out that the state is currently seeking bids for an architect to design a new facility. The new building is set to be completed in July 2008.
Foldy complained about “the long lines” at the court and the fact that current building has only one entrance and exit. To deal with the problems, he said, all five judges have to work well together.
“You sit back, you watch, you listen you ask a lot of questions,” he said of being a new judge.
Frietze said that, until the new building is complete, there’s not much that can be done to improve the situation.
“The best that we can do is what we’re doing at this point,” he said.
Foldy said having all five judges at work would help, referring to Garza, Galvan and others who have been on suspension or resigned before their terms were up. Because of various scandals, three or four judges have been doing the work of five on and off for several years.
“It’s difficult enough when you have judges who have personal problems and are unable to do the job and increase the caseload of other judges,” Foldy said.