{"id":411,"date":"2006-07-27T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-27T22:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/nominating-commission-grills-judicial-candidates\/"},"modified":"2006-07-27T16:37:00","modified_gmt":"2006-07-27T22:37:00","slug":"nominating-commission-grills-judicial-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/07\/nominating-commission-grills-judicial-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"Nominating commission grills judicial candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Some who applied for a children\u2019s court vacancy in the 3rd<\/sup> Judicial District had to answer tough questions during Thursday\u2019s judicial nominating commission meeting. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ultimately, the panel opted to forward the names of Fernando Macias and Bernadette Sedillo, both Democrats, to the governor. Only Republican Bill Lutz, an attorney from Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, voted against the recommendation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The governor can select one of the two candidates or ask the commission for additional names.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lutz expressed unease during Macias\u2019 interview about the fact that he hasn\u2019t practiced law in several years.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a great concern about you having voluntarily left the practice of law and then trying to get back into it through a judgeship,\u201d Lutz told Macias.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Others expressed concern about Macias, especially after New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Bosson, a Macias supporter, revealed that Macias let his law license become inactive in 1999, and it remains inactive to this day.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re scared that maybe you\u2019re not going to understand our practices, as opposed to 10 or 12 years ago,\u201d said Deputy District Attorney Amy Orlando, a Republican.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Macias explained that he stopped seeing clients in the late 1990s, so he allowed his law license to become inactive, but has maintained continuing education credits since. The former state senator has worked in the past decade as the director of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance, Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> manger, and head of a bi-national environmental agency based in Ciudad Juarez<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. He is currently the director of New Mexico Legal Aid.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Macias said he can easily renew his license, should he be appointed to the judgeship, and can adapt quickly to any procedural or other changes.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Macias was a finalist for the last judgeship, which was filled in June by Michael Murphy of Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Many local Democratic leaders pushed for the appointment of Macias, but Gov. Bill Richardson carefully considered criticism of the controversial politician before appointing Murphy.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s nominating commission apparently thought Macias\u2019 other experience qualifies him despite his lack of recent experience practicing law.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sedillo faced few tough questions, but others who did not make the cut were grilled by the panel.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Democrat Melissa J. Reeves was questioned about comments she made after not being recommended to the governor by last month\u2019s nominating commission. She claimed she was told the Republicans on that panel \u201chijacked the process\u201d by not sending her name to Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, because they had been told the governor intended to appoint a Hispanic woman.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That committee, like Thursday\u2019s, was made up of eight Democrats, eight Republicans and one independent. Many members of both parties were upset by Reeves\u2019 words.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She was asked about those comments twice on Thursday, and said all she intended was to point out to Democrats that \u201cthe only hostile questions I got (during last month\u2019s interview) were from Republicans on the commission.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Many of those same Republicans were on Thursday\u2019s commission, including Orlando, who asked about Reeves\u2019 conduct at a hearing last week. Orlando<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> said she was told Reeves was rude to the judge and opposing attorney in the case.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Reeves said she didn\u2019t recall making any inappropriate comments to the judge, but did recall a spat with Matthew Holt, the opposing attorney.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Holt can be very testy, and when someone acts like that, I return the favor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Las Cruces Municipal Judge James T. Locatelli, a Democrat, was subject to similar scrutiny. He and the other city judge are suing the city to try to recover more than $100,000 they spent to defend themselves against an ethics complaint filed by the city attorney\u2019s office. The judges contend the city should have paid for their defense.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Reeves, incidentally, is their attorney.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> attorney Mike Lilley, a Democrat, asked Locatelli whether he believes the lawsuit affects the public\u2019s confidence in the system.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s baggage, it\u2019s unfortunate, but it was not of my creation,\u201d Locatelli said in blaming the city attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Jacinto Palomino, a Republican, wasn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears that the municipal court system is broken,\u201d he said. \u201cHow would you avoid brining that chaos into the district court?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Locatelli disagreed that the system is broken.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI did not create this chaos, nor has it affected the functions of the court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sources tell me the governor hopes to appoint a Hispanic woman to this position. At least, that\u2019s what many Democrats with ties to the governor are pushing in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. A poll on this blog last month indicated that most believe Sedillo will be the next judge.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Whoever is appointed will also have to convince the Democratic Party he or she should be their choice to run for election in November. The Republicans could also run a candidate in that election. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some who applied for a children\u2019s court vacancy in the 3rd Judicial District had to answer tough questions during Thursday\u2019s judicial nominating commission meeting. Ultimately, the panel opted to forward the names of Fernando Macias and Bernadette Sedillo, both Democrats, to the governor. Only Republican Bill Lutz, an attorney from Las Cruces, voted against the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}