{"id":505,"date":"2006-08-25T00:09:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-25T06:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/08\/macias-looking-forward-to-a-great-challenge\/"},"modified":"2006-08-25T00:09:00","modified_gmt":"2006-08-25T06:09:00","slug":"macias-looking-forward-to-a-great-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/08\/macias-looking-forward-to-a-great-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Macias looking forward to ‘a great challenge’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Fernando Macias says \u201ca tremendous outpouring of support for the candidacy\u201d helped convince Gov. Bill Richardson to appoint him a district judge. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA strong base of support statewide\u2026 lent credibility to my application,\u201d the former state senator said.<\/p>\n

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

In appointing Macias to the children\u2019s court, Richardson<\/st1:city> opted for the politically risky choice, but, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> supporters tell me, he believed Macias would make a better judge.<\/p>\n

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

Bernadette Sedillo was the politically safer candidate and had many supporters in this community. Many others didn\u2019t support her simply because they weren\u2019t impressed by her experience and interviews.<\/p>\n

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

Macias comes with baggage, about which I\u2019ve written extensively on this site, and he isn\u2019t hiding from it, noting that he has been an elected official for 18 years.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cNobody who has ever been in high-level positions has ever made everybody happy,\u201d Macias said. \u201cThere\u2019s always controversy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

However, Macias said, people need to look past the fact that he hasn\u2019t practiced law in about a decade and realize that he has gained experience that will help him provide leadership on the children\u2019s court \u201cnot only inside but outside the courtroom.\u201d Macias said he plans to focus on community programs to combat juvenile delinquency in addition to dealing with delinquent teens who come before him in court.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m real excited by the possibilities. I think this is a great challenge,\u201d Macias said.<\/p>\n

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

He said he also realizes the governor expects him to adjust quickly to being back in court.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cFernando Macias has a long-standing record in public service to the State of New Mexico<\/st1:state> and Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename>,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said in a news release. \u201cAs a children\u2019s court judge, he will be entrusted to tackle difficult cases like child abuse and neglect, and juvenile delinquency.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Macias does not yet know when he\u2019ll start, but he will resign his position as state director of New Mexico Legal Aid.<\/p>\n

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

Macias said he hopes to serve on the board of that organization.<\/p>\n

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

Assuming the Democratic Party puts Macias on the ballot for the Nov. 7 General Election, he\u2019ll face Republican Rita Nu\u00f1ez-Neumann, but with the advantage of incumbency.<\/p>\n

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

The Democrats have until Sept. 12 to name their candidate for the race. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fernando Macias says \u201ca tremendous outpouring of support for the candidacy\u201d helped convince Gov. Bill Richardson to appoint him a district judge. \u201cA strong base of support statewide\u2026 lent credibility to my application,\u201d the former state senator said. In appointing Macias to the children\u2019s court, Richardson opted for the politically risky choice, but, Richardson supporters […]<\/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-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505","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=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}