When former Santa Fe Municipal Judge Frances Gallegos was cleared of felony records tampering charges in July 2006, she uttered a quote for the city's history books: "I'm incompetent, but I'm not a crook," said Gallegos, who had resigned from the bench months earlier when the charges were first filed.

As it turns out, the quote also reverberated with fellow nonlawyer, Santa Fe County Magistrate George Anaya Jr. "I've been a judge for 16 years," Anaya said Tuesday night. "I've never been disciplined, and I take offense when a judge does the things (Gallegos) did for so long. It's why you have the results you have here."

The result he was talking about was the outcome of a municipal charter amendment that requires Santa Fe's judge to be a lawyer — which was passed by city voters Tuesday by about 70 percent to 30 percent. Anaya, his fellow magistrates and other area politicians belatedly attempted to drum up opposition to the amendment during the last week by placing ads in local media urging voters to "preserve the people's court" and vote against the amendment.

On Tuesday, Anaya again reiterated his argument that judges without law degrees bring a "common sense approach" to courts of limited jurisdiction — like municipal and magistrate courts, which handle misdemeanors, traffic tickets and petty crimes. He also said nonlawyer judges with the proper training can effectively adjudicate everything from traffic tickets to more complex drunken driving law.

"But this whole thing wasn't about the complexity of DWI," Anaya said. "It was a knee-jerk reaction to the antics of the former judge (Gallegos). I lay it all on her lap."

The head of the city's charter review commission has said commission members didn't discuss Gallegos during deliberations about the amendment that passed Tuesday.

Interestingly, during the same hearing where Gallegos spoke her now notorious words, the judge who dismissed the records tampering charges against her for lack of evidence discussed Santa Fe's "people's court" tradition.

"Maybe it's time we all accept the fact that the fantasy of a people's court may be just that — a fantasy," District Judge Michael Vigil said at the time. "The system has become so complicated that people need formal legal training."

As it happened, the woman appointed 14 months ago to serve out the rest of Gallegos' third term on the bench has formal legal training. Judge Ann Yalman, who practiced law in Santa Fe for 29 years while also serving as county probate judge and part-time federal magistrate, was elected to her first term Tuesday after running unopposed.

"My parents voted for me so I knew I'd win," said Yalman, who watched some of the election returns Tuesday night at City Hall. Yalman said she didn't want to comment on the municipal judge charter amendment. "Someone gave me advice not to get involved, and it turned out to be very good advice," Yalman said. "I'm sticking with it."

As for the next four years at Municipal Court, Yalman — who went to the emergency room Monday after feeling faint but proclaimed herself fit and ready for duty Tuesday — gestured toward her court administrator, Arlene Sisneros, sitting next to her, and said she was looking forward to it.

"We've been meeting all day (making plans)," she said. "We're ready."

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.