Putting character at forefront

Magistrates say charter amendment requiring law degrees for city judges would exclude quality candidates

Jason Auslander | The New Mexican

2/27/2008 - 2/28/08

Santa Fe County's magistrates are actively campaigning against a charter amendment on next week's municipal election ballot that would require the city's judge to be a lawyer.

"We really urge the public to vote 'no' on Amendment Seven," Magistrate George Anaya said Wednesday morning on a radio talk show hosted by Municipal Court prosecutor Art Michael. "We don't need judges to be lawyers."

Anaya, like the county's three other magistrates, is not a lawyer. He appeared on Que Suave AM-810 with Magistrate David Segura, who said the lobbying effort was prompted by a comment from Michael in a story about Santa Fe Municipal Court and Judge Ann Yalman in Sunday's New Mexican. In the story, Michael said he supported the city charter amendment and added he believed magistrates should be attorneys, too.

Segura said he'd heard Michael last week say the opposite on his radio show, so he called Monday to urge Michael to support one position or another. That exchange led to the judges' appearance Wednesday on the radio, Segura said.

Both Segura and Anaya said the charter amendment — which would not affect their jobs — is unnecessary because voters already can elect a lawyer as municipal judge — provided a lawyer runs — if they choose.

"As it is now, you have that option," Segura said.

Conversely, both judges said the new law would exclude numerous people like them with backgrounds that jibe well with the responsibilities of a Magistrate Court judge.

"Let's say I want to run for (municipal judge)," Anaya said. "I wouldn't be able to ... and I have 16 years on the bench. (Citizens) will lose someone with a common sense approach. Attorneys tend to just see black and white. To them, there is no gray area."

Segura said a good magistrate is someone dedicated to the community, with good intentions, a "significant background" and a desire to learn the law.

"Do you want to throw the baby out with the bathwater?" Segura asked. "You will eliminate a whole class of people with values, character and ethics. A law degree does not guarantee any of those things."

Segura and Anaya also said a majority of the complaints filed on a yearly basis with the state Judicial Standards Commission are against District Court judges, who are required to be lawyers. The most recent statistics from the commission indicate that 42 of the 109 complaints filed in 2007 were in relation to Magistrate or Municipal Court judges, according to the commission's 2007 report.

However, of the 18 complaints filed in 2007 by the commission in the state Supreme Court against judges deemed to have committed misdeeds, 12 were against Magistrate or Municipal Court judges and six were against District Court judges, the report says. Also, since 1968, 82 percent of the petitions filed by the commission in the Supreme Court have been against Magistrate or Municipal Court judges, according to the report.

Of the four magistrates, only Judge Richard "Buzzy" Padilla has a bachelor's degree, which he earned from the College of Santa Fe. Padilla also has attended the National Judicial College in Reno, Nev., and did postgraduate studies at The University of New Mexico and court-related studies at the University of Texas School of Law.

Anaya graduated from Santa Fe High School, attended the National Judicial College in 1991 and attended a paralegal certification course at UNM in 1997. Miera also graduated from Santa Fe High School, took courses at Santa Fe Community College in 1992-93 and served as District Judge Daniel Sanchez's administrative assistant for seven years. Segura attended New Mexico State University in 1976-77, the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command in 1993 and UNM's Anderson School of Management.

All four judges signed a letter to the editor Wednesday indicating their unanimous opposition to the charter amendment.

Yalman earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and a law degree from New York University. She practiced law in Santa Fe for 29 years while also serving as county probate judge and a part-time federal magistrate judge.

Both Magistrate Courts and Municipal Courts are known as courts of limited jurisdiction. In the case of Magistrate Courts, that means judges hear misdemeanors, including traffic, drunken driving, domestic violence and civil cases under $10,000. Municipal Courts hear petty misdemeanors as well as misdemeanor drunken driving cases and traffic and parking tickets.

Segura and Anaya said they aren't lobbying against the proposed charter amendment because they're worried about their jobs.

"We have a strong lobby at the Legislature," Anaya said. "I just believe in the court system as it is, and I don't feel the need to change it."

Both men said they believe the proposed charter amendment likely came about because of significant mistakes made by former Municipal Court Judge Frances Gallegos.

"The city Charter Commission ... used and probably misused the experience of the previous judge," Segura said. "There were some errors in due process made in Judge Gallegos' court."

Anaya said he "absolutely" thinks the commission overreacted to Gallegos' more than decadelong tenure.

"I think the commission blew this out of proportion," Anaya said. "It's a shame. It really is a shame."

But Jim Harrington, chairman of the charter review commission, said Wednesday that wasn't the case. "We didn't discuss Judge Gallegos at all," Harrington said.

He said commission members — who were initially split on whether the municipal judge should be a lawyer — looked at statistics cited in a series of New York Times articles and listened to a presentation by Judicial Standards Commission Director Jim Noel before making up their minds. In the end, the statistics showed "the chances of a very serious error are much greater if a judge is not a lawyer," he said.

That is not say that nonlawyers can't make good judges, Harrington said.

Anaya said he plans to possibly run advertisements and get the word out against the charter amendment before Tuesday's election. He said he didn't start lobbying before Wednesday because he wanted to clear the effort with the Advisory Committee on the Code of Judicial Conduct first.

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