The Grant County Beat learned recently that the New Mexico Judicial Standards Commission, at its next meeting on October 8, will be considering two “Complaint Against A Judge” filings concerning  Judges J.C. Robinson and Henry R. Quintero of the Sixth Judicial District Court in Silver City.

The formal complaints were submitted July 18 by Peter Burrows of Silver City, and request the Commission investigate “the appearance of impropriety” in the hiring of Judge Robinson's daughter-in-law as Special Master, a contract position paying $67,000 per year.

The Beat also learned that a letter signed by the chairs of the Grant County Democratic, Republican, and T.E.A. parties was sent to New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Petra Jimenez Maes requesting her attention on “what appears to be a brazen case of nepotism.”  The Judicial Standards Commission reports the results of their investigations to the New Mexico Supreme Court, which takes further action, if any.

Mary Hotvedt, Grant County Democratic Party Chairwoman, said the letter was an example of citizens, despite different  political affiliations, coming together as citizens concerned with good government.  Hotvedt added: "We are, in the Democratic Party, committed to the cleanest form of government. We trust the Commission will determine the correct outcome."

Burrows, a retired financial analyst, moved to Silver City from Wisconsin seven years ago and was Chairman of The Grant County/Silver City TEA Party Patriots last year.  

“As Chairman of the TEA Party, I made an effort to get to know people from across the political spectrum here in Grant County, both to counter the image that some try to project of the TEA Party, and to let folks know that we can all cooperate on common themes of good government. I think this nepotism issue is a perfect example of that.”

Burrows said the nepotism issue was brought to his attention by a local attorney, who suggested Burrows file a public records request to get copies of the resumes submitted for the position of Special Master.  “It was very apparent to me that Mrs. Robinson was the least qualified of the four applicants. She only has eight years experience versus over 30 for each of the other applicants.

“Regardless, as I wrote in a letter to the editor of The Beat, she could have been a retired Supreme Court Justice of the United States and she still should not have been considered for the position for the simple reason she’s the daughter-in-law of Judge Robinson, and both nepotism, and even the appearance of impropriety, are specifically cited as no-no’s in the New Mexico Code of Judicial Conduct.

“I’m told Judge Robinson recused himself from the hiring decision and she was hired by Judge Quintero. Sorry, no cigar. Even if Quintero and Robinson hadn’t been partners in private practice before they become judges,  Quintero should have had the sense to  see this hire was wrong. That’s why I submitted complaints against both judges,” Burrows said.

Burrows contacted four television stations, two newspapers and two state-wide bloggers about the apparent nepotism, and received only one brief acknowledgement from one of the bloggers, Joe Monahan of New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan.

“Joe was in town recently and I got a chance to meet him and bring him up to date on this nepotism flap. Joe‘s a nice guy and was very sympathetic, but I got the distinct impression he had bigger fish to fry this year, with the elections and all.  That may explain the lack of interest from everybody else I contacted.”

Complaints about judicial misconduct are filed with the Judicial Standards Commission, the only agency with the responsibility to investigate the complaints and make recommendations to the New Mexico Supreme Court. Detailed information is available from their website: www.nmjsc.org.

“In my complaint,” Burrows said, “I had three exhibits. One was The Request for Proposal the Court placed in the paper, a fancy way of saying an ad for interested lawyers to apply for the position, in which experience as a trial attorney was emphasized; two, The Legal Notice in the Silver City Daily Press on July 12, 2012, describing the hiring of the Judge’s daughter-in-law, which in my non-legal opinion is very, very damning; and three, copies of the resumes submitted.

“I think the facts speak for themselves, but I’ve been told not to expect anything. The level of cynicism here in New Mexico is profound, or maybe this kind of thing is just ho-hum in New Mexico. I tell friends around the country that while we love it here, in some ways New Mexico is like a Banana Republic without any bananas.”

Individuals or organizations wishing to file on this situation need to have their submissions in to the Judicial Standards Commission three weeks before hearings are held.  No emails, all hard copy, and signatures must be notarized. See the above website for details or call (505) 222-9353