Open and Transparent Court System Administration

Local District Court Judge Ted Baca is facing some very difficult press as of late for spending large sums of money on travel at a time when court staff has had to take time off without pay in order to balance a tight budget. Judge Baca has never been known as a person who does open transparent government very well. His lack of open processes for the district court has made some wonder just what he was up to over the past year.

Now a conservative news station is reporting that he spent large sums of money on travel and even spent $100,000 on a study which at this point the court system simply does not have the money to implement. This calls into question his common sense judgment when it comes to how the overworked court system is being run. Judges are being worked to death with heavy case loads and yet he spent the amount of a judge’s annual salary on a study that may never be used? Staff are taking days off without pay which cuts services to the public and he is jet setting around the country at a time when the courts budget has been cut to the bone?

How are local legislators ever going to be able to justify giving the court more funding in the future when the person responsible for allocating that money does not have a real clear understanding of how to use it to benefit the voters of Bernalillo County?

Our local court system has some of the best most honest hardworking judges in the state and they work long hard days on a regular base just to see that justice is done in this county and they should have leadership that puts the voters and court employees before self interest.

The voters deserve a Chief Judge that knows how to do business in an open and transparent manner and one that uses public taxpayer’s dollars in a way that best benefits public safety and achieves the most efficient use of court resources while maximizing a very skilled set of employees in the interest of fair and balanced justice for the county.