Today at 10:00 am Democrats servicing on the Bernalillo County Central Committee met and placed two judicial candidates on the ballot this fall for the Metro Court here in Albuquerque. Yvette Gonzales and Christina P. Argyres are the new appointees.Judicial candidates must run a contested race in order to win a four year term on the bench in the metro court system.
Individuals go through a bipartisan selection committee and are then appointed by the governor until they run in a contested race after which once they win they are then required to run for retention.
Voters must look carefully at each candidate to see that they will approach the bench with an open mind taking in to consideration only the evidences presented by both the prosecutor and the defense attorney.
In the recent past we have had to remove one judge from the metro court because of her lack of ability to have an open mind and to hand out balanced justice.
Our two new appointed judges will both be hearing criminal cases which include both domestic violence and DWI, just the first three convictions, cases which are both on the record cases. They will be spending a great deal of their time reviewing the files before hearing evidences in these cases.
Judges are not allowed to speak out on issues because they are required to maintain a open mind on all issues but they are allowed to answer questions on education, law practice, family and community contracts which can show a lot about their character and the quality of their judgment when it comes to how they approach issues before them.
I look forward to interviewing these candidates in the future to find out how they approach life’s little roadblocks.
Yvette Gonzales is a mother, wife and a native New Mexican with deep roots in the community. She has already taken to the bench and is devoted to reviewing each of her cases carefully and completely before hearing the evidences. Yvette is a graduate from owe own New Mexico UNM School of Law and is a member of the Hispanic Bar Association.
Christina Argyres has had her own attorney business and has worked for the prosecutor’s office as a contract attorney. She received her law degree from Ohio Northern School of Law.
