In 1997, the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) was created by the Supreme Court of New Mexico to improve the performance of judges and provide useful, credible information to voters on judges standing for retention. The JPEC was established after the New Mexico Judiciary went from a system of strict partisan elections to a “hybrid” system of one partisan election followed by retention elections. The JPEC is a taxpayer and State funded Commission created by the New Mexico Supreme Court to improve the performance of all state judges
2024 RETENTION ELECTION RECOMMENDATIONS
On September 13, 2024, the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission issued the following press release making recommendations as to what Judges should be voted to be retained in the November 5 elections:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – September 13, 2024
ALBUQUERQUE – The New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) today recommended voters retain 35 of 39 judges who are standing for retention on the 2024 General Election ballot. The other four judicial retention candidates have not served sufficient time for JPEC to make a recommendation to voters. Under state law, the judges must receive at least 57 percent approval to remain on the bench.
“We are pleased that all the judges we evaluated earned retain recommendations this year, due to mostly positive evaluations from those they interact with including other judges, lawyers, resource staff such as law enforcement and probation/parole officers, CASA volunteers, CYFD, interpreters and, in some cases, jurors. A number of judges had improved their survey scores since their previous evaluations,” said Denise Torres, chair of JPEC.
Lee Hunt, vice chair of JPEC, added, “Some judicial candidates expressed a willingness to address any weaknesses and a sincere desire to continue improving their performance during our personal interviews with them.”
This year, JPEC’s recommendations to voters statewide are:
Retain Honorable Briana H. Zamora, Supreme Court of New Mexico
Retain Honorable Jennifer L. Attrep, Megan P. Duffy and Shammara H. Henderson of the New Mexico Court of Appeals
For the District Court, JPEC’s recommendations are:
First Judicial District Court – Serving Los Alamos, Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties
Retain Honorable Bryan Paul Biedscheid, Shannon Broderick Bulman and Matthew Justin Wilson.
Second Judicial District Court – Serving Bernalillo County
Retain Honorable Denise Barela-Shepherd, Cindy Leos, Victor S. Lopez, Brett R. Loveless, Daniel E. “Dan” Ramczyk and Courtney Bryn Weaks.
Insufficient time to evaluate Honorable David Allen Murphy and Emeterio L. Rudolfo.
Third Judicial District Court – Serving Doña Ana County
Retain Honorable Richard M. Jacquez, James T. Martin and Conrad F. Perea.
Fourth Judicial District Court – Serving Guadalupe, Mora and San Miguel counties
Retain Honorable Floripa “Flora” Gallegos.
Fifth Judicial District Court – Serving Chaves, Eddy and Lea counties
Retain Honorable James M. “Jim” Hudson and Lisa B. Riley.
Insufficient time to evaluate Honorable Ann Marie Cherokee Lewis.
Sixth Judicial District Court – Serving Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties
Retain Honorable James B. “Jim” Foy.
Seventh Judicial District Court – Serving Catron, Sierra, Socorro and Torrance counties
Retain Honorable Shannon L. Murdock-Poff.
Eighth Judicial District Court – Serving Colfax, Taos and Union counties
Retain Honorable Jeffrey B. “Jeff” Shannon.
Ninth Judicial District Court – Serving Curry and Roosevelt counties
Retain Honorable Fred Travis Van Soelen.
Eleventh Judicial District Court – Serving McKinley and San Juan counties
Retain Honorable Sarah V. Weaver.
Twelfth Judicial District Court – Serving Lincoln and Otero counties
Retain Honorable Daniel A. “Dan” Bryant.
Thirteenth Judicial District Court – Serving Cibola, Sandoval and Valencia counties
Retain Honorable Cindy M. Mercer and Allen R. Smith.
Insufficient time to evaluate Honorable Allison P. Martinez.
For the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, JPEC’s recommendations are:
Retain Honorable Felicia Blea-Rivera, Rosemary Cosgrove-Aguilar, Michelle Castillo Dowler, Asra I. Elliott, Yvette K. Gonzales, Nina Aviva Safier and Renée Torres.
Judges are evaluated on their overall performance in four main areas: 1) legal ability; 2) fairness; 3) communication skills; and 4) preparation, attentiveness, temperament and control over proceedings.
JPEC also reviews statistics from the Administrative Office of the Courts for each judge including caseloads, excusals (reasons a judge is excused from hearing a case) and the time it takes to get cases resolved.
In addition, JPEC meets one-on-one with each judge being evaluated to review the survey results as well as his or her self-assessment of performance.
JPEC has posted evaluations in English and Spanish on its website, www.nmjpec.org. Individuals may download voter’s guides for their judicial district or call 1-800-687-3417 to request information by mail. In addition, JPEC will inform voters about its evaluations through advertising and social media.
“We encourage each individual to vote in all elections for which they are eligible – including the judicial retention elections. These elections are near the end of the ballot, so please take the time to go all the way through the ballot. Your vote does matter,” Torres concluded.
JPEC has 15 volunteer members, including seven lawyers and eight non-lawyers who are appointed to staggered terms. Members are appointed to represent diverse professions, backgrounds and geographical areas of the state.”
The link to the press release is here:
https://nmjpec.org/en/news/122-2024-nmjpec-news-091324
ABOUT THE JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION COMMISSION
The Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) is a nonpartisan volunteer commission. The JPEC is made of up 15 individuals, 7 lawyers and 8 non-lawyers, who are appointed to staggered terms by the Supreme Court of New Mexico and who are from all over the State of New Mexico. Commission members are selected from nominations by the Governor, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore, House Minority Leader, Senate Minority Leader and President of the State Bar.
Members are appointed to represent divergent professions, backgrounds and geographical areas of the state. Members go through an approval process and agree to donate a significant amount of time to evaluate judges midway through their terms in office as well as when they are standing for retention.
https://nmjpec.org/en/staff/jpec-commissioners
PARTISAN ELECTIONS FOLLOWED BY RETENTION ELECTIONS
New Mexico Court Judges at all levels are initially elected in partisan elections to full terms and then after serving the term, they must go before voters thereafter for retention to serve another term. Every election cycle where Judges appear on the ballot, the JPEC evaluates judges by sending out a confidential survey to all licensed attorneys who grade the Judges. The Commission then rates the judges and recommends to voters who they should retain.
Once a judge is appointed or is elected first in a partisan race by 50% plus one of the vote, that judge faces a retention vote for subsequent terms and must garner 57% of the vote to be retained. Any Judge who does not secure a “YES” vote from 57% of those voting on their retention are removed from office and the Governor then appoints a judge to fill the vacancy.
To perform the evaluations, the JPEC distributes confidential surveys to licensed attorneys, court jurors and others who interact with the court. The commission also interviews the judges, reviews statistics from the Administrative Office of the Courts and sends observers into the courtroom. New Mexico judges who are up for retention must receive approval from 57% of voters to keep their seat on the bench and not the 50% plus one required in contested partisan.
The JPEC posts all their results and recommendations to vote “YES” to retain or vote “NO” to retain on its web site. Historically, judges who JPEC recommends not be retained receive about 12% fewer votes than judges who are recommended for retention.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
It is believed that this is the first time in a very long time, and it may be the very first time, that the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) has recommended retention of all judges for election. In the past there have been a number of controversial “do not retain” judge recommendations and those judges have gone on to be voted out of office. Past “do not retain” recommendations have included removal of a long term Metro Court Presiding Judge and another Judge with decades of trial experience and the commanding officer to the New Mexico National Guard. The JPEC has sent out mailers advertising what judges should and should not be retained using taxpayer funding appropriated to the commission.
All State of New Mexico Judges are strictly prohibited by the Code of Judicial Conduct from holding any elected or appointed positions in political parties. All State Judges are strictly prohibited from endorsing any candidate for office and cannot solicit donations for elections.
Candidates running for Judge must have a confidential finance committee set up to raise money for them, the committee is prevented from disclosing to the judicial candidate names of donors to prevent the Judges from knowing who donated to their campaigns to avoid the appearance and accusation of giving preferential treatment in decisions rendered.
A Judge is also prevented by the Code of Judicial Conduct from making “extrajudicial comments” to the media or groups that may reflect on their fairness and impartiality. Judges are prohibited from defending their decisions and sentencings and their job performance in a public forum outside of their courtrooms so criticizing judges is like “shooting fish” in a barrel.
The JPEC recommendations do have a definite impact on any Judge’s chances for retention. Once the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission issues its ratings, there is virtually very little or no recourse for any Judge to dispute the no retention recommendation given to them by the JPEC. The JPEC does not give “equal time” on their web page to the Judges who are recommended not to be retained as would be the case at a debate on an incumbent candidate’s job performance.
The JPEC is suppose “to provide useful, credible information to voters on judges standing for retention”, yet there is nothing in great detail on its web page. It is doubtful that confidential surveys and interviews from those who may have a personal axe to grind against any judge are much of a use to give a complete and accurate picture of any judge’s job performance every day they are on the bench.
The JPEC wants voters to accept as gospel without challenge the recommendations they make on retention. JPEC goes so far as to boast when it releases its evaluation results that it will inform voters about its evaluations through advertising and social media. It is essentially campaigning on behalf of or in opposition to Judges. It is totally inappropriate for a government agency, funded with taxpayer money, to be telling people how to vote.
Elected officials working in other branches of government aren’t subjected to similar evaluations and that is what political elections are all about. There has to be a better way for JPEC to seek removal of Judges for poor job performance than to go to voters with recommendation and removal should be done by the Supreme Court.
If there is indeed a problem with the job performance of any judge that would justify removal, the appropriate remedy would be an investigation by the Judicial Standards Commission and result in the Judge’s removal by the New Mexico Supreme Court.
The JPEC is a threat to the independence of the Judiciary and the New Mexico Supreme Court should abolish it. The New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission is nothing more than a “political hit squad” that uses taxpayer money to actively campaign for or against Judges.