Two of four candidates will try again for post

Appointee will go up against 3 other Dems

Of the four candidates vying for a judgeship that will primarily oversee civil cases in Santa Fe District Court, two have previously tried to get the job when a sitting judge retired last year. Now, voters decide who will serve on the bench going forward.

Former Santa Fe County Attorney Gregory Shaffer was recommended by the 1st Judicial District Judicial Nominating Commission and later appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez after Sarah Singleton announced her retirement in August. He is running against three challengers in next week’s Democratic primary, two of whom also applied for the seat when Sarah Singleton retired.

Under New Mexico’s judicial selection process, an appointee like Shaffer is

required to run in the next election.

There is no Republican in the race. The Democratic candidates are:

■ Donna Bevacqua-Young, 49, who says she has presided over thousands of civil and criminal cases as a Santa Fe Magistrate Court judge. She was appointed to her seat in 2013 and won the election to keep it in 2014.

Bevacqua-Young started working for the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office in 1999 and worked as a Traffic Safety Resource Officer, where she helped train police officers and prosecutors on how to prosecute DWIs, from 2005 to 2013. She is the only candidate in this race who didn’t try to immediately replace Singleton last year.

Although she doesn’t know quite how she would do it, Bevacqua-Young said she wants to make civil litigation more accessible to those who don’t have a lot of disposable income.

“One of the complaints I get from pro se people (representing themselves) is that there aren’t enough resources available,” Bevacqua-Young said. “Right now, it’s too much of a burden to bring cases on their own because they have to have attorneys. We have to make sure the system is available for everyone.”

Maria Sanchez-Gagne, ■ who says the 1st Judicial District Court needs more diversity and notes that there is only one Hispanic and only two female judges.

“I think it’s really important that we have persons that reflect the face in our community,” Sanchez-Gagne said. “Our community is multi-cultural and we should have the same kinds of persons who are qualified representing our community.”

Sanchez-Gagne is currently a hearing officer for the Office of the State Engineer, which she says is similar to being a judge. It has also given her experience in civil issues, she says. She ran for Santa Fe district attorney in 2016, but lost in the Democratic primary to Marco Serna. She started her law career as an assistant district attorney in Santa Fe in 1996 and worked as an assistant attorney general from 2000 to 2015.

Sanchez-Gagne got $2,500 donations from local attorney Justin Kaufman and from an attorney from Houston, Texas, according to her campaign finance reports.

Jerry Archuleta, 48,

■ a former Santa Fe Police Department officer who now runs his own law firm.

Archuleta says he has tried well over 100 cases as a private attorney and has served as a mediator in several civil cases, which he says gives him more courtroom experience than the incumbent Shaffer.

His service at the SFPD ended in controversy. He was demoted from lieutenant to sergeant in 2000 for the way he initially handled the disappearance of 7-yearold Robbie Romero, who was never found, and was fired from the department in 2002.

During a recent phone interview, he simply said “No” when asked if he would have done anything differently on the Robbie Romero case.

The city of Santa Fe also paid a settlement after an 18-year-old woman

accused Archuleta of stalking her after he pulled her over for a traffic stop in March 1999. Archuleta told the Journal that the woman filed the complaint against him because police had arrested her father for pointing a shotgun at officers during a domestic violence callout. The man pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer in November 1999.

Most recently, Archuleta and his wife filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2013 for outstanding consumer debts, but the case was closed in October 2013. Archuleta said he filed for bankruptcy because he couldn’t work due to a bad car accident that damaged his hips. He said his latest surgery was in October, but now says he’s back on his feet.

“I couldn’t work at all,” Archuleta said. “I went from surgery to surgery to surgery. I live with pain, but I’ve learned to manage it much better. After I was able to heal up, I’ve done very well.”

■ The current seatholder, Shaffer, was general counsel at the state Department of Finance and Administration and Deputy Chief Counsel at the state Taxation and Revenue Department before becoming Santa Fe County’s top attorney.

He said a background in various kinds of civil law makes him the most qualified candidate. “That’s what I’ve been doing for 20-plus years as an attorney,” Shaffer said. “The nature of the caseload fits well with my background.”

Santa Fe attorneys Eric Sommer and Kurt Sommer each gave Shaffer $1,000, while their law firm, Sommer, Udall, Hardwick & Jones, gave another $500, according to campaign finance reports.