Socorro Mayor Refuses to Sign Judge's Contract

Socorro Mayor Elia Garcia is apparently still fuming about the fact that the Municipal Judge in Socorro did what any decent judge worth a damn would have done - kicked a case that was full of conflict out of her court.

Really I think she's still mad that she's not the municipal judge herself anymore. If you recall, she was aiming to triple her tax-payer funded salary in the City with a Mission.

Anywho, Garcia and her partner on council Ralph Duran were trying to run a movida to get rid of the Judge that Socorro hired over Garcia. They failed and what appears to be a retaliatory move, Mayor Garcia has apparently refused to sign the contract for Judge Velarde.

She also appears to have been delaying the process which ultimately has lead to an expense to tax payers. They now have to contract with Justice of the Peace Lujan to hear cases that Judge Velarde can't or hasn't because there has been a judicial limbo due to the delay.

To bring you back up to speed, Mayor Garcia is an attorney. She's representing a constituent from Socorro, in a case involving the police department of the City of Socorro and wanted the case heard in a Socorro court.

She also apparently wants to be the JP when Judge Lujan decides to retire.

Its the most elemental example of a conflicted case. Its comical that she ever took the case in the first place and the legal community has been joking about it since they realized that it was a real scenario and not the start to a joke.

Garcia allegedly has issue with a particular term of the contract for Judge Velarde. That is the reason she's been giving for refusing to sign the contract. Problem is the identical provision is in the city attorney's contract and guess what?

Mayor Garcia signed that one.

So the only reason for not signing the contract has to be retaliatory.

People had a lot of hope for this mayor. They thought having an attorney for a mayor would've been an improvement. There's a lot of disappointment in Socorro right now.