Local Judge Violates Judicial Canon

Justice of the Peace Lucila Najera appears to have YET ANOTHER issue with complying with the law, rules, and regulations as a judge. 

At issue is a campaign mailer sent out by the Najera campaign that featured the logo of the County of El Paso. 

At first pass it appears to be a blatant violation of the El Paso County Code of Ethics because Section 11.2 specifically says, “County public servants shall not utilize county equipment or supplies of any kind for political purposes.”

The county seal/logo is unambiguously county property - it was created by, belongs to, and represents the governmental authority of El Paso County. It is funded by taxpayer dollars and exists solely as an instrument of official county government. Using it on a political mailer constitutes utilizing a county resource for a political purpose, which falls squarely within this prohibition.

Texas Election Code § 255.003 independently prohibits an officer of a political subdivision from using public funds for political advertising. The county seal is county intellectual property - a public resource with monetary and reputational value.

However, Justices of the Peace are excluded from the El Paso County Code of Ethics because they are considered members of the judiciary. 

Therefore their governing rules stem from the Judicial Canons of Texas. 

Canon 2B - Lending Prestige of Judicial Office says, “A judge shall not lend the prestige of judicial office to advance the private interests of the judges or others.”

Judge Najera actually violates this in a couple of different ways. Ill get to the second one shortly - but specifically with the campaign logo, the violation appears to be very clear. The words SHALL NOT are obligatory and binding - not aspirational. Using the visual embodiment of governmental authority and the judge’s own court on a personal campaign mailer is a textbook example of lending the prestige of judicial office to advance her own private interest. The seal belongs to the people of the County, not to the judge personally. Because it also represents the institutional authority of the office, placing it on a mailer implies official government endorsement of her candidacy, which is precisely the kind of conduct Canon 2B prohibits. 

Canon 2A reinforces the argument because it indicates that a judge shall act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary. Using the official city logo for personal political benefits directly undermines public confidence. 

There is another portion of Canon 2A that creates a two-step violation. “A judge shall comply with the law and should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.” So the first part of that clause that says judges shall comply with the law, is critical here. Texas law does not authorize use of the county seal for public purposes - therefore if using it violates the law (which it does), then it is another violation of Canon 2A because use of the seal violates Texas law and that violation of the law independently violates Canon 2A. 

Circling back to Canon 2B, Najera has some weird relationship with a particular business and uses her social media to promote. As a member of the judiciary - she is ALWAYS a judge. So whether she is using an official page or her own personal page - she is still subject to the Judicial Canons. She consistently posts sales advertisements for Economy Wholesale Grocers. 

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Okay now that we got that serious stuff out of the way - can we go back to something that I have been calling out since Norma Chavez ran for office years ago and used a campaign picture she had clearly taken about 25 years before she ever ran for office and didn’t remotely look like her? 

I pointed it out earlier with Judge-elect Anchondo who used a campaign picture that clearly didn’t look like him either. 

Can we go back to that mailer for a second? Look, I totally get putting your best foot forward and wanting to make the best impression possible. 

But sometimes the photoshop, the filters, or the AI is just a little out of control. 

Case in point - here is what she looks like on the mailer and here is what she looks like in real life:

Talk about a glow-up….

I don’t fault her for wanting to look her best - 

But I can’t think of a better example of what Najera has said her tenure as JP has been, as opposed to what it really looks like:

I said what I said.