In a faltering economy, even lawyers are out looking for jobs.
The city of Española has received six applications for its vacant city attorney position, and will continue advertising the job for another week, Human Resources Director Jeanie Brito said.
In the meantime, Santa Fe attorney Paula Maynes is filling in as often as her schedule allows. The city has contracted with three more attorneys — Mike Jones, Catherine Goldberg and Richard Minzner — to handle prosecutions in municipal court and ongoing civil claims against the city.
The full-time job, worth $85,000 per year, officially became vacant late last month when former city attorney Spence Pacheco began the transition to her elected position as district attorney of the First Judicial District, which covers Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties. Pacheco won a three-way Democratic primary in June and then coasted to victory unopposed in November.
The following lawyers have submitted applications for Pacheco’s job:
• Rudy Martin, Dixon. Martin has a private law practice in Española and ran in this year’s Democratic primary for the Northern New Mexico congressional seat. He served a brief stint as assistant city attorney in Albuquerque in 1988, and has litigated both sides of civil rights suits against law enforcement, according to his resume.
• Ira Robinson, Santa Fe. After eight years as a judge on the state Appeals Court, Robinson agreed to retire in September and never again seek judicial office in New Mexico, court documents state. At the time he was under investigation by the state Judicial Standards Commission, which investigates judicial misconduct. Robinson refused to comment, and his lawyer in the matter said all Commission proceedings are bound by confidentiality orders.
Robinson had previously served as an assistant district attorney and district attorney in Bernalillo County, in addition to two years as a probate judge, his resume states.
• Dennis Manzanares, Santa Fe. According to his resume, Manzanares has served as a town attorney and county attorney in Taos.
• Anne Lovely, Santa Fe. Lovely has held a series of government posts in Santa Fe since 2001 — assistant county attorney, acting city attorney (for five months) and assistant city attorney, her resume states. She also served as a lawyer for the state Highway Department for nearly a decade.
• Tomas Tapia, Albuquerque. According to his application, Tapia worked for the New Mexico Association of Counties for over four years and has represented Union, Guadalupe and Mora counties. He also lists Taos town attorney on his resume.
• AJ Salazar, Alcalde. Salazar, an assistant district attorney, runs the state prosecutor’s office in Española. He ran for district attorney in the June Democratic primary and lost to Pacheco. She has indicated Salazar and several other prosecutors currently working in the district attorney’s office will be fired if they don’t resign by Jan. 1.
The New Mexico State Bar confirmed that all six candidates are active Bar members. According to the state Disciplinary Board, the only applicant with a publicly available disciplinary record is Martin, who had his license suspended in 1999 for a minimum of one year.
Martin had unintentionally mishandled client funds and failed to keep proper financial records, court documents state. He claimed that chronic fatigue syndrome had contributed to his misconduct.
Martin said he went through treatment and the condition hasn’t been an issue for the last six years.
“If they want to penalize me for that, and play the politics from that perspective, I could care less,” Martin said. “The bottom line is I think I can do a hell of a good job for the city of Española.”
His legal license was reinstated in 2004.