Civil Discourse / Candidate Roundtable – Judges & Assessor

On May 20, 2014, a roundtable with candidates for the offices of Grant County Magistrate Judge, Probate Judge, and Assessor in the June 3 primary election was moderated by Civil Discourse host Jamie Newton on Gila/Mimbres Community Radio, joined by panelist Nick Seibel, Publisher and General Manager of the Silver City Daily Press.

Guests in the first hour were all three candidates for Magistrate Judge – Hector Grijalva and Lonnie Sandoval, competing for the Democratic nomination for Magistrate Judge in District 1, and Maurine Laney, unopposed for the Democratic nomination for re-election as Magistrate Judge in District 2 – and Velia Miranda, unopposed for the Democratic nomination for re-election as Probate Judge.

Guests in the second hour were all three candidates for Assessor – Raul Turrieta and Mary Guthrie, competing for the Democratic nomination, and Lucy Whitmarsh, unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Between opening and closing statements by all candidates in each of the two hours, questions were put to the candidates by host Jamie Newton and panelist Nick Seibel. Many of these questions were submitted by members of the community to civildiscourse@gmcr.org in response to an invitation from Civil Discourse host Jamie Newton, in response to a notice published in the Silver City Daily Press, and distributed broadly through email networks including GMCR’s.  Candidates were asked to explain the roles and responsibilities of the offices they seek, and to respond to issues of policies and procedures of importance to our citizens.

Absentee voting in the primary election has been scheduled for May 6-30, 2014. Early voting in person may be done 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, May 17-31. A list of certified Grant County candidates may be found at the website of the New Mexico Secretary of State.  Some election information is available on the Grant County Clerk’s web page however, as of May 21, 2014, links to such important documents as sample ballots did not function, returning only an error message. Civil Discourse host Jamie Newton has drawn the attention of Grant County Clerk Robert Zamarripa to this website failure, hoping that it can be corrected well before the June 3 election.)

This installment of Civil Discourse was broadcast live on Tuesday 20 May 2014 and rebrodcasts will continue through election day. Check back for additional times.

The podcasts are available at the links below.
Use the following link for the 1st hour of the program with the Judge candidates…
Civil Discourse / Candidate Roundtable – Magistrate and Probate Judges

or this link to hear the 2nd hour with the Assessor candidates…
Civil Discourse / Candidate Roundtable – Grant County Assessor