(C) El Paso Matters.org
This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Sanchez, Saldivar battle for Democratic county attorney nomination [1]
['Robert Moore', 'More Robert Moore', 'El Paso Matters']
Date: 2024-02-06
For just the third time in 32 years, El Paso voters will elect a new county attorney in 2024.
Incumbent County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal, who was appointed to the position in 2009 and elected without opposition every four years starting in 2012, chose not to seek re-election. Her predecessor, José Rodríguez, was first elected in 1992 and served 17 years before resigning for a successful run for state Senate.
Two Democrats, Assistant County Attorney Christina Sanchez and private attorney Sergio Saldivar, are seeking their party’s nomination in the March 5 primary. Because no Republicans or third-party candidates are seeking the office, the winner of the Democratic primary will take the job on Jan. 1, 2025.
The County Attorney’s Office provides an array of services – the legal representative for the county; prosecution of juvenile criminal cases; enforcement of county and state environmental and health laws; and civil services for victims of family violence and elder abuse. The county attorney, the elected head of the office, is currently paid $226,534 a year.
Sanchez, 45, who currently is taking a leave of absence from the County Attorney’s Office, has worked there for 15 years. She also serves as a member of the El Paso Community College Board of Trustees.
Saldivar, 56, has been an attorney in private practice for 20 years, including the past 10 in El Paso. He was an inspector for the U.S. Customs Service from 1991-99 before deciding to go to law school.
Although Saldivar has not worked in the County Attorney’s Office, he has represented clients who were challenging protective orders being sought by the office in family violence cases.
Saldivar also agreed to a protective order against himself in 2019 that was sought by the County Attorney’s Office on behalf of his roommate, who accused him of stalking and family violence. Saldivar denied the allegations when questioned by El Paso Matters, and the protective order expired in 2021.
Why they’re running
Sanchez and Saldivar expressed different motivations for seeking the office.
Sanchez said she wants to build on what she called the history of strong leadership and public service built by Rodríguez and Bernal.
“We are providing the legal services to our county commissioners, who are our governing body and each of those departments that they oversee and other elected offices to include the sheriff’s office, to include constables, to include our (Juvenile Probation Department). And so you need to have an individual and a person that has that historical perspective and that knowledge,” she said.
Saldivar said he thinks the County Attorney’s Office should be more visible and should explore taking on new functions, such as prosecution of misdemeanor offenses, which are currently handled by the District Attorney’s Office.
“I think that office has more authority and should be a little bit more visible,” he said. “They are quiet. I mean, you see that they, I guess, shut down massage parlors when you hear about it. But other than that, what do you hear?”
Immigration enforcement
In recent years, El Paso County has filed lawsuits against the state challenging policies around elections and COVID-19 safety measures. Earlier this year, the county filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 4, which would allow local law enforcement to make arrests for immigration violations. The County Attorney’s Office represents the county government in such lawsuits.
Christina Sanchez
Saldivar said he opposes SB 4, but said he believes local governments on the border should be doing more to reduce undocumented migration.
“I don’t deny that there’s a border crisis. The things I’ve heard is that that (County Attorney’s) Office does deny it,” he said, without presenting any evidence to support the claim. “I think it’s out of control. I’m not going to go on a tirade about it, but I think all law enforcement agencies need to pay attention to it.”
Saldivar struggled to explain what he would do about immigration enforcement as county attorney. “I think there should be a meeting of the minds, if you will, about what’s going on, because I think we do have a border crisis,” he said.
In an interview with El Paso Matters, he also falsely claimed that the County Attorney’s Office was involved in drafting SB 4. County officials, including Sanchez, testified against various versions of the bill to allow local law officers to enforce federal immigration law.
When pressed on the source of his claim about the County Attorney’s Office being involved in drafting the bill, Saldivar said, “I guess I’ll abandon that because I heard something from the District Attorney’s Office about that.”
Sanchez said decisions about whether to legally challenge state laws and orders are made by the County Commissioners Court.
“I think in terms of the lawyers for that office, obviously, we take our cue from our elected officials, no matter what party, no matter what ideology, we respond to what their questions are, we also are counselors as well,” she said.
“And so when we are very much up to date, and you have to be up to date on what’s happening at the state level with the state delegation. …Once a law has been passed, you have to be there in the middle of those conversations and providing that testimony as well,” she said.
Sanchez said El Paso needs a coordinated response of city and county officials on how to respond to SB 4, including drafting policies for how police and sheriff’s officers should handle the law.
Protective orders and family violence
One function of the County Attorney’s Office is to represent people who say they are victims of family violence in seeking a court order to protect them from their alleged abusers. The protective order request is separate from other civil or criminal actions that may be connected to the request, such as divorce proceedings or criminal charges of family violence.
Sergio Saldivar
Saldivar has made an issue of the County Attorney’s Office’s role in seeking protective orders, saying they should do more to examine the “motives” of people seeking such orders.
“I’ve dealt with defending those types of (protective order) cases, where there’s always a motive behind it. There’s either a divorce at the same time, there’s a custody battle going on at the same time within the family court. I don’t think the county attorney considers that because I think too many people can be victimized by those types of accusations,” he said in an interview with El Paso Matters.
Saldivar has made similar statements during the campaign, but never revealed his personal protective order until questioned by El Paso Matters.
A woman, then 32, who lived with Saldivar, first sought a protective order against him in 2018, alleging stalking and family violence. She withdrew the request a few weeks later, but sought another protective order the next year, citing the same allegations.
Court records show Saldivar agreed to the protective order in 2019, which barred him from contact with the woman or her family, and prohibited him from owning a firearm.
The court documents provide no specific information about the nature of the accusations against Saldivar, and he declined to discuss them other than to say the woman had a “motive” to make the accusations. He denied stalking her or being violent, even though he agreed to the protective order.
El Paso Matters isn’t naming the woman to protect her privacy.
Sanchez said the County Attorney’s Office plays a key role in trying to reduce incidents of family violence in El Paso.
“The County Attorney’s Office has a legacy of working toward ending the cycle of domestic violence and the use of a protective order is one of those tools,” she said. “The public needs to have the confidence in the next county attorney that they will handle these matters fairly regardless of socioeconomic status, immigration status, gender or age.”
Campaign funding
Sanchez has built a huge lead in campaign contributions. As of Jan. 31, she had raised more than $72,000 since announcing her candidacy in February 2023. Saldivar, who jumped into the race shortly before the filing deadline in November 2023, has raised $10,605 and loaned his campaign $20,000 of his own money.
Sanchez’s largest contributor is developer Thomas Bohannon, who gave her campaign $5,000. Attorney Steve Ortega gave her $2,500, and developers Robert Bowling and Randall Bowling each gave $2,000.
Saldivar’s largest individual donor was Creslan Williams, an adjunct criminal justice instructor at the University of Texas at El Paso, who has donated $2,100.
Antonio Muñoz, a bail bondsman, donated $1,000 to Saldivar, as did attorney Leonardo Maldonado. Three bail bonds companies donated a combined $1,200 to Saldivar.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://elpasomatters.org/2024/02/06/county-attorney-march-5-el-paso-democratic-primary/
Published and (C) by El Paso Matters.org
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/elpasomatters/
