The first full day of Spring had an extra sweetness this year. It was Filing Day, when those seeking various elective offices must file and make known their candidacy. My wife is Merri Rudd, Bernalillo County Probate Judge. She has held that office for most of one full term, preceded by a few years filling out the term of her predecessor, Ira Robinson, who left office to move up to the NM Court of Appeals.

Merri has run in two contested elections. She is as smart and hard-working a candidate, as she is a judge, but campaigning is a brutally draining process. The first time, she opposed Tom Mescall, the incumbent. The next time, she was in a race against fellow Democrats, John Wayne Higgins and Ira Robinson, who filed his candidacy 5 minutes before the deadline. That experience of having someone jump in the race at the last minute (and later win) left an indelible mark on Merri and me.

For good or bad, there are few requirements for county offices. You file your paperwork and pay your $50 and you, too, can run (if you are over 18, a NM resident not currently in jail, etc). In most counties, the Probate Judge doesn’t even have to be a lawyer, though in Bernalillo County, that is a requirement.

Most people who have paid any attention realize Merri is the perfect person for this job. If I say she may be the best probate judge ever, you’ll dismiss that as spousal prejudice, but it is actually at least a possibility — no offense intended to other judges (many of whom Merri has trained and who seek her views daily).

This year, like the previous race, no one filed to run against her. Most of us believe that potential opponents realized she deserves the office or might even be unbeatable. Merri, more modestly, thinks few people care about the office enough to run. Either way, the crescendo of worry on Filing Day quickly passed and Merri gets the proverbial “free ride.”

So, Bernalillo gets to keep its great probate judge for 4 additional years, at which point term limits prevent her for staying in office forever. And Merri gets to relax a bit and neither of us has to worry about the devastating effects of a campaign — it is an exhausting process that must end in someone’s heartbreak, no matter who is the most qualified.

I might go so far as to say “the system worked” but, though the outcome was the best one possible, I’m not sure this is a measure of the system.

First, why should any judge be elected as opposed to being evaluated by a diverse and qualified panel (to which I would add a few decent non-partisan non-lawyers). Why do we want judges to have to campaign — and raise money — to be selected by voters who almost never know anything about them?

Secondly, if we are going to have elections, don’t we have to have meaningful competition among qualified people? I’m not lamenting that no one opposes Merri, whom I believe could defeat most opponents, though I have little confidence in voters. But an uncontested race isn’t really what “the system” is about, is it? Isn’t part of the larger problem that at the national level we are governed by millionaires in sinecures whose constituents are other millionaires?

Right here, in our Land Commissioner’s race we have examples of what is right and wrong with campaigns. In a race between Republican Patrick Lyons and Democrat Ray Powell, you have a pretty clear choice of personalities and perspectives, a choice between what’s good for business vs what’s good for people, one might say. But, Ray Powell may not survive the primary (the thing that did Merri in once). I can’t quite bring myself to say the dour Jim Baca should not have run — I support his right and I wish more campaigns involved qualified and motivated people. But, again, can the Democratic voters be counted on to choose wisely in the primary? Certainly, Baca has made life much more difficult for Powell, who will use a lot of time and money before June that might have been better spent after.

Contrast that real fight, at both the primary and general levels, with almost any national -level office. Take Jeff Bingaman. I like him a lot and I think New Mexico benefits from having senior Senators from both parties (though I hate Domenici more and more every year). Still, I know many Democrats are unhappy with Bingaman — shouldn’t they have a choice or at least a process in which Bingaman has to justify his re-election? Republicans will have a kind of choice but it must frustrate them that the primary victor has a snow-ball’s-chance of winning. Why vote in such a skewed system?

In the end, if you disapprove of some candidate or office-holder, ask yourself if you have the energy and enthusiasm it takes to campaign. Could you make that tremendous effort and smile in the face of defeat? Shake the hands of hundreds of voters knowing you’ll never get their votes because the other guy is a friend of their cousin or they don’t like your name. Makes the “burden” of getting informed and voting seem trivial — at least do that much. mjh

PS: we clearly need that system the Green’s call instant run-off, where you get to rank the candidates as 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice, etc. This would encourage more people to run and more people to vote. It would also encourage a more complex view of issues than the left or right, up or down, choices we have now — when we have any choice at all.