BREAKING NEWS: Governor to appoint Murphy children’s court judge

Gov. Bill Richardson plans to name Michael Murphy the new children’s court judge in Las Cruces.

Several sources confirmed that Richardson has chosen Murphy over Rusty Babington and Fernando Macias.

The Doña Ana County Democratic Party’s central committee will also name Murphy at tonight’s meeting its candidate for the seat in the November general election. The county Republican Party is still considering whether to run a candidate in that election.

An influential group of Democrats pushed for the selection of Macias, who has practiced little law in the past decade but has a unique résumé and has been lobbying heavily for the position. Macias, who made a failed bid to be appointed to the Mesilla Board of Trustees earlier this year, has been looking to get back into politics in recent months.

Sources say Richardson carefully considered criticism of the controversial Macias, who is a former state senator and Doña Ana County manager, before making his decision.

Controversies during Macias’ tenure as county manager included elections snafus, his own contested reelection, and the arrest of the Sunland Park mayor in the late 1990s for violating a county ordinance that was approved at an illegal meeting for the purpose of stopping the city from building a water line.

Murphy is a longtime Las Cruces attorney considered an expert in domestic relations. Sources say he was picked over Babington because he has been more active in the Democratic Party.