Plenty of new faces in Pima County races

Pima County’s voters will choose three constables and four justices of the peace in the primary election on Aug. 2, and many new faces are up for consideration on the ballot.

Most candidates are already assured election, however, as only two races have more than one candidate.

Constable positions in Precincts 2, 3 and 8 are up for election, but only Precinct 8 is contested. The county’s constables, tasked with serving legal summons such as eviction notices from the justice courts, have come under scrutiny recently for disparate approaches to the job resulting in differing outcomes for tenants.

Voters in Precincts 1, 3, 7 and 8 will cast ballots for justices of the peace, which oversee civil cases like evictions and small claims. Only the race in Precinct 3, covering Ajo, is contested.

Constables make a starting annual salary of $67,000. Compensation for justices of the peace is based on the judicial productivity credits of their respective courts, which results in an hourly rate of $50.27 for the Pima County Consolidated Court, where justices for Precincts 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10 reside.

Voters can only vote for constables and justices of the peace up for election in the precinct they live in.

Early ballots for the primary election were mailed out July 6 and Election Day for the primaries is Aug. 2. Early voting centers are open until July 29, and the last day to request a ballot by mail is July 22.

Constables

Precinct 8

Current Precinct 8 Constable Deborah Martinez-Garibay, who took over for former Constable Kristen Randall upon her resignation in March, is up for a two-year renewal to finish the former constable’s four-year term.

Martinez-Garibay’s first months on the job serving papers in midtown Tucson have been marked by controversy, with accusations she falsified petition signatures to get on the ballot. The constable told the Star she didn’t have time to comment on her candidacy.

Martinez-Garibay, a Democrat, is an Army veteran and runs an adaptive golf program for veterans called PGA HOPE.

She faces one Republican write-in candidate, former F-16 pilot and local limousine company owner Bill Lake, who was appointed by the Board of Supervisors last October to take over the seat of Marge Cummings in Precinct 5.

Lake said he’s worked to consolidate the workload among constables and implement a use of force policy. Upon hearing of the investigation into Martinez-Garibay, he decided to put his name in the mix for Precinct 8 to avoid a vacancy if she’s forced to step down. Lake said he has residences in both Precincts 8 and 5.

“I have nothing against Constable Martinez-Garibay. But, you know, the constables’ office can’t be mired in controversy. They’ve already got a really bad history, and that needs to get fixed,” he said. “I think I’m doing a wonderful job, and I want to continue to do it.”

Precinct 2

Francisco Lopez, who runs TMZ Tucson, is the only nominee for constable in Precinct 2, which covers southeast Tucson. Lopez did not respond to the Star’s request for comment.

Lopez, a Democrat, was interviewed by the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson in a candidate forum among those vying to replace Kristen Randall’s seat in Precinct 8, but it’s unclear where his residence is.

“It’s not just about serving papers, but serving the public,” Lopez said during the forum. “And it’s not about just being an officer of the court, but being a resource for those affected by the work that we do and doing it right.”

Precinct 3

Only write-in candidate Republican Eric Krznarich is running for constable in Precinct 3. Krznarich is a full-time paramedic serving his second term on the Ajo Unified District Governing Board.

Regarding the role of a constable, Krznarich said “there needs to be a good balance” between the social service and law enforcement roles constables can take on when servicing eviction notices.

“It’s already a very stressful situation. Chances are, (tenants) are going to have a family, they’re struggling to pay their bills,” he said. “I mean, as long as we follow the letter of the law on what we have to do. But I think if we were able to provide them information on services available, which they may not even be aware of, I think that’s a pretty valuable thing to do.”

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Justices of the peace

Precinct 3

Two Democratic candidates are vying for justice of the peace in Precinct 3: incumbent John Peck and newcomer Sara Mae Williams.

Peck was nominated to take over as pro tem in the position after the board of supervisors appointed him in 2012 and won two elections for the position in 2014 and 2018. He serves as the president of the Arizona Justices of the Peace Association and on the Arizona Judicial Council.

Peck said the Ajo Justice Court has accomplished a lot in his time there, including earning grant money to sponsor training for those affected by domestic violence and improving the historic court’s facilities and security measures.

But Peck said “We’ve got more to do,” including completing a resource center for community members to navigate Superior Court issues without having to make the trip to Tucson.

He believes the position takes the kind of experience he’s accumulated throughout ten years on the bench.

“It’s not just civil and criminal traffic, it’s initial appearances for felonies, it’s assault cases, it’s drugs cases, it’s felony referrals. It’s just a whole host of things,” he said. “It just takes a lot of work and a lot of commitment and a lot of knowledge.”

Sara Mae Williams is a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation who served on the Baboquivari Unified School District’s governing board for nine years. She was inspired to run for the position after finding out no Tohono O’odham Nation member had ever run for justice of the peace.

“Whether I win or not, I hope a (Tohono O’odham Nation member) continues to run every time the seat is up for election, because we make up a bulk of that precinct,” she said. “I tend to think of justice of the peace as like a citizen court. And so we should all be taking part in that.”

Williams is currently working toward a degree in elementary education through the Indigenous Teacher Education Project at the University of Arizona.

“I often think that getting a degree in education will come in handy in many realms, and in this case, as justice of the peace, definitely comes into play as well,” she said. “As a school board member being able to facilitate many different avenues with our children and families, this just kind of falls in place with that.”

Precincts 1, 7 and 8

Precincts 1 and 8 will elect new justices of the peace this year, while incumbent Ray Carroll is the only candidate for Precinct 7 at the Green Valley Justice Court.

Sen. Victoria Steele, D-Tucson, is the only candidate for Precinct 1 in the northeast portion of the county and said she’s running for the position partially due to the cost of owning residences in Tucson and Phoenix on the $24,000 annual salary she makes as a state senator. She said her background in social work and nearly eight years serving in the state’s legislature “has led me to this point.”

“I know the language and the bills, so I’ve learned a lot. And for me, it all boils down to fairness and equality and justice. And these have been the guiding principles of my entire life,” Steele said. “This is a really good place for me to go next. This, to me, is like a combination of everything I have done.”

Democrat Kristel Ann Foster is the only candidate running for justice of the peace in Precinct 8. She served two terms on the Tucson Unified Governing Board and said she decided to run for justice of the peace after hearing about the status evictions throughout the onset of COVID-19.

“I would like (the justices of the peace) to really consider how are we serving people who find themselves in that moment of crisis,” Foster said.

She said she spent her spring break observing cases at the county’s consolidated justice court and found the majority of defendants didn’t have lawyers.

“When you think about showing up to a situation like that for the first time, a judge can either help you understand what’s happening or they can just shuffle you through the process,” Foster said. “I would like to bring that educator lens and experience to that so that people know what’s happening.”