[[{“value”:”
We initially had no intention of making an endorsement for District Attorney. We interviewed all three candidates, current District Attorney Bill D. Hicks, Deputy Public Defender James Montoya, and retired district judge Alma Trejo.
Montoya defeated Trejo in the Democratic primary and so he will face Republican Hicks on November 5. We invite you to watch our interviews with the two men.
For us, what it really comes down to is experience. Montoya, who is 34 years old, ran for District Attorney for the first time only seven years after obtaining his law license and now he is running again, with only 11 years of experience as an attorney. That seems like a very short time for such a large and important County.
By contrast, Hicks, who is 20 years older, has been an attorney for 27 years, well over twice as long.
Hicks was promoted by former DA Jaime Esparza to be a supervisor, but not Montoya.
Starting in 2010, Hicks has made numerous personnel decisions, hiring and firing people, and has managed large budgets, but Montoya has no such experience.
Hicks served as a defense attorney for nine years, compared to Montoya’s two years.
Hicks served as District Court Judge of the 243rd from 2010 to 2012 but Montoya has no experience as a judge.
Hicks has tried a capital murder case, sentencing a white supremacist to death. Montoya has never tried a capital murder case.
Both Hicks and Montoya are ethical, affable and conduct themselves very professionally. Both are deeply invested in our community but, for us, Hicks is the better qualified candidate. In our view, he has done an admirable job since he was appointed District Attorney and deserves to be elected.
Please consider donating to his campaign: https://www.keepdahicks.com/
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