Facts about Judge Linda Vanzi

• She was appointed as a judge in Civil Court in early 2004 by Governor Bill Richardson in a surprise, last-minute decision.
• Since her appointment as judge in CFJ President Leslie Cumiford's case, she has relentlessly terrorized Leslie and her family and refused to uphold or enforce any prior judgments or orders in Leslie's favor, including a mandate from the Court of Appeals. Her behavior is summarized in the this pleading.
• She is inexperienced, having received her law degree less than ten years before she was appointed to the bench. Why did Bill Richardson make her a judge?
• She has been on the bench a little over two years, yet there have been 105 appeals from cases over which she presides.
• Most of the cases she hears are corporate and/or contract cases. Why was she assigned to Leslie Cumiford's family court case? Leslie's case brings the grand total of family court cases she has heard to two.
• She is likely to hear more family court cases because of the way that the system assigns cases unable to be heard by the four Bernalillo County family court judges to junior judges in civil court.
• She is an active member of the ACLU, yet she refused to allow a person with a very unusual name to change his name to a single word: "Variable", denying him a hearing on the name change by claiming that the word "Variable" is obscene. This is the famous Snaphappy case that made national news.
• She has an alternative lifestyle. CFJ does not condemn her choice in this regard except for the fact that she clearly shows in her decisions from the bench that she has no respect for traditional family values.
• Many of the appeals from her courtroom are because of her ruling on Summary Judgment when an evidentiary hearing is required. This habit indicates that she is a relatively lazy judge, simply not bothering to take the time to do her job and go to trial to insure parties in her courtroom due process and equal access under the law. For example, she defied her own decision and the Court of Appeals' mandate by ruling on Summary Judgment in Leslie's case on a remand for an evidentiary hearing from the Court of Appeals, refusing to return thousands of dollars in child support money paid to a Guardian ad Litem as per the mandate and refusing to allow Leslie to recoup about $100,000 in fees and costs as per state law (NMRA 1-127) in spite of the higher court's ruling supporting these factors. Further, she indiscriminately changed child support in her Summary Judgment without a hearing.
• Her decisions are arbitrary and sometimes vindictive. She has called CFJ members to task for "making faces" as they attended hearings in her courtroom.
• In short, this attorney should have never been appointed to the bench. She is a disaster to New Mexico businesses, individuals, and families alike because she feels no obligation to uphold her Oath of Office as a judge. She constantly exhibits the appearance of impropriety, inexperience, and poor judgment in the courtroom.
• Governor Richardson, fix your mistake - it is hurting New Mexicans - and remove Judge Linda Vanzi from the bench before she wreaks more damage by abusing the power of her judicial office and ignoring her Oath of Office.
• Contact Governor Richardson at http://www.governor.state.nm.us/contact.php?mm=6 and demand that he remove Judge Vanzi from the bench. Victims of Judge Vanzi's decisions depend on you, the public, to demand better judges from Governor Richardson.