I am writing this letter as an individual, not as Chair of the Greenlee County Democrats. The ideas and opinions stated herein are solely my own. I did not consult with any candidatewhile writing this letter.
We have just one local contested raced in Greenlee in this year’s general election, and it affects only voters living north of Three-Way. It is the race for Justice of the Peace, District One (Clifton/Morenci). Long-time incumbent Independent Grace Nabor (in office 20 years, since 2006 ) is facing Independentchallenger Rick Guerena, Bailiff with the Greenlee Superior Court. Guerena also ran against Nabor and lost four years ago.
You may think this race is not important. You’ve never gotten in trouble with the law, never had to sue anyone in small claims court. What difference does it make who takes this seat? That is the way I felt four years ago.
Unfortunately, in the past year and a half, I have had to deal with the Clifton Justice Court several times, mostly due to the actions of one person in this community who seeks power and money and wishes me harm. She has followers.
In fact, I have had to come before Nabor’s court three times in that period of time, and a fourth is scheduled for next month.
To my shock, in my first interaction with Nabor in her capacity as Justice of the Peace, I found that she ran a spectacularly unprofessional and biased hearing. Not only did we have to wait nearly two hours past the scheduled time, witnesses were not sworn in until 45 minutes into the hearing. I was not allowed to cross-examine my accuser. Nabor had already found in favor of the plaintiff before she told me I could “have my day in court…but my time would be limited”. To top it off, she wanted to deny me access to the audio transcript of the hearing, providing it only one day before my request for an appeal was due. In addition, the audio quality of the tape of this hearing was so poor that the transcriptionist I hired had to leave big gaps in her transcript. At the second appeal hearing, the quality of the tape was so bad the transcriptionist could not transcribe any of it.(Tape quality is especially important when a decision is appealed to Superior Court.)
Dealing with her staff was also a most unpleasant experience, a staff that seemed to change every time I had a new hearing.They would tell me that the Judge would get back to me—she either didn’t, or missed required timelines. I was explicitly discouraged from filing an appeal on two different occasions.The clincher is that for my hearing scheduled originally in October, now finally extended until November, my sister was told by staff that Judge Nabor was “a stickler” for keeping to assigned court dates, even though in this month I have had to betransported by ambulance twice to Mt. Graham for pneumonia and heart issues. When my lawyer intervened, he was treated just as rudely, though he finally got the date postponed. He said he had never dealt with a JP like Nabor in his many years as a lawyer covering southern Arizona.
It gives me no pleasure to report these facts. I have known the Nabor family for forty years; I had one of their sons in my class, I loved him then and I love him still. I greatly admire Eddie Nabor’s strength, his dedication to Christian values in working with the incarcerated in Clifton for many years. I admired Grace Nabor when she was appointed to the office of Justice of the Peace in 2006, following the embarrassing state-wide news storyabout her predecessor. Reportedly it took her two years to clean his mess up. She was legally elected in Nov., 2006; reelected in 2010; reelected again in 2014; relected again in 2018 and reelected in 2022. Isn’t that long enough?
Over the decades, things change. People change. What doesn’t change is that those who are elected to serve the public should act like public servants and not the owner of a private clubwhich announces it can “reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” As my late husband and former editor of the Copper Era Walt Mares used to say, “Elected offiicials forget that theywork for US.”
Though I have not known him long or very well, in my dealings in court with her opponent, Rick Guerena, I have found him to be polite, fair, considerate, intelligent, and hard-working. We are so blessed that in an era of suspicion and hatred of anything “political”, he has come forward to contest a long-term incumbent for a seat he richly deserves.
I hope you will consider my experience with the incumbentJP1’s office when you vote (by November 3). Please vote from the BOTTOM UP on your ballot. If you have any questions about the voting process, you can call the Greenlee County Recorder’s office Monday through Thursday, 928-865-1717 or go to iwillvote.com. Every vote is important, especially in our small community.
Susan Breen – Clifton, AZ
