OPINION: Potential contender for DA opts for different election

Feb. 8—Because of celebrity defendant Alec Baldwin, Santa Fe became home to one of the more publicized prosecutor's offices in the country.

All the exposure hasn't led to a large field of candidates for district attorney. In fact, the number of possible candidates just shrunk by one, ending the possibility of a rematch in the Democratic primary in June.

Scott Fuqua considered running for district attorney for a second time in four years. He has instead decided to seek a seat as a Santa Fe County commissioner.

Fuqua, 48, is running in District 2, now represented by Democrat Anna Hansen. She is prohibited from seeking a third consecutive term.

As of the moment, Fuqua likes his chances.

"I don't know if there's going to be a race. We have a month to go to file, and I haven't heard of anyone else running," he said Thursday.

Fuqua in 2020 lost the decisive Democratic primary for district attorney to Mary Carmack-Altwies. She cruised to victory, besting Fuqua by 30 percentage points or about 10,400 votes.

Carmack-Altwies is running for reelection. Fuqua's decision not to challenge her might put the district attorney on political easy street, or it could make her campaign problematic.

With Fuqua taking himself out of the running, it's possible Carmack-Altwies could be unopposed.

But if former District Attorney Marco Serna runs, Carmack-Alwies faces a tougher road to reelection now that Fuqua has chosen to pursue a different office.

Carmack-Altwies stood to gain if Fuqua and Serna were both in the race. They would split the votes of people dissatisfied with her performance. A one-on-one election against Serna puts the DA's seat in play.

Carmack-Altwies is unpopular with a segment of the public because of her soft treatment of vandals who destroyed the 152-year-old Soldiers' Monument on Santa Fe's Plaza.

She sent most of those lawbreakers to a secretive mediation session that carried the false label of restorative justice. Nothing was restored.

Fuqua criticized her for another decision — farming out the prosecution of actor Baldwin in a 2021 shooting death on a Santa Fe-area movie set.

Working on the Western Rust, Baldwin received a .45 Colt pistol from a co-worker who said the weapon was cold, meaning it was unloaded. As Baldwin handled the firearm, a live round discharged.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died in the shooting and director Joel Souza was injured.

"The thing that really bothered me was she hired a special prosecutor," Fuqua said of Carmack-Altwies.

An elected prosecutor, Fuqua said, should decide whether criminal charges are justified. Special prosecutors brought a charge of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin, dismissed it, then recently obtained an indictment against him on the same criminal count.

Fuqua said Carmack-Altwies would have taken heat if she'd handled the case herself, no matter how she proceeded. But a fundamental part of the district attorney's job is sorting through homicide investigations, Fuqua said.

A solo practitioner handling civil cases, Fuqua faced attacks from Carmack-Altwies' camp in the 2020 election because he lacked direct prosecutorial experience. Fuqua worked in the state Attorney General's Office from 2010-14, directing the litigation division.

Raised in Portales, Fuqua is a graduate of Eastern New Mexico University and the University of Chicago Law School. He said he was 16 when he decided he would obtain a law degree, and it would be from the University of Chicago. Part of his reasoning was the acceptance rate in Chicago was a bit higher than at Ivy League schools.

An attorney for 22 years, Fuqua said he would have to scale back his practice if he is elected as a county commissioner. Land use and water use will be the big-picture themes of his campaign.

As for the DA's election, Serna would face plenty of criticism if he enters the race.

After being elected in 2016, Serna seemed more interested in vaulting to higher office than in administering a staff of prosecutors. He entered the 2020 Democratic primary in the 3rd Congressional District.

Should Serna attempt a comeback as the DA of Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties, his commitment and work ethic would be lines of attack for Carmack-Altwies.

During the district attorney's regular workday, Serna went so far as to seek media coverage for remarks he was making about his congressional campaign.

Voters didn't appreciate the prosecutor's office being used as a stepping stone. Serna finished fourth in the seven-way congressional primary. He received 8% of the vote.

If Carmack-Altwies and Serna face off, they would share common ground: Both are flawed candidates, and each has riled the public.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.