Fran Gallegos resigned as Santa Fe's municipal judge in November 2005, following allegations that she had changed court records. All felony counts against her were later dismissed. Gallegos says she now plans to write a book entitled
A Box of Pandoras: My Side of the Story.
SFR: You've been in the news quite a bit over the years, but do people really know you?***image1***
FG:
In a way it kind of scares me that people feel that they know you intimately when they really don't. And I might have some hurt feelings on my own part if I felt that people thought that I was crooked. People say, 'Don't take it personally,' but it makes me feel bad. And I think a lot of that has to do with my culture because, as a Hispanic female, my culture is very, very important to me. Part of being Hispanic is that we are a proud race. And we're embarrassed if people think that we're drunks or that we beat our wives or that we steal or that we're crooked. I really pride integrity and being proud and honest. And so when the media portrayed that I was doctoring up papers to make myself look good when it wasn't true, it bothered me that people would think that I was that way. Or that I did that for my own gain. Sorry but, I'm… [sniffles, fights back tears]
Looking back, what was the biggest mistake you made?
There were some DWI advocates who came to the city and said that I was not sentencing people to jail for DWI. My response to them was we were sentencing people to jail. It's just there was a certain mandatory thing that had to be imposed. The problem was that we weren't recording it the set way that it was being reported to the Motor Vehicle [Division] and that's where they were getting their information from. So I had my staff start to log in that information as part of the record for the DWIs. We just hadn't done it before.
What was the best part about being a judge?
The [alternative sentencing] programs for me were my passion because I do feel that there is nothing that is deterring the rise of crime, especially around drugs and alcohol. I see drugs and alcohol has done a disaster to, in particular, Hispanic people. I saw it happen over and over and nobody was doing anything to counteract that. That's really the reason I ran for the office.
Some of those programs-the pink hats [for DWI offenders], the Tai Chi classes-were controversial.
The colored hats were truly a shame-based thing. When you talk to anthropologists, that is the only thing that works as a deterrent. You're embarrassed to wear it. You don't want to ever get busted for drugs or alcohol. The Tai Chi and the mediation thing, that, again, was something that was out there because it combined the concept of Western medicine with Eastern medicine.
You gave running for judge again serious consideration. So why didn't you do it?
You know, I was able to garner about 1,700 signatures this time. So I did go through the process. I was making sure that all my options were covered in case I decided to do that. In talking to people, I found that there were still a lot of people out there who strongly supported what I was doing. But maybe they felt that I was set up.
Set up?
Well, that's what the book is going to talk about. The media was saying, 'Well, you weren't giving people their rights, you were doctoring up these documents.'
The book will focus on that?
Well, the other paper wrote down that I was going to be writing about my experiences on the bench. And that's not really what I had on my mind. It's going to be semi-autobiography, but…I'd like for it to really be able to explain, from my perspective, how everything started to unfold. And you could go as far back as me requesting a gun for the municipal court, which was almost the very first thing that started these outcries of this crazy judge in office. All the way to the pink hats and the Tai Chi.
Do you have a publisher lined up for the book?
Not yet.
Might you run for office again in the future?
That I don't know. There's always a possibility. The real reason that I opted not to run was the realization that I do believe that I have the support of the people, but my political enemies are still very much in power. I don't want to be in Washington for sure. To me, that's not it. City Council, no. Mayor, no. I'm not interested in that. I want my life to mean something.
Next up for you…working in a beauty salon?
Yes, it's a brand new salon. It's only two weeks old and it's not mine. I'm working there. I will be behind a chair as soon as my license comes through by the first of January. We're going to specialize in making men and women feel the very best that they can about themselves. It's called Lotus Beauty and it's a very Zen, calm, comfortable atmosphere.
Why a beauty salon?
I think about beauty and I appreciate it in other people and if people look at me and think that I'm attractive then it's kind of foreign to me, because I don't see myself that way. I'm really very insecure in lots of ways and very shy.
Santa Fe Reporter