Tim Bullock/Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com
BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter
Local attorney Tim Bullock, a Republican, has thrown his hat into the ring for election to the office of Los Alamos Magistrate Judge. Judge Pat Casados is not seeking reelection.
Bullock received his undergraduate from the University of Denver, Colo., a graduate business degree from the London School of Economics and graduated from the Law School at the University of Denver. He and his wife, Linda, have been married for 38 years. They adopted two children from Taiwan at the ages of 5 and 7.
“Joshua received a congressional appointment to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and is currently putting in his sea year aboard the Aircraft Carrier George Bush. He will be returning to the Academy very soon. Steven is a senior at Los Alamos High School where he is a high honors student currently considering college choices and scholarships and so forth,” Bullock said. “Both sons are Eagle Scouts and I’m the Eagle advisor for Troop 22 here in town.”
He is also a member of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos and will serve as president of the club in 2024.
Asked why he is running for Magistrate Judge, Bullock said, “It’s a new challenge”. He currently has a practice. He is license in three states and has an active practice both in Colorado and New Mexico.
“I have federal cases in each state; most of my work is in federal court. I’ve prosecuted as well as being a criminal defense attorney,” Bullock said. “Needless to say, if elected, I will not continue my law practice.”
Bullock said one of the issues people quite often bring up when chatting with him is the new bail law. He noted that he will follow the law and that the office of Magistrate Judge does not have a lot of discretion with the bail law other than in certain circumstances.
“Bail is not one of those. Bail is not meant to be a punishment. It’s an insurance policy that the defendant will show up,” he said. “At sentencing, I will be fair, and I will be compassionate where the facts merit it. During any kind of hearing or court case, I will follow the law.”
Bullock has been a resident of Los Alamos for about four years, maintaining residences here and in Colorado. He said he has really been full-time in Los Alamos for three years now.
He said he would like to develop the involvement of teens in the legal process a little. He plans to continue his involvement in Boy Scouts and the Rotary Club.
Bullock believes the Magistrate Court needs to be more “visible”.
“Anything dealing with the public needs to be 100 percent transparent. Anything involving legal action or final action in any board or court needs to be completely transparent and open to the public and should be on a calendar in advance so that the community knows when it will come before a judge,” he said.