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By STEVE TERRELL | The New Mexican
May 30, 2006

He fought the law. And he won.

Former Rio Arriba County Commissioner Moises Morales of Canjilon began his political career as a young insurgent. At the age of 20, he was a scout and a driver for Reies Lopez Tijerina, leader of a group of land-grant activists called Alianza Federal de Mercedes.

The 1967 courthouse raid was the result of years of tension. Some Northern New Mexicans believed lands granted them by the Mexican and Spanish governments and guaranteed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had been stolen by the U.S. government and by cattle ranchers.

On June 5, 1967, Tijerina led a small band of about 20 followers on a daring raid on the Rio Arriba County Courthouse. The attack, which left the courthouse riddled with bullet holes, lasted no more than 90 minutes.

Two law-enforcement officers, a state policeman and a county jailer were badly wounded while a Rio Arriba County sheriff's deputy and a wire-service reporter were taken hostage.

The raiders freed two jailed inmates, including Tijerina's brother, who had been to court for an arraignment. Tijerina later said he was trying to make a "citizen's arrest" on then-District Attorney Alfonso Sanchez. But though Sanchez had been in the courthouse earlier, by the time Tijerina arrived, he had left.

Morales has always been proud of his role in the raid.

In a 1996 interview, Morales told The New Mexican, "Yes, I had a gun. I shot a couple of shots at tires of what I thought were undercover state police cars." He has said the state police started the shooting. Police have long denied that.

Though Morales was charged for his part in the raid, those charges were later dropped.

But his political activism didn't end with the famous raid. And neither did his problems with authorities in Rio Arriba County.

In the 1970s, he was one of many residents who accused the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Department -- under the rule of sheriff and political boss Emilio Naranjo -- of incompetence and brutality.

In 1976, Morales, campaigning then under the banner of La Raza Unida Party, ran for sheriff against Naranjo. But the campaign took a turn for the weird when Naranjo's deputies arrested Morales on a marijuana charge.

Morales -- who says he's never used marijuana -- said the evidence was planted.

The arrest backfired on Naranjo. Not only was Morales acquitted, Naranjo was convicted of perjury for his testimony in that case. (That conviction was overturned on appeal.)

In 1996, Morales ran for a seat on the Rio Arriba County Commission. Affiliated with a Democratic Party group called Democrats for Progress, he won that election and was elected to another four-year term in 2000.

Last year, he decided to make another race -- this one against longtime state Rep. Debbie Rodella.

He made his announcement last July, shortly after Rodella's husband resigned from his magistrate judge job following a dispute with Gov. Bill Richardson. But Morales said he had decided to run long before that.

A major issue that led to his decision, Morales said, was Rodella's support last year for a bill that exempted private hunting resorts from paying taxes at regular commercial rates.

The bill, sponsored by House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, and signed by Richardson, was prompted by a state Supreme Court decision regarding a property-tax dispute between Rio Arriba County and the Jicarilla Apache tribe, which operates a 30,000-acre commercial game park called The Lodge at Chama Ranch.

The bill also benefits a game park operated by Richardson campaign contributor and Santa Fe businessman Gerald Peters.

"She's not being a representative of the people of the district," Morales said. "She just helps certain rich people and special-interest groups from outside of the state."

While Rodella's husband is running for election to the magistrate post from which he resigned last year, Morales' wife, Henrietta Esquibel, also has tried to get that job. She applied to the Governor's Office for the position and was a finalist. Richardson, however, chose another candidate, who then declined the judgeship, which remains open.

MOISES MORALES
Residence: Canjilon

Age: 59 Education:

Dropped out of high school after the 11th grade

Current occupation: Rancher/ farmer

Family: Wife, Helen Esquibel, six children

Political experience: Eight years as Rio Arriba County commissioner (1997-2004); ran for Rio Arriba County Sheriff in 1976 on the La Raza Unida Party against longtime Rio Arriba County political boss Emilio Naranjo

Criminal record: No convictions; arrested for marijuana possession during his campaign against Naranjo, but was acquitted; arrested as a youth for his role in the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse Raid, but charges were dropped

Personal: Morales ran a mechanic shop in Tierra Amarilla for several years until last year, when he sold it.