Jaramillo has been serving Torrance County for nearly a quarter century

In the November election, former Torrance County Clerk Linda Jaramillo was elected county commissioner, and although she might be its newest member, she’s no stranger to the commission chambers, and no stranger to New Mexico; she’s lived here for 70 years.

Her history of public service began in the medical field and continued into politics, and she knows the county and its people about as well as one possibly could. She’s lived and worked in Willard, Mountainair, Torreon, Estancia and Tajique. Jaramillo said during 24 years of serving as clerk, she developed a keen understanding of the way the commission works, so it made sense to make the move to commissioner. She says she’s “done the math,” and after transcribing over 600 meetings, she feels qualified to sit in the commissioner chair.

“The job of the clerk is to keep all records of the commission. She gets the same packet as commissioners, and she has to study that packet, and then she sits in a meeting and she transcribes everything they’re doing, everything they pass,” Jaramillo said. “For 24 years you watch these commissioners come in and out, in and out. They have different ways of governing, different attitudes, different things. And over the years, I thought, ‘I can do that.’”

In 1997, Jaramillo ran for Torrance County Clerk as a Republican against an entrenched incumbent despite being asked to run on the Democratic ticket. Jaramillo, who has been a registered Republican since age eighteen, said she still holds onto Republican values instilled in her by her grandparents and refused to change parties despite pressure from good friends of hers in the Democratic Party. 

Jaramillo recalled saying, “Well, you guys have known me all my life, so what difference does it make?’” If you asked me to run, you obviously think that I’m qualified, that I would be good at this, so I don’t want to change parties, I would be dishonoring my grandparents. To me, the political party shouldn’t matter that much. People should just vote for the person, especially in a small county like this.”

She says her friends backed her up anyway, and she won the race for County Clerk by only 24 votes. It began a 24-year-long career in Torrance County politics. 

Jaramillo said one of her proudest accomplishments as clerk was improving the commission meeting minutes by tweaking the templates used to write them and meticulously recording details of meetings which may have been missed in the past. She says accurately recording statements and holding public officials accountable for what they say in a public setting is a vital role the county clerk plays, but it’s not the best way to make friends. She expects her new job to be no different.

“I know that I’m going to make some people mad at me. That’s what’s the most hurtful to me, or the thing that bothers me most,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll have to make decisions against people that I know very well.”

Jaramillo knows what it takes to succeed in the commission chambers, but understands the word “public servant” doesn’t just apply to those who hold government jobs. She says she has a special type of admiration for doctors and hospital workers, and a lot of her respect comes from experience. At age 20, she began working for Dr. Saul, an on-call family doctor who made home visits and delivered medication to older adults. She says she worked for 15 years as his only employee and refers to the time she spent assisting Saul as “the most rewarding years of [her] life.” She says each patient who visited the office was a lesson in diagnosis, each person she stitched up after a bar fight a lesson in anatomy, each senior citizen they saw for a checkup a lesson in kindness. Jaramillo says these experiences have followed her throughout her life, even into politics and government.

“I understand the importance of saving lives and being right there in the trenches,” she said. “I’ve worked with Doc trying to revive people. I’ve watched people just die on the spot. So emergency services are very close to my heart.” 

Jaramillo said she believes part of her success can be attributed to treating others with respect — especially her constituents — and she not only encourages, but demands the same level of respect toward community members from her staff.

“If anybody in my staff ever was rude to anybody, I would bring them in here and I’d say, ‘You do not talk to taxpayers like that. You know who’s paying your salary? They are.’” she said. “No question is stupid. No question about properties or elections or anything. They don’t know what we know, and we are polite, and it’s all about service.”

She looks forward to her new role in local government and is optimistic that a similar type of mutual respect exists between county commissioners. She says even after 24 years of service, there are always new things to learn, and she’s excited to do it — especially finally finding out what happens in those mysterious closed sessions. 

“My ethic’s about serving and really truly caring, it’s not lip service. I truly care about these people,” Jaramillo said. “I think it was meant for me to take on [the role of] clerk because you can serve a lot of people that way, and then now as commissioner, I think it’s my destiny. It’s my lot in life. It’s my mission.”