Four apply for district judge position

Three Clovis lawyers and an attorney in Portales have applied to become the next district judge for Curry and Roosevelt counties.

One of the four will be picked by Gov. Susana Martinez to succeed 9th Judicial District Chief Judge Teddy Hartley, who is retiring in June.

A press release late Wednesday from the Judicial Selection Office at the University of New Mexico law school identified the four applicants for Hartley's job as:

• Christian Paul Christiansen, Portales
• Wesley O. Pool, Clovis
• Brian Scott Stover, Clovis
• Fred Travis Van Soelen, Clovis

Each of the applicants will be interviewed 9 a.m. May 31 at the Curry County Courthouse by a special 14-member nominating commission, which forwards its recommendation to Martinez. The governor has 30 days to name Hartley's successor.

The nominating commission's meeting is open to the public.

None of the four candidates responded immediately to requests for comment.

• Stover is a prosecutor in District Attorney Matt Chandler's Clovis office . He was a finalist in recommendations made to Martinez in 2011 to replace Judge Robert Orlick, who died unexpectedly.
• Pool was also a finalist recommended to Martinez in 2011.
• Van Soelen is a two-term former Clovis city commissioner and former assistant district attorney.
• Christiansen is a public defender who works primarily in the courts in Roosevelt County.