Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

EL PASO -- Jo Anne Bernal needed three votes to become El Paso County attorney, and that was exactly what she got.

A divided Commissioners Court appointed Bernal to the job on a 3-2 vote Monday. She succeeds José Rodríguez, who is resigning to run for the state Senate.

The appointment gives Bernal, 48, a springboard to launch her campaign to complete Rodríguez's unfinished term. If she wins election next year, she would stay in office at least through December 2012.

"I've made no secret that I'm running for office," Bernal said at as she made her case for the appointment. "But this is not about running a campaign."

Bernal, a Democrat, has worked on Rodríguez's staff for 16 years, most recently as his top assistant. Before that, she spent about a decade on the Texas attorney general's staff.

Still, she said, she would be her own person in the job, not an extension of her mentor.

"I'm not Jose lite. I'm not Jose Jr.," Bernal said.

Born in El Paso, she has degrees from Loretto Academy, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas School of Law.

Married with two stepdaughters, she said she believed she will be the first woman to be county attorney in El Paso. Bernal will be sworn in this morning.

Rodríguez lauded her appointment.

"Absolutely that was the right decision. She is the most qualified, the most experienced and the most oriented toward public service," he said.

Two members of the Commissioners Court, though, wanted a more comprehensive application process to choose Rodríguez's successor. County Judge Anthony Cobos and Commissioner Dan Haggerty voted against Bernal's appointment. Both wanted the commissioners to collect résumés and conduct interviews with attorneys who wanted the $165,000-a-year position.

Cobos said many applicants would have come forward. Among them was lawyer Mario Gonzalez, who for each of the last two meetings asked the Commissioners Court to open up the application process.

Gonzalez, who intends to run for the seat next year, said the appointment gives Bernal a running start.

"The power of incumbency always gives someone a huge edge," he said.

Commissioner Veronica Escobar pushed for Bernal's appointment and found support from fellow commissioners Anna Perez and Willie Gandara Jr. Escobar said the commissioners almost always have filled department head vacancies with a top deputy.

First assistants were chosen in the human resources department, facilities management, the domestic relations office and the Sheriff's Office, Escobar said.

"We have promoted the second in command until a permanent replacement is found," Escobar said. "If the county judge wanted to fill this vacancy in a manner different from the norm, I can only assume he had someone else in mind for the position."

Escobar also urged the commissioners to consider cost savings. Bernal promised not to fill her current position, first assistant county attorney. She said this would save taxpayers about $135,000 in the next year.

Though never an elected official, Bernal is no stranger to El Paso politics. Perez said she has enjoyed a long professional and personal relationship with Bernal, first while both were working as lawyers in the county attorney's office, then during Perez's run for county commissioner in 2008.

Bernal contributed $100 in February 2008 to Perez's campaign, then helped organize a block party for her.

Perez said she voted to appoint Bernal after interviewing more than half a dozen department heads, all of whom said they wanted to see a continuation of Rodríguez's policies until a county attorney can be elected by the people.

Gandara's selection last week for the new county ethics commission, J. Roberto Oaxaca, practices law with Bernal's brother, Abelardo Bernal.