Mike Morris – InFocus

Sorry folks for being so late into the game in the matter of Commissioner Couy Griffin ripping off the taxpayers to play cowboy and stay solvent. As I look at what appears to be going on the County Manager introduces herself as either grossly incompetent or a willing accomplice to Griffin in his scheme to defraud the taxpayers. Answering the question of which is as important as delivering a turnkey case to prosecutors detailing Couy Griffin’s criminal conduct. There is a lot to do, so let’s get started.

The subject of today’s inquiry is a travel reimbursement foisted on the county by Commissioner Griffin to pay for his party trip to DC complete with horse and massive trailer to get a photo op with the President in his Cowboys for Trump logo shirt. Yeah that’s right Griffin took his PAC on the road to DC to supplicate himself to trump and stick you with a bill north of $3200 for the trip. A recent article in the Alamogordo Daily News quotes Griffin claiming he has since repaid the county the funds he stole. While the problems with these acts are many let’s look at what the law says happens when you put in unlawful mileage and per diem:

NMSA 10-8-7. Penalty.

Any public officer or employee covered by the Per Diem and Mileage Act who knowingly authorizes or who knowingly accepts payment in excess of the amount allowed by the Per Diem and Mileage Act or in excess of the amount authorized by the secretary or the governing board pursuant to Section 10-8-5 NMSA 1978 is liable to the state in an amount that is twice the excess payment.

What the hell is going on here. Without going into the weeds the claimed purpose trip would allow $1,100 – $1,200 leaving an excess of ~$2,000 requiring a repayment of $4,000. If Griffin is telling the truth that he repaid the entire reimbursement that is suggestive that the whole trip was tossed from taxpayer funding meaning that Couy Griffin owes $6,400, not $3,200. No one has the authority to waive this penalty, but that is what is going on right under our noses. The question is the cause – incompetence of the county and its counsel or a good ole boy Mulligan.

While the penalty in the Mileage and Per Diem Act is worth noting here the real meat of this matter is the felonious conduct of Griffin to bilk the taxpayers out of thousands while laughing in your faces. Let’s simplify things by assuming for the moment that Griffin returned all of the money because there was no legitimate county business in the 7 day equestrian excursion though we were billed for the adventure.

Let’s look at Griffin’s conduct against a backdrop of the law to see whether Couy should be a third or fourth degree felon once this is finally prosecuted. First let us look at what fraud means at New Mexico law:

NMSA 30-16-6. Fraud.

A.  Fraud consists of the intentional misappropriation or taking of anything of value that belongs to another by means of fraudulent conduct, practices or representations.

So like taking a trip on behalf of your PAC with horse in tow billing the trip to the county? The amount of the fraudulent bill was in excess of $3,200. What does the law say about that?

E. Whoever commits fraud when the value of the property misappropriated or taken is over two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) but not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) is guilty of a third degree felony.

Did I stutter? The question isn’t why this guy is still in office. The question is why he is still on the street? Defendants are routinely charged with far less serious crimes than this. It is a third degree felony for crying out loud.

With your help and a little publicity we will get answers and results. For the time being you might want to ask DA John Sugg why he has recused himself from these cases leaving us at the mercy of Santa Fe.

InFocus – Mike Morris

Our District II Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin has been in the news a lot this year. From assertions that the only good Democrat is a dead one to suggestions that unhappy blacks head back to Africa to claims that Holloman AFB stacks the contracting deck against white men Griffin never disappoints. The problem is that Couy Griffin is a textbook carpetbagger with no ties to the community and articulated plans to return home to Reserve. That is a problem because District II is not inhabited by idiots though they can be fooled by a conman like Griffin. Let’s have a look at Griffin so we can better distinguish between fact and fiction regarding our intrepid self-styled cowboy.

After a string of drunken encounters with police early in adulthood Couy Griffin, son of a timberman, secured a job as a cowboy in a European amusement park show. After returning to the states Griffin and his family launched Griffin Brothers Wild West Show and Rural Ministries Inc., a nonprofit corporation. It is in that context that most of the community learned of Griffin’s existence when they were hired to perform at the Otero County Fair. Now don’t get me wrong. Couy wants to be a cowboy in the worst way. He wants to be a roper, but he sucks at it. Contemporaneous with the wild west show Griffin was inheriting a storefront church from his uncle. It was around that time Griffin met his current ex-wife.

Being a NM county commissioner doesn’t pay all that well. In order to supplement this stipend Griffin opened Cowboys for Trump LLC as a front for fundraising activities. The for profit LLC acts as an identity for Griffin, however a closer look at these fundraising operations reveals that the legal beneficiary and/or recipient of the funds raised is generally not Cowboys for Trump LLC, but rather individuals with no connection to the LLC. This is what tax evasion and money laundering look like.

Fortunately Couy Griffin lacks any morality in the way the term is generally understood. At the same time he is arrogant and not the sharpest tool in the shed. For our purposes this is the gift that keeps on giving. See it seems that Griffin lied about his income in a child support matter. There is currently a motion in that case to compel production of some financial documents from Commissioner LoudMouth. While it is unlikely these documents will become public their contents should trigger recognizable events in the record and serve as the basis for a perjury charge. That would be one easy avenue to pursue to scrape this barnacle from our hull. This would simply require a concerted effort to encourage prosecutors to apply some of that equal protection to this criminal.

While we are on the subject there is no way to sugar coat this – in order to avoid the appearance of a political hit job the case must not only establish the elements of the crime(s), but also be easy to understand by the very casual observer. The simplest way to work within this confine is provide the prosecutor with the evidence and the public an explanation of what is going on. I mean it is pretty hard to ignore a complex scheme to hide the loot in the context of child support determination.

In the end it will probably be the IRS that puts Couy Griffin in chains, but even that relies on a coordinated effort encouraging that agency to do its job. Ultimately it is up to the concerned citizens of Otero County that will make this happen or fail.

This would be so much easier if the mini crime wave would resign under his own steam, but this probably will not happen, so it is time to up the ante. Let’s do this thing.

Mike Morris – In Focus

Every time I think I am done writing something happens to change my mind. This time is different since my neighbors elected a carpetbagging grifter to the Otero County Commission. Leaving a wake of nationwide embarrassment, embezzlement of public funds and a string of shady happenings District II Commissioner Couy Griffin has shown himself unfit for any position of public trust. Chronicling the malfeasance of this elected officer is the reason I am writing again. The fact that Griffin isn’t breaking rocks for a living suggests the system is broken in its execution of the duties required of it. Let’s get to the bottom of of this.

In nearly 20 years of watching  Otero County politics I have seen everything from silly antics like the spaceport tax, cattails for fuel and water desalination to outright frauds like the multiple “cookie” companies looking to take a bite out of the public treasury, but never have I witnessed a morally bankrupt criminal like Couy Griffin holding public office.

OK, Mike you have accused the honorable commissioner of being a criminal. How about some facts to support this conclusory allegation? I’m glad you asked. This part is easy to understand. Griffin runs a for profit political organization Cowboys for Trump LLC, a New Mexico Limited Liability Company. This operation is also known as C4T and equips its leadership with C4T branded shirts. Griffin, in his capacity as Managing Member of the LLC, traveled to see trump. In a photo op Griffin is wearing the C4T shirt, not an Otero County shirt. That photo has become the centerpiece in the C4T/Griffin fundraising effort. The problem is that our felonious commissioner presented the county with a bill for his PR activities on behalf of his private business. Eventually Griffin was busted for the bogus bills and was required to pay back the money or have it paid on his behalf by undisclosed contributors.

This brings us to the second very important prong of the analysis of my claim that Griffin is guilty of felonious conduct in office and in the conduct of his official duties. That is whether returning or being gifted to return the loot excuses the initial crime. What public policy supports encouraging public officers to bilk the taxpayers with no consequences beyond returning the ill gotten booty if nabbed? Do we excuse a burglar, a pickpocket or a robber if he agrees to return the take if caught? Of course not. That would be absurd. How is it not absurd to grant immunity to a public officer that knowingly defrauds the taxpayer with bogus travel expenses? Let’s find out why our Attorney General is sitting on his hands.

There are numerous examples of less nefarious misfeasance and malfeasance in Griffin’s tenure such as misuse of county property, failing to attend meetings and a complete inability to do his job as a result of his Cowboys for Trump LLC employment. While these and many more are technically valid reasons to eject Griffin they tend to accumulate into a ball of noise and amount to being distracted by rabbits. Courts are going to frown on a shotgun approach filled with technicalities. That is not to say ignore incidents such as Griffin missing meetings due to outside employment whether or not the incompetent advice of the “county attorney” had him unlawfully participating from parts unknown. The nuance is not to look like some deranged hall monitor.

Currently there are groups contemplating removing Couy Griffin by the way of the hybrid judicial/political method of a recall election. While this method is indeed a valid means of removing an errant officer it may be too slow and cumbersome compared to the urgency of the task at hand. For that reason, among others beyond the scope of this essay, I want to concentrate on judicial removal for cause since it is evidence based and limited to instances of serious misconduct.

My intent is not actually to have Griffin removed from office. I want to see Couy Griffin dragged out in irons in the name of equal justice. Otherwise I will mount a relentless campaign against any public officer that refuses to do his duty under the law.

So stay tuned while we help the system render a just outcome.