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.