SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A state district court judge says an effort can move ahead to try and recall Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin from his seat as an Otero County commissioner on . Bill) Richardson appointed judge in Manuel Arrieta," Griffin said in an email April 7. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) An effort to recall the founder of Cowboys for Trump from his public office as a county commissioner can move forward, under an order Monday of the New Mexico state Supreme Court. "It is now in their hands.". Time is running out for a petition drive to recall Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin from office as a county commissioner in southern New Mexico. The hearing was held in the old Otero County Commission Chambers in the Otero County Courthouse across the street from the Otero County Administration Building. Its just to help with the financial burdens of not only the legal defense, which that is part of it, but also just to survive, Griffin said of the donations. Change.org Covid-19 . The petition alleges that Griffin neglected and misused his position as a county commissioner while skipping public meetings and promoting a support group for President Donald Trump that Griffin treated as a for-profit business. "The Committee to Recall Couy Griffin has received the official petition to Recall Otero County District 2 CommissionerCouy Griffin today (July 1)," Committee to Recall Couy Griffin today,"spokesman Paul Sanchez said. ALAMOGORDO, New Mexico A political committee has begun circulating a petition to recall Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin from public office as a commissioner in Otero County. In response to the allegations, Griffin said in the April 7 email that "As far as Im concerned I will stand on the same principle Ive stated over and over. "This is a historic opportunity for the people of District 2 and we look forward to the next step in this process.". Griffinrequested for the case to be dismissed and if it was not dismissed then he filed a demand for a jury trial in the case. New Mexico allows recalls at the county level for malfeasance or misfeasance in office or violation of the oath of office by the official concerned. Those actions must have occurred during the officials current term of office in order for a recall effort to be approved to circulate petitions. Griffin formed Cowboys for Trump in 2019 with a group of rodeo acquaintances to hold horseback-riding parades across the country in support of then-President Donald Trump, and has ascribed to unsubstantiated claims of massive 2020 election fraud. A state district court judge says an effort can move ahead to try and recall Griffin, the Cowboys for Trump founder from his seat as an Otero County commissioner on accusations of using his public office for personal gain. As of Aug. 24, the petition to recall Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin has collected 853 of the required 1,574 signatures. Griffin was elected to the three-member commission in 2018, defeating Democratic candidate Christopher S. Jones with 65% of the vote. It states his conduct resultedin his banishment from the Mescalero Apache Reservation, that he used county resources for non-commission reasons namely forGriffin's political advocacy companyCowboys for Trump, filing an improper travel voucher and violating the Gift Act when he received approximately $3,500 from a restricted donor to pay back the travel reimbursement from the travel voucher. More:Griffin recall to begin collecting signatures on Mescalero Reservation. Enjoying our stories? https://www.facebook.com/RecallCouy/videos/565453014816238. Change.org Covid-19 1422. He is also awaiting trialon charges ofknowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authorityfor his alleged role in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. Griffin is reviled and revered in politically conservative Otero County as he confronts criminal charges for joining protests on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. A full contingent of signatures would have allowed the recall question to be placed a special election ballot. That travel voucher was approved and a check was cut to Griffin in the amount of$3,237.48. FILE - In this May 13, 2021, file photo, Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin presides at a public meeting in Alamogordo, N.M., in a shirt with a "C4T" logo that stands for Cowboys for Trump. They say Griffin. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin has filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court as he seeks to fend off an effort to recall him from office as a county commissioner in southern New Mexico. Griffin said he had not decided on whether to seek re-election to his seat on the Commission, saying he was entertaining different options for his political future. The failed recall petition accused Griffin of failing to attend commission meetings, using his elected position for personal gain in promoting a support group for former President Donald Trump, improper travel vouchers and violating state restrictions on gifts to public officials. The Committee said its fundraising report would be delivered to the state Oct. 4. A state district court judge says an effort can move ahead to try and recall Griffin, the Cowboys for Trump founder from his seat as an Otero County commissioner on accusations of using his public office for personal gain. In 2021, a committee began circulating a petition to recall Griffin from office, accusing him of missing numerous county meetings, . "We are slightly behind the pace of signatures required to meet our goal and we are expanding our advertising and collection methods.". A successful petition with enough signatures would trigger a special election vote on whether Griffin can finish his four-year term in office. Griffin appealed Arrieta's the decision in favor of the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin to the New Mexico Supreme Court on April 19. Michelle Lujan Grisham would name a replacement. The Committee to Recall Couy Griffin, Otero County District 2 Commissioner, NEEDS YOUR HELP!! Griffin said the allegations against him were baseless and politically motivated. The Otero County Commission discussed the aftermath of Couy Griffin's statement. A public fundraising effort to benefit Griffin is underway through the online crowdsource platform GiveSendGo that has raised at least $41,500 including a $10,000 anonymous donation and gifts as small as $5. You know, they believe in individual freedoms and individual liberties. The hearing continued for about an hour after Griffin exited the hearing. All rights reserved. The recall complaint listed five allegations against Griffin that are also listed on the petition. The fund drive highlights a photograph from the White House Oval Office of President Donald Trump posing with Griffin, who wears a shirt with the Cowboys for Trump insignia. Griffin says the film about him was put together by Trump-allied attorney Sidney Powell and her group, Defending the Republic. Click here to subscribe. They say Griffin used his office to solicit contributions to Cowboys for Trump that covered his personal expenses. to stand with my fellow Americans in protest of what will one day be known as the biggest rigged election in American history.. ", More:NMPED opens public comment on proposed social studies standard, Griffin said he would proceed with his Commission duties, and represent a constituency he said value "individual freedoms and liberties.". It was unclear how soon the state Supreme Court will decide whether to intervene. On the 7th of January, after being part of the crowd that attacked the US Capitol grounds on 6 January (and live streaming from it), he made a vide petition to recall Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, Second Judicial District Court determination that probable cause, banishment from the Mescalero Apache Reservation, Griffin is being investigated by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. District Court Judge Manuel Arrieta on Thursday, April 8, 2021, ruled in favor of a group of recall petitioners who say that Griffin had repeatedly abused his authority and should be subject to a recall election this year. Griffin said he was informed that the recall had fell short on Sept. 28 from a friend. A state district court judge this month found good cause for a recall petition, but Griffin says the hearing took place unjustly at the same time as an Otero County commission meeting where he was being pressured to resign. SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) A state district court judge says an effort can move ahead to try and recall Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin from his seat as an Otero County commissioner on accusations of using the office for personal gain. On Monday, June 28, the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmedthe Second Judicial District Court determination that probable cause existed in the case to recall Griffin. "He had as much right to due process as we do and the judge very much made it clear and afforded him that right. Powell is representing Griffin in that case, now before the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Griffin was arrested in Washington after vowing to take his guns to the inauguration of President Joe Biden, and has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges in connection with the siege on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, where he appeared on an outdoor terrace and attempted to lead the crowd in prayer. Michael E. Vigil, Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmed, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. A statement dated Jan. 19 by Otero County, New Mexico, commissioners following the Jan. 17 arrest of fellow commissioner Couy Griffin, 47, following his arrest on . The petition, filed by the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin, alleged he failed to perform his duties as an elected official by missing scheduled county meetings, failed to "exercise proper fiduciary responsibility" when he filed an improper travel voucher,violated the New Mexico Gift Act, acted in a way which resulted in a ban from the Mescalero Apache Reservation and improperly used County resources to further his work for Cowboys For Trump. I still have a lot of confidence in the people in my district, Griffin said. Cowboys for Trump . He denies allegations that he knowingly entered barricaded areas with the intent to disrupt government as Congress considered Electoral College results. The Committee to Recall Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffinreminded residentsthat the change.orgpetitioncirculating is not a legal document and cannot be used to trigger a recall election. Retired military veteran Paul Sanchez and other members of the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin are accusing Griffin of using his elected county position for personal gain. Couy Griffin, who was charged for breaching the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, is disappointed the former president didn't follow through on his promise to jail Hillary Clinton. On June 28, JusticeMichael E. Vigil, Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court affirmeda lesser court's opinion that there was probable cause to recall District 2 Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin. Sanchez presented the allegations to Arrieta even after Griffin left the hearing. Only the March 11 complaint was heard in the April 8 recall hearing. He sees himself . The petition needs 1,574 signatures from current Otero County District 2 voters in order to trigger a recall election. Otherwise, Griffin is up for possible re-election in 2022 for a second, four-year term. The failed recall petition accused Griffin of failing to attend commission meetings, using his elected position for personal gain in promoting a support group for former President Donald Trump, improper travel vouchers and violating state restrictions on gifts to public officials. Griffin was released from federal prison on Feb. 5. Griffin was accused of trespassing onto. The vicious Democrat recall against Republican Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin has officially failed, collecting only 1,229 signatures from voters, short of the amount needed to trigger a special election. "On a personal level I feel that I can always do better, but generally speaking Iam pleased to know that Otero County and my district (in) particular still have a strong conservative fabric. Griffin has five calendar days to file an appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court. Bidens victory was certified by officials in each of the swing states he won and by Congress on Jan. 6 after Trumps supporters, fueled by false allegations of widespread election fraud, stormed the House and Senate chambers in a failed attempt to prevent certification of how Americans voted nationwide. Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin, charged in the January 6 Capitol riot, will not be recalled from office as a county commissioner in New Mexico because the recall petition did not. Backers of the petition drive in Otero County say they still need to collect several hundred additional signatures by next Wednesday to trigger a special recall election against Griffin. Otero County Commission talks aftermath of Couy Griffin statement. FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 31, 2020 file photo, Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks in Santa Fe, N.M., during a gun rights rally. The Committee to Recall Couy Griffin said Thursday in a news release that it has begun collecting signatures in efforts to scheduled a recall election. The petition to recall Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin began circulation on July 1. Several of the allegations listed in the recall petition are among the things for which Griffin is being investigated by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office. I make $23,000 a year (as a county commissioner) and I do a lot of traveling and I do a lot of work. Powell has filed a number of baseless lawsuits challenging 2020 election results and helped fund the recent Arizona election audit. This ruling said the process of recalling Griffin from his elected office, a decision first assertedApril 8 byThird Judicial District Court Judge Manuel Arrieta, may proceed. Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, the founder of Cowboys for Trump, discussed his past and future in politics from the porch of a tidy double-wide trailer in Tularosa, N.M., on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Retired military veteran Paul Sanchez and other members of the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin are accusing Griffin of using his elected county position for personal gain. Recall supporters did not collect enough signatures by the deadline on September 28, 2021. Griffin appealed Arrieta's ruling to the New Mexico Supreme Court which in turn affirmed the ruling. 2023 www.alamogordonews.com. An effort to recall Couy Griffin (R) from his position as the District 2 representative on the Otero County Commission in New Mexico did not go to a vote in 2021. 1 of 2. Griffin's motion for dismissal was heard in theApril 8 recall hearing and denied. Griffin formed Cowboys for Trump in 2019 with a group of rodeo acquaintances, vowing to hold horseback-riding parades nationwide in support of Trump. For the recall to proceed, Arrieta must sign the petition to recall, triggering a 90 day deadline for the Recall Committee to get the required signatures. Today, Couy Griffin is divorced, disparaged by family and confronts a political recall drive, a state corruption investigation and federal charges. Of a reported $5,000 collected, $300 remain in the Committees coffers. In a 50-minute online documentary and political origin story released in August, Griffin recounts his own travails inside a Washington, D.C., jail for nearly three weeks after his arrest in the run-up to President Joe Bidens inauguration. The recall petition fell shy, with about one-quarter as time ran out on Wednesday. Representatives from the Otero County Clerk's Office were at the hearing, including attorney Daniel Ivey-Soto who was appearing on behalf of the County Clerk' Office. Griffin described Cowboys for Trump as a name brand he proudly created and still wears on shirts in public, but says his visit with Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in September 2019 was an opportunity to raise concerns about the management of federal lands in Otero County. Just a small donation to get the most dangerous County Commissioner we've EVER had removed from office! The original civil complaint was filed March 11 with amended complaints filed March 24 and April 5 by the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin. Arrieta was assigned to the recall case after all of the 12th Judicial District judges recused themselves. "On the decision, I am obviously very pleased," Sanchez said. After Griffin was arrested, District 1 Commissioner Gerald Matherly (R) and District 3 Commissioner Vickie Marquardt (R) called for his resignation, as did New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas (D). These allegations are that Griffin failed to attend Otero County Commission meetings properly when he attended them telephonically while he was on his political group, Cowboys for Trump, business outsidethe county; conduct resulting in Griffin's banishment from the Mescalero Apache Reservation; using Otero County resources for Cowboys for Trump business; filing an improper travel voucher and failing to "exercise proper fiduciary responsibility; and violating the Gift Act when he asked for and received $3,500 from a restricted donor, the petition states. Once the petition is received by the Otero County Clerk's Office, the recall election has to happen within 90 days. The recall is one of several legal battles which Griffin finds himself in, including a federal trespassing charge for which he was arrested on Jan. 18. Couy Dale Griffin (born 1973) is a former politician who served from 2019 to 2022 as a county commissioner for District 2 of Otero County, . The Committee to Recall Couy Griffin reported that only 1,229 of the 1,574 required signatures were collected from District 2 votersby theSept. 28 deadline. Griffin deniedthe allegations claiming they were"frivolous and devoid of merit," court records state. The effort to recall Otero County District 2 Commissioner Couy Griffin failed by 345 signatures. (Griffin) chose not to take it. The recall is one of several legal battles which Griffin finds himself in, including a federal trespassing chargefor which he was arrested on Jan. 18. In April, Arrieta foundthere was probablecause to proceed with the recall petition. Otero County Clerk Robyn Holmes said the petition is due by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter. If you agree that he needs to go, please like the @RecallCouyGriffin FB page. Prior to Griffin's leaving the hearing, Arrieta told him that the Otero County Commission would have a quorum present without Griffin and that this hearing may be more important at this time. And I think Im in tune with them.. Abbey Smith is a staff writer at Ballotpedia. Visit us at Ballotpedia.org, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Vigil on June 28 affirmed a lower courts ruling to allow an effort to recall Couy Griffin (R) from his position as the District 2 representative on the Otero County Commission to move forward. Countless registered voters from the other Otero County districts were turned away from signing since only District 2 signatures counted for the recall effort. "We are grateful for this opportunity to provide the registered votersof Otero County District 2 the chance to decide if Commissioner Griffin is still the person they want to continue to represent them on the county commission as well as nationwide," Committee to Recall Couy Griffin spokesman Paul Sanchez said. The Committee to Recall Couy Griffin said Thursday in a news release that it has begun collecting signatures in efforts to scheduled a recall election . And Im damn sure no quitter!!". We are grateful for this opportunity to provide the registered voters of Otero County the chance to decide if Commissioner Griffin is still the person they want to continue to represent them on the county commission, as well as nationwide, the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin said in a statement. He is confronting misdemeanor criminal charges in the Jan. 6. insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, where he appeared on an outdoor terrace and tried to lead the crowd in prayer. 2023 www.alamogordonews.com. Griffin described the charges as frivolous and blamed county staff for providing bad guidance on travel reimbursements. FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 31, 2020 file photo, Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks in Santa Fe, N.M., during a gun rights rally. A successful recall election would have allowed Democratic Gov. Commissioner Griffin's rhetoric is only getting worse. This was the most recall efforts for this point in the year since the first half of 2016, when we tracked 189 recall efforts against 265 officials. Michelle Lujan Grisham to select an interim replacement. "The Committee to Recall Couy Griffin is very pleased that we have been found with probable cause, no less for all five of the allegations we presented.". FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 31, 2020 file photo, Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks in Santa Fe, N.M., during a gun rights rally. The regular Otero County Commission meeting that had begun at 9 a.m. and was still underway into the afternoon had recessed to allow him to attend the hearing. If allowed, a recall petition against Griffin with a sufficient number of signatures could trigger a special election within months. A probable cause determination is not a guilty verdict, rather it is a determination that the defendant most likely committed the crimes/issues alleged against him or her. July 1, 2021. "We can always do better, and I hope to do better moving forward. Feb 3, 2021. Federal prosecutors have offered Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin a plea agreement over charges that he illegally entered barricades during the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on January. The second amended complaint against Griffin is 141 pages long and alleges failed to meet his duties as a public servant, including missing regular Otero County meetings. Retired military veteran Paul Sanchez and other members of the Committee to Recall Couy Griffin are accusing Griffin of using his elected county position for personal gain. In comparison, we tracked between 72 and 155 efforts by the midpoints of 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin presides at a public meeting in Alamogordo, N.M., on Thursday, May 13, 2021, in a shirt with a "C4T" logo that stands for Cowboys for Trump. Griffin appealed Arrieta's ruling to the New Mexico Supreme Court which in turn affirmed the ruling. Recall supporters said Griffin had used the office for personal gain. Commissioner Griffin's rhetoric is only getting worse. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. The filing also noted that Griffin inappropriately filed a travel voucher for a trip to Washington, D.C. and for allegedly violating the Gift Act when he accepted a $3,500 donation from a restricted donor to pay back the travel voucher.
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