Judge: Insurrection Participant County Commisioner Barred From Public Office

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A New Mexico judge cites insurrection in barring a county commissioner from office

"A county official in New Mexico who was convicted of entering a restricted area during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol must be immediately removed from office for his involvement in an insurrection, a judge decided Tuesday.

District Court Judge Francis Mathew ruled that Couy Griffin, an Otero County commissioner, is now disqualified from holding public office because he violated Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment by participating in the Jan. 6 siege.

Noah Bookbinder — the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW — said the ruling against Griffin is the first time since the Civil War era that any public official has been removed under the provision of the Fourteenth Amendment, which bars anyone from holding state or federal office if they engage or support any kind of insurrection or rebellion against the U.S.

This little-known provision was included in the Fourteenth Amendment in the wake of the Civil War, Bookbinder says, as a way to exclude those who were part of the Confederacy from holding public office again. He says it was used in the 1860s and then has been very rarely invoked since.

"We have been fortunate as a country to not have many episodes of insurrection — and certainly not insurrections in which elected officials have played a part," Bookbinder says. "But now we had this thing happen where people in the U.S. engaged in an armed insurrection to stop the legally mandated counting of votes and the peaceful transfer of power. It really looked a whole lot like what the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment had in mind." "

This judge should get ready for death threats.

Angering Trump supporters is like angering a violent mob.

They take their victimhood seriously. (sad)
 
That's a nice provision in the 14th.

"No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."

14th
 
We've seen so many insurrectionists lose their job over this.

But this is the first case of a court tossing someone out of a public job because they were a January 6th insurrectionist.

Right on, 14th Amendment!
 
This guy has some very messed up ideas of how things should be done. He doesn't seem to have much respect for law and order:

"Griffin drove from Otero County to Washington, D.C., for a conference.[when?] During the trip he towed his horse in a trailer, and stopped in New York City to participate in a September 11 parade in the capacity as a member of Cowboys For Trump. Upon completion of this trip Griffin submitted a travel voucher to the county to cover the cost of his travel expenses, which included a per diem and mileage at a cost of $3,247.48. The county finance director approved the voucher without verifying county policy on travel expenses. The county then approved increasing District 2 Commissioner travel allotment to account for the added expense of Griffin's trip. It was discovered by citizens that the travel voucher violated county policy and reimbursement should have only been the cost travel by air and per diem for the two days he was in D.C. for the conference. Griffin repaid the entirety of the travel voucher from donations received from local business owners. The state auditor was made aware of the violations and did an audit on county finances.[citation needed] "

wiki
 
He openly admits he doesn't care about the facts.

"It’s not based on any facts. It’s only based on my gut feeling and my own intuition, and that’s all I need."

"During the investigation into the travel voucher, it was discovered that Cowboys for Trump were not registered as a political action committee, but instead were registered as a Limited Liability Corporation. The Secretary of State of New Mexico was notified and Cowboys for Trump were required to register as a PAC. They in turn sued the SOS declaring they were not a PAC. The court system sided with the SOS and declared Cowboys for Trump had to register as a PAC.[3]

Griffin is currently facing criminal charges for failing to register his group as a political action committee. The trial is set to begin in September 2022.

On January 6, 2021, Griffin participated in the Capitol attack, climbing over barriers and walls to gain access to a restricted area of the grounds. Later that month, Griffin spoke during a recorded commission meeting stating he was going to go back to D.C. with his firearms for the inauguration of Joe Biden.[4] Upon his return to D.C. on January 17, 2021, Griffin was arrested and charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. Due to refusal of Covid testing in the jail, Griffin spent days in solitary confinement. He was released from jail on February 5, 2021. Griffin's trial for his participation in the Capitol attack took place March 22, 2022, with Judge Trevor McFadden presiding. He was found guilty on the trespassing charge but acquitted of the disorderly conduct charge.[5] Griffin was sentenced to 14 days in jail, time served, a $3000 fine, 60 days of community service and supervised release for a duration of one year.[6]

Griffin and the two other Otero County commissioners refused to certify January 2022 county election results, citing lingering concerns of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. They hired a firm run by election conspiracy promoter Shiva Ayyadurai, who had also worked on the 2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit. As with that audit, no evidence of fraud was found. New Mexico secretary of state Maggie Toulouse Oliver sued the commission, and the state Supreme Court ordered the commission to certify the election. Two of the commissioners relented, but Griffin refused, asserting, "It’s not based on any facts. It’s only based on my gut feeling and my own intuition, and that’s all I need."[7] "
 
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