Griego likely to get his just desserts

IT IS BOTH interesting and enlightening to follow the ongoing saga of former New Mexico senator and accused public corrupter Phil Griego. It’s good to see the exceptional instance in N.M. politics where the chickens are coming home to roost.

Rarely, if ever, in the inglorious history of Santa Fe Roundhouse chicanery has there been an instance of a bulldog attorney general biting down on a fellow party member with a pit bull, vise-like grip that refuses to yield. You go, AG Hector Balderas. Your party favorability rating is akin to that of Donald Trump’s at a La Raza meeting, but your esteem among many N.M. citizens continues to rise. Stay the course.

Griego will get his day in court and the chance to support his seemingly futile “not me” defense, but I suspect, unlike Hillary Clinton having the FBI director save her from the gallows, Griego will get his just desserts.

To put some icing on the corruption cake, Griego, following suit of an APS board member, appears to be a fan of phantom billing and misusing funds not authorized for his personal use. Perhaps the $50,000 garnered from his real estate misadventure was insufficient for his needs?

As a long-time follower and volunteer lobbyist of the N.M. Legislature and the embedded “patron” system, what always comes to mind when I see cases of this type involving political corruption is how often it has occurred in the past and has been condoned as business as usual. The embedded system fosters the arrogance of power that takes hold of many politicians. They forget who they are elected to serve and pursue self interests.

The only way that the “old boy” network can change is to remove the vipers from their nest. Come November, I strongly recommend that we all do research and due diligence on the folks we are electing to the Legislature. If they don’t pass the smell test and are putting themselves before the state and their constituents, send them on their way.

DAVE COULIE Albuquerque