Corruption trial begins for former state Sen. Griego
When San Jose Democrat began serving as broker in land deal rises as major issue
State Sen. Phil Griego spent more than a year “laying the groundwork for an eventual $50,000 payday,” pushing the sale of state property in a historic Santa Fe neighborhood to owners of a nearby inn, a state prosecutor told jurors on the first day of the former legislator’s corruption trial.
The former senator did this without ever telling any fellow legislators about his involvement in the real estate deal and by presenting false information about the sale, Assistant Attorney General Zach Jones said.
But Griego’s lawyer, Tom Clark, told the jury that nothing about Griego’s involvement is illegal. Clark said officials from “the very, very highest levels of state government” were the ones behind the sale of the property on De Vargas Street to the adjacent Inn of the Five Graces. And, Clark said, these high officials all knew of Griego’s involvement by the time the state sold the building in the summer of 2014.
Clark acknowledged widespread distrust of politicians. “Often people are tried in the court of public opinion before they ever go to trial,” he told the jury. “The judicial system does not try people on public opinion.”
The property sale cost Griego his seat in the Senate, where he had served nearly 20 years. He resigned a week before the end of the 2015 legislative session in the face of an ethics investigation by a Senate committee.
Griego, 69, faces six felony charges, including counts of fraud, bribery, perjury, unlawful interest in a public contract and violation of ethical principles of public service. He also faces two misdemeanor charges of violation of ethical principles of public service and failure to make required financial disclosures. The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.
It was obvious on the first day of the San Jose Democrat’s trial that a major point of contention will be when, exactly, Griego began working as a broker for a corporation owned by the Seret family, which owns the upscale inn.
Clark says his client wasn’t involved until he signed his broker contract in March 2014, more than a month after the state Legislature adjourned. During the session the Legislature had passed a resolution that allowed for the sale.
But Jones, in his opening statement, said that a full year before signing the contract, Griego approached John Bemis, then secretary of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, about selling the property — which was then owned by that department — to the Serets. At the time, the department was leasing the building to the Inn of the Five Graces. The 25-year lease made the innkeepers responsible for all building maintenance.
Bemis, who testified about that last year in a preliminary hearing for Griego, is expected to take the witness stand on Wednesday.
Jones pointed out that the property is not in Griego’s old Senate district and that the Serets were not his constituents.
Jones detailed how Griego got the process for the necessary legislation rolling in 2013 when he asked the Legislative Council Service to draft the resolution. But in September of that year, he asked state Rep. Jim Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, to be the sponsor of what came to be known as House Joint Resolution 8. Trujillo, who has said Griego didn’t tell him about his role as broker, agreed. He is one of several lawmakers expected to testify.
The jury on Monday got to see a video of the Senate’s floor vote on HJR 8. In it, Griego is called upon to present the bill, which had already passed the House. But instead of doing it himself, Griego yields the floor to Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, who takes charge of the presentation.
Answering questions from Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, Cisneros gives some wrong information. He says that the state would put the property up for bid, when, in reality, the Serets had first rights to buy it. The video shows Griego standing at his desk near Cisneros, but he does not correct his colleague’s mistake.
As senators begin voting on the resolution, Griego is seen going out the nearest door into a hallway. When the vote is announced, he returns, speaking briefly with Cisneros.
The jury also saw the “Stipulated Facts and Ethical Violations” document that Griego signed in 2015 shortly before he resigned from the Senate. In the statement, he admitted that he did not disclose any “direct or indirect interest in the matter that was before the Senate.”
Griego also said in the agreement that he was unaware of a state constitutional prohibition against having an interest in a state contract.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Contact Steve Terrell at 505-9863037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at www. santafenewmexican.com/roundhouse_roundup.