Citizens want grand juries to hear claims against governor

An independent oil producer from Roswell and members of the Concerned Citizens for New Mexico group have filed petitions in New Mexico district courts seeking to have citizens' grand juries convened to hear allegations of state constitutional violations by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. It's an action they call “drastic” but a necessary “citizens' remedy” to address executive overreach.

A spokeswoman for the Governor's Office said the office does not comment on pending litigation, but also noted that courts have upheld the governor's actions regarding public health mandates many times.

Larry Marker, a Roswell resident who is paying for the court filings, said he and others believe the action to be the only option left after courts have dismissed or ruled against other claims seeking to overturn public health mandates and emergency actions, such as required business closures for enterprises considered “non-essential,” restrictions against church gatherings, required vaccinations for some groups and mask mandates.

“I believe this is going to be successful,” said Marker. “I believe in the New Mexico constitution and I believe in New Mexico. I believe the governor and the people in charge - they are misapplying statutes. They are misinterpreting them and then they are misapplying those misinterpretations. They have exceeded their authority in numerous, numerous ways. It is not that we are mad or we think we are smarter than anyone else. We just need to live as Americans.”

Stacy Wolkwitz, a member of Concerned Citizens, added, “free Americans.”

Marker, Wolkwitz and Jessie James Gomez and Donna Johnson of Concerned Citizens said the petitions filed in Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties on Sept. 3 are only the initial step that they hope eventually will occur in all 13 district court jurisdictions in the state and all 33 counties. Eddy, Lea and Chaves counties make up the New Mexico 5th Judicial District.

The group also said they filed the necessary voter signatures, with Gomez and Johnson leading efforts in Chaves County starting on July 1. The state constitution requires 2% of registered voters in a county or 200 registered voters, whichever is greater, for the grand jury petitions.

According to Wolkwitz, 1,300 signatures were gathered for Chaves County, when 700 were required. She said that more than a thousand were collected for Lea and Eddy, and that almost enough have been obtained for Lincoln, Otero, Curry and Roosevelt counties for petitions to be filed there.

Wolkwitz and Gomez also said that volunteers are also working in Bernalillo, Sandoval, Cibola and Valencia counties to collect signatures.

“Step by step,” said Gomez. “We have more volunteers down here, so it was easier. We got it completed faster.”

New Mexico does not allow voters to demand a recall vote for elected officials beyond the county and municipal level. But, according to Marker, it is one of six U.S. states with a constitutional provision for a citizens' grand jury to hear evidence against state officials about three specific types of allegations: malfeasance of office, misfeasance of office and violations of oath of office.

“We've actually got charges that fit in the scope of all three of those claims,” Marker said.

The petition filed in Chaves County lists those causes of action and states, “The legally unjustified actions of Defendant during her term as Governor include but are not limited to the abuse of authority related to the numerous constitutionally prohibited renewals of public health emergency orders. Defendant under guise of emergency authority ordered and authorized numerous illegal actions that included invasions of the constitutionally protected rights of citizens of New Mexico.”

The petition also claimed that the public health orders and mandates violated “Constitutionally protected inherent and civil rights of the citizens of New Mexico. The invasions of these rights inflicted severe, long term and irreparable harm on the citizens of New Mexico.”

The 5th Judicial District Court divisions have discretion to determine if the causes of action are correctly presented and to ask the county clerk to verify the authenticity of the signatures, although the Concerned Citizens members said that they already have checked the voters' names against counties' voting rolls.

If court officials agree to convene a grand jury or refer the matter to an existing one, the 5th Judicial District Attorney, one of the attorneys in that office or an attorney appointed by the district attorney would present the evidence, in most instances.

“We have never gotten to this point in New Mexico where we needed to do something like this,” Marker said. “The citizens of New Mexico believe this is an important enough issue that the courts need to decide it.”

Marker, who grew up in the area, said he has been representing himself and his business interests in lawsuits against the state for about four years, starting because he felt the state was trying to eliminate independent oil and gas producers. He admits he has been losing up until this point, but he calls the current action “historic” in that it has never been used regarding a governor.

He said his primary aim is to have the governor testify.

“At some point the people of this state need to stand up,” he said. “This country was built from the bottom up, from the grassroots. ... It was not built from the capitol buildings down.”

Wolkwitz and Gomez said the governor has, in effect, established herself as all three branches of the government - executive, legislative and judicial - by refusing to allow legislators to create the laws concerning pandemic-related restriction. They said she overstepped by instead issuing and repeatedly renewing executive orders.

“Ultimately we want all power returned to the community level,” said Gomez. “We definitely want complete oversight at the community level.”

The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in November 2020 that the New Mexico Legislature already has passed the legislation that empowers the governor and state administration officials to issue and enforce orders due to a public health emergency. Other court decisions regarding business closures have been decided in favor of the governor's administration as well, but lawsuits remain in the courts regarding orders requiring vaccination mandates for teachers, health care workers and certain other categories of workers.