Publisher's journal: Mayor, commissioner must agree to disagree

Did he or didn’t he? Only David Bryant knows for sure if he attended that Municipal League training last month.

Bryant said he did. Clovis Mayor Mike Morris still says he didn’t and he wants Bryant to resign and pay back the city about $650 it spent on sending Bryant to Santa Fe.

Bryant’s statement last week was not exactly clear about how much time he spent at the seminar.

“I’ve attended every session of the program over my attendance at two separate offerings,” he wrote. … Huh?

But Morris can’t prove Bryant wasn’t there. Nobody can, unless they followed the Clovis city commissioner for every minute that seminar was in session.

The only thing we can probably all agree on is that it’s time to stop the banter.

That seems unlikely, of course.

After reading Bryant’s statement last week insisting he attended the seminar -- at least in some fashion -- the mayor issued a statement of his own.

“All I can do is call it like I see it and do my best to put light on this gross violation of public trust,” Morris’ statement read in part. “I’ve done that now. Ideally, the residents of (Bryant’s District 3) should make the decision as to whether they are pleased with their commissioner or not.”

Morris also wrote, “The citizens of Clovis deserve the highest levels of honesty and integrity from us as elected representatives. And we’re not getting that from David Bryant.”

Bryant – in his only statement since Morris brought the issue to light a month ago – said he’s been “downgraded, harassed, threatened, and humiliated by this mayor since being elected.”

So he said he’s not going to attend public meetings “until the situation is settled in the correct way …”

He strongly implied he is considering a lawsuit as a means of settling it.

Bryant also wrote, “It’s pretty clear there is a call for his (Morris’) resignation as well on similar accusations.”

That’s true. Some of Bryant’s supporters are asking the mayor to resign for making the accusations against Bryant.

Here’s a better idea: How about the mayor and the commissioner agree to disagree?

Ultimately, neither has any authority to oust the other – that’s what elections are for.

Morris has every right – an obligation even – to spotlight what he sees as “misuse, if not theft, of public funds.” But the anecdotal evidence he’s presented far from proves Bryant is a thief.

And if Bryant is planning to bring a defamation lawsuit against the mayor, he should probably read up on public figures and the burden of proving libel or slander before he hires an attorney.

It’s all been good theater, and we all have our opinion about who’s in the right.

Now it’s time for our public servants to focus on serving the public.

David Stevens is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Email him at:

[email protected]