Michael Morris – In Focus

On September 17 @ 9 am in Jerry Ritter’s Alamogordo Courtroom the Case of Sederwall et al v Maddox, Virden and Herrera regarding some wide reaching election “irregularities” that, if proven, begins the process of establishing the elements of criminal conduct on the part of the Defendants. The upshot of the petition (PDF)[The 40 pages of jurisdictional affidavits from the 25 elector petitioners in the Virden matter have been left out to reduce file size] before the court is that incumbent Sheriff Rick Virden has misrepresented his residence and not qualified for ballot placement for several reasons, that Lincoln County Clerk Tammie Maddox, engaged in criminal and other capricious acts, some recently reversed by the New Mexico Supreme Court and should not be allowed to conduct the upcoming General Election asking that a Special Master be appointed for that purpose. For the first time ever I have a cognizable conflict that I must disclose. Yours truly was served with this invitation to testify in this case (PDF). While I will not really be going into that detail the subject here may obviate the need for me to say a word. You people forcing me into this with your lies have tried my patience. After today there will be no more Mr. Nice Guy.

The only focus for today is going to be the allegation that Tammie Maddox illegally opened the Precinct 3 ballot box. There have been various stories in circulation regarding the manner of this crime. Instead of telling you what I think happened I will just try to take you along on the road of discovery. Speaking of discovery Tim… History is nothing more than a journal of activities. In order to get to what actually happened all one must do is understand the rules of the endeavor and the actions taken, their timing and their owners. In this case the following list of documents will be helpful BEFORE trial:

Any and all communications, in whatever form, between the Office of the Clerk and the SOS, including, but not limited to reporting of the unofficial results, between poll closing and 4 am June 4.

The date and time the Canvassing Board opened its meeting and any other documents produced from the conduct of the canvass.

OK, now to business. The allegation that we will be exploring today is that Tammie Maddox, abusing the power of her office, illegally opened the ballot box for pct. 3 in contravention of:

1-13-14. Post-election duties; opening the ballot box.
Once the ballot box has been locked by the precinct board after its first count and tally, no person shall open the ballot box or remove its contents except as provided by the Election Code [Chapter 1 NMSA 1978].

We will get to the procedure once I lay a little foundation for the rest of the discussion. There is an issue of the actual circumstances and time of the box opening hence the need for that pct. 3 time of report info sir. There are more than a few individuals who know when this happened, but they are keeping quiet which is not only why I am going through this, but also the reason the law requires certain individual to be present any time a ballot box is opened including detailed instructions. Then there is the issue of the Complaint for Disbarment against himself by County Attorney Alan Morel in the form of a motion (PDF) that looks more pro se asking for judge Parsons to order (PDF) a box opening specifically prohibited by law. In order to bring a cause this sham of a lawyer claims the need of this extralegal order is missing election returns locked in the ballot box. To give you an idea just how unscrupulous Morel really is it is important to understand that such a situation has its own section of law just in case this happens:

1-13-8 Post-election duties; county canvass; search for missing returns.
If it is necessary to open a ballot box to ascertain if missing election returns are enclosed therein, the ballot box shall be opened in the presence of the county canvassing board by the county clerk and the district judge, or someone designated by him. If it is necessary to send the key of the ballot box to his designated representative, the district judge shall send it by certified mail, and it shall be returned in the same manner. Where such omission or negligence of the precinct board causes an additional expense to be incurred, no compensation shall be paid to the precinct board for its services on election day.

Before jumping into the rest of Morel’s deranged blather it is important to determine if the court even had subject matter jurisdiction here. At the same time we need to be determining the matter of “clearly without jurisdiction” which is the threshold to pierce judicial immunity. Neither of the above provisions allows for judicial review, but 1-13-8 names the judge as one of the parties involved in finding missing returns, just not this way. Determining rights when one of the parties is the judge is not legal either. The judge is recused and has no jurisdiction to proceed in the matter. The deliberate failure to name the judge as a party does not pave any way for Judge Parsons to act. The motion does indicate, however, that judge Parsons, by name, is the keyholder judge identified in 1-13-8 making her an indispensible party. Some may argue that Sims eviscerates this failure as a jurisdictional defect, but that argument must fail if the failure to name a party is used to make a mockery of justice, produce an absurd result or is sham. Look at the separation of powers concern as well. While I am not sure whether the County Commission when acting as the Canvassing Board is a legislative or executive body we can safely assume it is not judicial branch. By her order Parsons merely excludes the Canvassing Board from the opening of the ballot box in accordance with 1-13-8 leaving just the judge and Tammie Maddox as the only attendees. Where did that jurisdiction come from?

To top this off Morel never even attempts to invoke the jurisdiction of the court merely complaining that because the returns are locked in the ballot box Maddox will not be able to get the unofficial results to the Secretary of State in time. In the midst of this Morel refers to the unofficial tally as the canvass which it is not. The Canvassing Board is solely charged with that in 1-13-1. The problem with that is this motion is time stamped 1:19 pm on June 4th. The other problem is Morel does not cite this law, actually 2 claiming instead “…the Lincoln County Clerk will be unable to complete the canvas of the vote as required by New Mexico law”:

1-12-70(A) - The county clerk shall report to the secretary of state the vote totals in each precinct on election night.

1-12-30(D) - The county clerk shall report the unofficial total returns for the county to the secretary of state within ten hours after the polls close.

Obviously those deadlines had passed, so there was no way that this ex parte order could have given relief since the deadlines had already passed eliminating any irreparable harm and emergent need necessary to do anything ex parte without notice to the parties entitled by actual law to participate and witness the ballot box opening directed in 1-13-8. The specific statutory provision that “no person shall open” is mandatory. 1-13-8 gives the procedure to open the box in the circumstances presented in the motion. Though the Election Code assigns many review duties to the district judge there is none present here.

If it is necessary to open a ballot box to ascertain if missing election returns are enclosed therein, the ballot box shall be opened in the presence of the county canvassing board by the county clerk and the district judge, or someone designated by him.

Is some part of that unclear? Tammie Maddox asked for this order. Tammie Maddox is charged with being competent in the administration of elections. The Election Code is the controlling law on that conduct. Alan Morel is an attorney required to be competent in the law. Even the simple phrase search of the Conway Greene site for “missing returns” will give one this much to work with. Are we to believe neither of these two knew this to be the case? Of course not. This was a sham concocted by these two to play the judge for a fool ordering a ballot box opened in secret when there was a specific statutory provision that denied her the jurisdiction to make the order. This may also explain why Morel fraudulently claims to the court that the ballot box is under impoundment. You would think the idiot Judge Parsons would at least remember that she had signed no impoundment order since the election. Besides impoundment only occurs in cases of contested ballots. So much for that candor towards the tribunal or responsibility to be honest with the court in ex parte actions even if the fact is adverse. I would say a statute that absolutely prohibits what you are asking the court to order fits that. But that is just my opinion.

Let’s break off of this for a moment to try to find the why of this matter. One problem I have had since this matter first came to light is that I was at the Lincoln County Courthouse on election night to collect the results for my friends Diana Martwick and Dave Ceballes, both seeking the Rep. nomination for District Attorney. In fact aside from Sheriff Virden and a single other watcher who left after his precincts were posted my family and I were the only non-employees in the building except when a precinct was delivering. At 8:38pm, according to Verizon, I sent a single text message to both of the candidates giving the total that came from the strip printouts posted outside the clerk’s office and the absentee etc. from the door of the Commission Chambers. That result included the Precinct 3 results as the total in the texts match the Excel Mobile spreadsheet I used to calculate the totals that has not been modified since that includes the Republican DA votes for Precinct 3. How did that happen if the Clerk is asking the district judge to order the unlawful ballot box opening after lunch the next day?

This brings me to this point. Alan Morel has to be disqualified from representing Tammie Maddox in this matter since he is a fact witness on the operation that culminated in this filing. These two teamed up with Karen Parsons to pervert the purity and sanctity of the election potentially invalidating the entire vote in that precinct. Morel has to answer that question. With or without this fraudulently obtained void order the specific statutory provision prohibiting opening the ballot box to find the missing returns was a criminal act. Morel, knowing the law as his job requires, intentionally aided and abetted this crime making him equally guilty. Judge Parsons is either another accomplice or wholly incompetent to remain on the bench. Still we don’t have the answer to why. Only two scenarios come to mind. The first is laziness and lack of respect for the law. Maddox has demonstrated a contempt for the law that is typical of psychopaths who have no regard for right and wrong, so this is quite viable. The other concerns why it was the Canvassing Board they did not want to see the contents of the ballot box. How else do you explain concealing the actual law in favor of this bunk? How do you explain a district judge ordering the secret opening of the ballot box without asking the requesting party to cite a single authority invoking the jurisdiction of the court or even a smidgen of proof of the irreparable harm that would be caused?

Another theory supported by the actual facts is that the box was opened by Maddox herself with not even the sham veil of a void court order then realized that she had been seen doing it and tried to cover her tracks. But what are the chances of that?

For Parsons’ part in this fraud we can only conclude that she is entirely incompetent or one of the criminals. If you subscribe to the notion that she is merely an incompetent rubber stamp there is ample evidence to support such a conclusion. After all she not only signed an order specifically prohibited by operation of the Election Code she signed an order for the opening of an “impounded” ballot box. The same set of facts can equally support the concept that she is a criminal along side the other two. Since no record (splain that Lucy) was made of the proceeding it is impossible to determine how exactly these folks conducted the kangaroo court that produced this absolute and total disregard for the law by the County Clerk, County Attorney and District Judge. The easiest one to crack will be Morel since he could lose his existence as he knows it as a result. While it would be wonderful for Mr. Rose to bring this out it would be more effective if our Secretary of State, who is a Respondent in the Sept. 17 trial, would do her duty and refer this to the Attorney General. There can be no question that the order and the opening violate the Election Code and are criminalized by the Code. Her continued failure to act only serves to cast doubt on her ability or willingness to carry out her primary duties which include:

1-2-2. Secretary of state; general duties.
The secretary of state shall:
E. report possible violations of the Election Code of which the secretary of state has knowledge to the district attorney or the attorney general for prosecution.

It is because of just this kind of corruption, long covered up by corrupt officials, that makes New Mexico so unattractive to business. If you want some prosperity you might consider how things are doing in Louisiana since they began cleaning up institutionalized corruption like ours. There are some people around here who could do great things, but they are all for naught because petty and capricious individuals like Tammy Maddox continue to expand the bounds of “at all costs”. If this is what you want then you probably did not make it down this far – lol. If you want a future for your children and grandchildren free from organized crime then it is time to stand for something. Stand for clean government. For those of you who know where the bodies are buried but are in fear for your job or worse I ask what kind of message you send to your kids when you decide to look the other way while crime happens right in front of your face? What do you teach them when, by your unwillingness to come forward and do the right thing, you tell them that you had the chance to break the yolk of the corruption, but cowered away? Trust me when I tell you that there are many fine businesses in this community that will go out of their way to hire people who will stand up in the face of this corruption. Do the right thing and so will we.