City commissioner strikes back at mayor

CLOVIS — One month after Clovis’ mayor accused him of lying about attending a taxpayer-funded training session in Santa Fe, Clovis City Commissioner David Bryant has responded to the allegations.

“Yes,” Bryant wrote in a Facebook message to The News, “I attended” the seminar hosted June 5-7 by the New Mexico Municipal League.

Bryant also suggested he is looking into legal action regarding the mayor’s accusation.

“I’ve contacted legal with the City and outside legal as well on the matter,” he wrote in his statement.

“I’ve been downgraded, harassed, threatened, and humiliated by this mayor since being elected. ... I wish this to stop being a public display as the City has better things to focus on.”

Mayor Mike Morris has publicly and repeatedly accused Bryant of failing to attend the session despite the city paying about $650 for the training, including Bryant’s hotel stay.

Morris first made the allegation against Bryant in emails he sent the commissioner on June 16 and June 19.

“I believe you lied to your fellow commissioners and the public as you falsely reported having attended the training,” Morris wrote Bryant. “Your words and actions have been a betrayal of the public’s trust.”

The mayor then called for Bryant to “replace the public’s funds and resign from your city commission seat.”

Before Saturday, July 15, Bryant had repeatedly declined to say whether he attended the seminar. He did not attend the July 6 City Commission meeting at which Morris repeated his claim that Bryant’s failure to attend the training was a “misuse, if not theft, of public funds.”

In his statement, Bryant did not offer specifics about his attendance or say how long he was there, just that, “I’ve attended every session of the program over my attendance at two separate offerings.” He also said another city commissioner had confirmed his attendance.

Asked to respond to questions about his statement, Bryant declined.

“(D)ue to legal actions being reviewed I would rather not,” he wrote.

City Commissioner Gene Porter said at the July 6 Commission meeting he had spoken with Municipal League staff who told him Bryant attended the earliest part of the meeting but that they did not see him for other parts of the session.

Bryant’s statement also said he will miss the next few committee and commission meetings “until the situation is settled in the correct way as it should have been.”

It’s not clear when Bryant, the city’s District 3 representative, might return to public meetings or when he would consider the matter settled.

Morris told The News that Bryant’s statement has not convinced him that Bryant attended the training session.

Morris also issued a statement in which he wrote that the city is “developing new policies to try and prevent this from happening again and we’re staying on track with everything else.

“Under my leadership, we are focused on the big and important things such as infrastructure, water, job creation, public safety and quality of life improvements. ... I won’t allow Team Clovis / CAFB (Cannon Air Force Base) to be distracted nor the momentum interrupted by irritating distractions.

“But at the same time, Mr. Bryant’s bad behavior had to be called out. This is serious. 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.”

Grant McGee of The News contributed to this report.