According to New Mexico Democratic congressional candidate Eric Griego, “If you break the law, you should go to jail. Even if you’re a Wall Street Banker.” But his rule seems not to apply to traffic laws.
A Griego campaign mailer attacks the “predatory lending.” of Wall Street bankers. “No one should be above the law,” it says.
But court records show that the state legislator has a history of failing to appear in court and failing to report to traffic school following his traffic violations.
In 2000, Griego was pulled over for driving between 11 and 15 miles per hour over the Albuquerque speed limit. Later that year, a warrant was issued when he failed to attend a mandated driving school session.
Two similar warrants were issue later in 2000 when he failed to show up to court after he was charged with lacking “evidence of [vehicle] registration.”
Another warrant was issued that year following his failure to appear on two other minor traffic charges.
In 2001, Griego was the subject of four more warrants, including one for failing to attend driving school.
In 2006, another three warrants were issued for his failure to show up to in court, failing to register for driving school, and failing to attend those court-mandated classes.
In 2010, a bench warrant was issued, Santa Fe Magistrate court records show, when Griego again did not show up for a required court appearance. Court documents suggest that Griego was not arrested, indicating that he likely resolved the issue. But the case technically is still open because he never paid a $100 fine related to the bench warrant.
In case you lost count, that’s 11 warrants, one bench warrant, and an unpaid fine.
Reached by The Daily Caller, Griego said through campaign manager Ed Yoon, “I’ve made mistakes in my life that I deeply regret, and I have paid the price and accepted the consequences, something that New Mexicans are still waiting on Wall Street to do after they destroyed our economy.”
“I want to go to Washington to make sure the Wall Street bankers who cost New Mexicans their homes and their savings pay theirs,” he added.
“New Mexicans are not interested in our opponents talking about speeding tickets from ten years ago,” Yoon told TheDC. “They’re concerned about who is going to be fighting to protect programs such as Social Security and Medicare that are important to them. And that is Eric Griego.”
