In an all too familiar turn of events in Socorro, a member of council is under fire for conduct relating to expenditure of public funds and drama worthy of a sequel to the novela La Reina Del Sur breaks out.
Socorro District 1 City Rep Sergio Cox was the subject of a special meeting of the Socorro City Council last night to discuss moving forward with an investigation of Councilman Cox for the paving of a road on which he has a financial interest.
Its a sad commentary on our community that the two largest municipalities in the county each had a member of their council under fire for ethical charges at meetings last night. City Rep Larry Romero was the subject of a meeting of the Ethics Commission meeting last night in the City of El Paso at the very same time that Socorro was discussing Cox's issue.
Ironically Cox and Romero have quite a bit in common. Both reps were criticized for how roads in their districts were paved. Both have faced allegations that they had roads paved where they had ownership in residential properties.
The similarities don't stop there. Representative Cox, much like Romero, resigned from office citing health issues in the face of proceedings against them relating to ethical issues.
Cox however did the most Socorro thing in the history of Socorro. He resigned, attempted to make a deal to exchange his resignation for council dropping the investigation, and then rescinded his offer to resign once council voted to move forward with the investigation.
Yes, you read that correctly. In an open meeting Representative Cox appears to have offered to resign from council in exchange for council nixing an investigation against him.
He actually did it not once, not twice, but THREE times.
Here's the video of it. Its only 4 minutes.
Its really hard to watch this video and not feel like you're watching a sitting elected official essentially make an offer that many would say sounds like a bribe to his colleagues.
On three different occasions.
Socorro District 1 City Rep Sergio Cox was the subject of a special meeting of the Socorro City Council last night to discuss moving forward with an investigation of Councilman Cox for the paving of a road on which he has a financial interest.
Its a sad commentary on our community that the two largest municipalities in the county each had a member of their council under fire for ethical charges at meetings last night. City Rep Larry Romero was the subject of a meeting of the Ethics Commission meeting last night in the City of El Paso at the very same time that Socorro was discussing Cox's issue.
Ironically Cox and Romero have quite a bit in common. Both reps were criticized for how roads in their districts were paved. Both have faced allegations that they had roads paved where they had ownership in residential properties.
The similarities don't stop there. Representative Cox, much like Romero, resigned from office citing health issues in the face of proceedings against them relating to ethical issues.
Cox however did the most Socorro thing in the history of Socorro. He resigned, attempted to make a deal to exchange his resignation for council dropping the investigation, and then rescinded his offer to resign once council voted to move forward with the investigation.
Yes, you read that correctly. In an open meeting Representative Cox appears to have offered to resign from council in exchange for council nixing an investigation against him.
He actually did it not once, not twice, but THREE times.
Here's the video of it. Its only 4 minutes.
Its really hard to watch this video and not feel like you're watching a sitting elected official essentially make an offer that many would say sounds like a bribe to his colleagues.
On three different occasions.