Wiener sex-district censure in doubt

KRQE TV

Updated: May 2, 2012 8:03 PM

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) — An emergency meeting called to consider censuring a Bernalillo County commissioner who posed with scantily clad young women in an Asian red-light district may not happen.

Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins said it's time to officially call out fellow Commissioner Michael Wiener and say what he did, and has done, is wrong.

Hart Stebbins and Commissioner Michelle Lujan Grisham called an emergency meeting for Thursday morning to censure Wiener. This comes after pictures surfaced of Wiener posing with what may have been prostitutes in front of a bar in a popular red light district in the Philippines.

“It’s our opportunity as a board to say this behavior is not acceptable as a member of our board,” Hart Stebbins said. “A motion to censure is really the only formal thing that we can do as a commission to express our opinion about our pattern of behavior.”

Three of the five commissioners have already called for Wiener to resign. It would appear a censure vote would seem like a shoo-in. However, it may not be that simple.

Commissioners Wayne Johnson and Art de la Cruz can't make the rushed meeting. Both said they have previous engagements. There are also reports that Wiener will ditch the meeting.

By law the commission cannot hold a vote without at least three commissioners on hand.

Johnson said even if his night were free he would sit this one out anyway.

“I think at this point it's turning into political opportunism and a show trial,” Johnson said. “I think there is plenty of pressure in this instance for him to resign. He's decided not to.

"What are we going to achieve by having an additional meeting that has no force of law, has no real proceeding or impact on his ability to hold his office?”

De la Cruz could still participate in Thursday's meeting via telephone. However, he said he just cannot fit it in and said he doesn't see why the Wiener scandal is an emergency.

Hart Stebbins agreed censure would only be symbolic. However, she said the commission needs to do it because it's been criticized for not taking action against Wiener in earlier controversies over racist jokes and sexist comments.

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