State representative candidate Casey Gray on Wednesday morning turned his attacks from his opponent, incumbent State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, to Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis saying that Griffis is the next corrupt politician that “we go after.”
Griffis called the rambling radio attack on his character and office by Gray false. “I absolutely deny everything he said about me and my office.”
Gray called in to a local radio program to complain that the host, KWEL-AM’s Craig Anderson, had read from an Odessa American article detailing Gray’s legal woes in Wisconsin. Gray, for the second time in two days, dismissed his pending April trial date as “fake news” and claimed the OA is out to get him. He said the case is just a paperwork issue over not filing his address quickly enough with the court.
However, the Wisconsin prosecutor on the case said last month Gray is accused of violating a restraining order twice and jumping bail on the two cases that were filed as a result of those alleged violations. Online records also indicate Gray is involved in a child custody dispute in that same county.
Gray on Wednesday sought to downplay the charges as more or less a clerical error related to a child custody case.
However, court records also indicate that a Jan. 6 status hearing was held on the violate/harassment restraining order charge that was originally filed in February 2018. Gray entered a not guilty in May of 2018. See the court record here: State of Wisconsin vs. Casey Gray
Gray used the radio time to launch more attacks about Landgraf’s character, saying he was having affairs “with men and women.” During Tuesday’s forum, Gray said Landgraf “engaged in an affair with a staffer” and “five other women.”
Landgraf told the forum crowd “the truth will come out” and he would not sling mud or get drawn in by Gray’s “bait.”
During the radio call on Wednesday, Gray went from attacking Landgraf and the OA to to calling Griffis “one of the most corrupt sheriffs I have met in my lifetime.”
He claimed Griffis has had “kill parties” after one of his deputies killed a suspect and Griffis once refused to let Gray file a report in which he was the victim of harassment. Gray also said he has known the sheriff for 40 years, although records show Gray is 39. Griffis on Wednesday afternoon said Gray did file a report with the sheriff’s office and Griffis did not “throw him out” of the office as Gray claimed.
Griffis said he was not even at the sheriff’s office when the report was filed. He said he first met Gray during his first term in office when Gray and some of his friends asked Griffis to swear them in as deputies so they could “patrol” Ector County.
Griffis said he did not swear them in and that swearing in civilians is reserved for Texas counties that are under some type of emergency.
All of the allegations made by Gray during the radio program are 100% false, he said.
Griffis and other West Texas sheriffs last week endorsed Landgraf. Winkler County Sheriff Darin Mitchell was one of those lawmen. He later pulled his endorsement when a social media site reported Landgraf was involved in an affair.
A woman on Tuesday identified herself as the woman who was linked to Landgraf through sexually explicit texts and a video. She said she never had an affair with Landgraf and did not send Landgraf the text messages, photos and video being circulated online.
On Tuesday, the same day the woman’s story appeared in the OA, Mitchell posted he was taken out of context by a local social media site and that he still believes “Brooks is the best man” for the job. In addition, Mitchell posted Gray “needs (to) go back where he came from. I fell for his BS once…Never again.”
During the last couple of days, Griffis has doubled down on his endorsement of Landgraf, posting on his personal FB page his support of Landgraf.
During Tuesday’s forum, Gray said the OA is a liberal rag and claimed he was threatened by the OA that a “hit piece” would be written if Gray did not answer questions for a story. However, Gray wanted questions emailed to him and he was told questions would not be emailed, he needed to comment over the phone or in person.
Gray also incorrectly described a Tuesday encounter with the OA’s Kim Smith. He said she “ambushed” him prior to the forum on Tuesday. A recording of their encounter accompanies this story online. Click here to listen to the conversation.
The recording begins with Smith introducing herself and Gray saying the OA is a liberal magazine and for her to “stay away” from him. He also calls her a liar.
Smith told Gray he has never met her and questions why he would call her a liar. “You’re a pathological liar,” Gray replied.
During Wednesday’s radio interview Gray was asked about claims of “stolen valor” and he said they were rumors circulated by Landgraf. However, the claims were first raised on social media in 2018 when Gray was an unsuccessful candidate for congress in a race that was eventually won by August Pfluger.
View a report written to the ECSO by Gray here. View the ECSO report here.
