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Report highlights Murphy’s comments about gay people
Third Judicial District Judge Mike Murphy (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Warning: This article contains language that is explicit and that many will find offensive.
A secret audio recording that serves as the basis for one felony bribery charge against District Judge Mike Murphy contains comments by the embattled judge about gay people that many would view as outrageous and inappropriate.
KOB-TV in Albuquerque obtained and posted online the entire 38-minute recording and aired an in-depth report about it on Thursday.
The first segment of the KOB report highlights the statements Murphy made on the recording that have led to the bribery charge against him. You can watch that report by clicking here.
As NMPolitics.net has reported, that bribery charge is based on allegations that Murphy offered “several promises” to District Judge Schultz during a December 2010 meeting if she would agree to be the tie-breaking vote to make Douglas R. Driggers the chief district judge in Las Cruces. Murphy says he’s innocent.
‘Outlandish and inflammatory’ comments
What hadn’t been reported on publicly – until now – was the extent of what, in the words of KOB reporter Gadi Schwartz, are “outlandish and inflammatory” comments Murphy made during that conversation with Schultz – a conversation Schultz secretly recorded.
You can listen to the full recording here:
During the meeting with Schultz, Murphy shared details of a conversation he said he had with an employee of the court. Here’s what Murphy said:
“He, you know, I told him a big old nasty faggot joke, and he says, you do know I’m gay? And I said of course. I said, if you weren’t I wouldn’t have told you that joke.”
He also talked with Schultz, who is a lesbian, about a female cousin he described as being gay. Murphy said when men “hit on her,” she would tell them that they had a lot in common: “We both like to eat pussy.” He then described her as “a diesel dike from day one.”
Murphy spoke during the conversation with Schultz about an apparent investigation into his conduct, referencing “my confidential deal about being, you know, uh, anti-gay, anti-semitic.” He said such allegations are “a crock of shit. You know, I may be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, but I’m none of those other things.”
There’s lots more. Watch KOB’s second segment, which delves into the remarks, here:
‘My skin was crawling’
Included in that segment is an interview with New Mexico GLBTQ Centers Executive Director David Stocum, who listened to the recording and then reacted.
“My skin was crawling, when I was listening to them,” KOB quoted Stocum as saying about Murphy’s statements. “What I heard on that tape – I would not want to be a gay man or a lesbian standing in front of that judge.”
That raises a question about whether, if the suspended judge ever returns to the bench, he can preside over a case involving someone who is gay without there being at least an appearance of bias.
KOB didn’t highlight a statement about Hispanics some might view as offensive, but it’s part of the same conversation with Schultz.
“Traditions and culture are the hardest things to change,” Murphy said while referencing a new law relating to DWIs that he wanted to propose. “I’m not gonna talk Manny Mexican into having a quinceañera without having a keg.”
‘The First Amendment is a good thing’
NMPolitics.net asked Murphy’s attorney, Michael Stout, in August about the statements Murphy made during the meeting with Schultz. Here’s what Stout had to say:
“The First Amendment is a good thing, huh? As you know as well as anyone, it’s not a crime to be crude in (what you thought was) private conversation.”
As NMPolitics.net has detailed previously, members of the judicial nominating commission that interviewed Murphy for the judgeship in 2006 asked about his reputation for what Murphy himself called his tendency to make “locker-room jokes.”
Murphy told that commission he recognized the difference between what is appropriate “in the private setting” and what is appropriate in court, and promised that his mouth wouldn’t be an issue.
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gofdisks – perhaps you also do not understand the position this Judge put a lesbian Judge in when he was um, joking. Think of it this way if you please – a 400 pound lady was told by another lady that she looks like an raped pregnantly elephant and then says “just kidding”. What would the obese lady be left with? Some would say that is a “sophisticated” way for the second lady to be very rude, somewhat truthful, socially inept, and completely vulgar all at the same time and get away with it….and to put this in complete context let us all remember that Judge Murphy is a judge who judges people.
Too late QT. I am already a “victim” many times over and for all of that, I laugh all the harder. Who are more victimized than the homosexuals? For all of that, they are all the more resilient, unyielding in their demand for civil rights and funnier than ever. People who are afraid of humor are really not very sophisticated. That is why the attempted humor from the Right falls so flat. There is a difference between being insulting and mocking. The judge was mocking in jest and it is ungracious of a “victim” of mocking not to return/banter in kind while acknowledging the kernel of truth in the humor.
Much of ancient New Mexican humor is of the mocking sort often with a long mean streak and the people that have been here long enough have learned to appreciate it. Mocking is often used as a defense against ignorance, especially cultural ignorance. As cruel as it can be, mocking serves as a social feedback mechanism frequently used in NM native culture while, at the same time, allowing social norms and practices to shift about. It is adaptive.
As such, I do not appreciate the notion that our judges should have to be automatons as some sort of standard of “character”. Human mistakes will be made and it is our painful humanity that will make our judges compassionate and wise.
This judge has not broken any laws. He has only been indiscreet and deserves a fair amount of razing for it.
BTW QT, you are the one misjudging Heath. He is quite a thorough moderator with me and I only wish he would moderate YOU more ( said in a mocking tone).
wedum59 – I realize you are new to New Mexico but that doesn’t mean you should forego your homework.
For everyone who believes in free speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQRuYS_h-Vs&feature=related
QT, if you have to stretch to make your point by trying to include other subject matter, you have just conceded that jokes with homosexuality as the subject matter are not horrific.
If a a Republican Judge had even been accused of saying even half of what Democrat Murphy said, he would have been run out of town by now! Hemingway, why have you kept silent in this issue. Could it be that maybe you agree with Murphy?
gofdisks – you misjudge Heath. And by the way, if you ever become a victim (and I hope you do not) I think your attitude may change along with your outlook in regard to sex and the act(s) of sex. Now, if you please – tell me would it be just as funny or “ridiculous” if it were a Judge speaking about an abused woman?
Sexual humor including Gay humor, but any kind of sexual humor is funny and jokes have been told about sex since sex began in the primordial ooze. Sex is a ridiculous act and if not hilarious, I feel sorry for your grim existence.
Qui Tam, Gays do deserve that same right to sexual humor as Straights in America. In fact, some of the funniest and crudest people I have known are Gay and I enjoy their company very much.
I wouldn’t want to go in front of a judge that didn’t enjoy and tell a dirty joke now and then. I wouldn’t want a judge scrutinizing MY transgressions if he never smoked pot, had marital problems, never lost track of his teenage kid, got drunk, fudged on his taxes, or forgot to zip his fly. I want a human being for a judge not some perfectly straight humorless automaton who does not emit gas sideways.
Michael Stout, if you are always looking for offense, you will never fail to find it. Thankfully, most Gays I am friends with are thicker skinned and funny as all get out.
You guys are just ganging up on this judget.
If I EVER found myself in the mis-fortunate circumstance to seek justice from this humorless tattle-tale Schultz, I will really be worried.
Now, I know, Heath may censor this comment but at least HE will read it and I only hope to dear God that he tries to understand my sentiment. I hate this holier than thou kind of hypocritical splinter in someone else eye whilst ignoring the beam in your own eye.
Boy oh boy, can anyone imagine the outcry if Murphy spewed his hating venom towards women, in particular women who had been abused?
I don’t think people would excuse that away or tell ajoining jokes as if it were a funny or ignorable situation.
Does Judge Murphy exhibit the character of a member of the judiciary that any person wants to see? Now no one is perfect…but how can perfrom his duties when his anti- homosexual and anti simetic comments are this vocal? Is there something deeper that he might be hiding? Sure makes me wonder…Anyone else?
TO states, “This is typical behind the scenes banter…” That is what I find so interesting about Murphy’s behavior. He is bringing this stuff out of the closet, so to speak. You might even say that he has the courage to be held accountable.
This is typical behind the scenes banter for those who perceive themselves as unaccountable. You hear it on the golf course and in board rooms where people that look and think like Murphy dominate. Remember the Texaco executives a few years back–recorded joking about black jelly beans sticking to the bottom of the bag; hence the inability for minorities to advance? Or during the Los Alamos Lab layoffs a few years back–when hundreds of employees were laid off and the joke around campus was that ethnic cleansing needed to be done every now and again. This is just boys being boys as the say–using jokes to reinforce the us versus them mindset and to strengthen bonds among like minded individuals. Dare express disdain for that brand of humor and you’re out of the club. That’s the reality.
I think the point that Murphy made, that he was telling this (rude, crude) joke TO a gay person instead of behind his back, is rather significant. He was being honest and upfront about his own boorishness.
This reminds me of the jokes a nun who taught my mother used to tell–about nuns. Here’s the short, clean one: A nun was at an intersection, trying to cross the street, when a young boy came up and offered to help her, and together they made it safely across. The nun thanked the young man, who replied, “Glad to help–any friend of Zorro’s is a friend of mine!”
Secretly making a recording without Murphy’s knowledge or consent, and then releasing ALL of it to the public, even the irrelevant parts including the crude jokes, was itself a form of boorishness on the part of Judge Schultz, IMHO.
And people wonder why gays do not have the same rights as straights in the United States of America.
Homosexuality is an abomination sayeth the Lord..
Therefore, it matters not how people speak of it.
The Lord said not to tolerate or condone it and always to speak against it.