Dennis W. Montoya
An appeals judge hopeful who has touted himself as the first statewide candidate to take advantage of public financing in New Mexico has been disqualified from using the state’s public financing system.
That’s because Dennis W. Montoya exceeded the $5,000 limit on what publicly financed candidates can contribute to their own campaigns, according to a Friday letter from Secretary of State Mary Herrera to Montoya.
Montoya’s seed money report indicates that he contributed $8,887.29 to his own campaign. That’s well over the limit, and it’s the reason Herrera gave in her letter for rejecting Montoya’s application for public financing.
Montoya had three days to appeal the ruling from Herrera. Deputy Secretary of State Don Francisco Trujillo, who provided NMPolitics.net with a copy of Herrera’s letter, has not responded to an e-mail asking whether Montoya appealed.
Montoya did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Montoya touted his attempt to run a publicly financed campaign in a recent news release, saying it was the first for a statewide candidate in New Mexico.
“New Mexico has been subject recently to a number of criminal indictments and claims of ethical violations on the part of some of the highest appointed and elected officials in the State,” Montoya said in that release. “… Now we will see if the voters of New Mexico will be receptive to the idea of having their judges elected in a manner where how much money you have raised is not the issue.”
Montoya, an Albuquerque lawyer, is running against Appeals Court Judge Linda Vanzi. He’s been under scrutiny lately after the Albuquerque Journal revealed a pending complaint that Vanzi filed against Montoya.
In the complaint with the state Supreme Court’s disciplinary board, the judge accused Montoya of, in the words of the Journal, “failing to represent the interests of a young boy whose father was killed in a one-car accident, questioned his fees and costs in the case, and accused him of lying to a guardian ad litem she appointed to protect the child’s interests.”