Dennis W. Montoya
The state chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens has accused the state Supreme Court’s disciplinary board of unfairly targeting appeals judge candidate Dennis W. Montoya – an allegation the head of the disciplinary board says is false.
The state disciplinary board has asked the Supreme Court to immediately suspend Montoya because of multiple complaints. The board has formally accused Montoya of misconduct including fraud, deceit, lying to the court, having a conflict of interest, failing to adequately represent a client and failing to adequately account for and distinguish client funds from his own.
That comes as Montoya is trying to unseat Appeals Judge Linda Vanzi in the Democratic primary, but the disciplinary board’s investigation that has resulted in formal charges was initiated long before Montoya was a candidate.
Still, LULAC takes issue with the situation, the Albuquerque Journal is reporting. The group says the board’s actions are biased.
“… there is serious question as to the motivation underlying these actions, which are taken immediately before the primary election and have been followed by immediate press stories and literature pieces attacking Mr. Montoya. We cannot stand idly by and allow the courts of New Mexico to be used for
the purposes of depriving the people of the State of New Mexico of a fair and open
election,” a news release from LULAC states.
Virginia Ferrera, the board’s chief counsel, “denied the assertion that Montoya’s ethnicity played a role in the allegations levied against him and pointed out there are many Hispanic judges in New Mexico,” the Journal article states.
“This has nothing to do with politics,” Ferrera was quoted by the Journal as saying. “We’re simply out to protect the public.”
LULAC called for state and federal investigations of what it called potential “dirty tricks.” The Journal quoted a spokeswoman for the state attorney general as saying the complaint had been received and would be reviewed.
Update, 5:40 p.m.
It should be noted that Montoya is LULAC’s legal adviser.