Dennis W. Montoya
Court of Appeals candidate Dennis W. Montoya has cancelled a weekend fundraiser after a TV station reported that a man convicted of bribing a public official was helping him raise money.
That man, Curtis Slade, was listed on Montoya’s Facebook page as a host of the party that was to be held for Montoya’s campaign this weekend, KOB-TV’s Jeremy Jojola reported. Montoya, a Democrat who is challenging Judge Linda Vanzi in the June 1 primary, says that Facebook message was a mistake. He told Jojola that Slade wasn’t a host of the event, but the event was to be held on Slade’s property.
Slade was convicted years ago of bribing a public official for a permit from the Bureau of Land Management, and he’s currently facing separate felony charges of writing worthless checks.
“The Montoya Family regrets to inform our supporters, friends and relatives that we are cancelling
the campaign ‘Matanza’ scheduled for Saturday, May 8th, 2010, due to slanted news coverage that would have potentially rendered the event dangerous or unpleasant for those attending,” the Montoya campaign wrote on its Facebook page and in an e-mail to supporters.
But that’s not even close to the end of Montoya’s troubles. On Thursday a district judge rejected his appeal of the secretary of state’s denial of his application for public financing, The Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting. In March, the secretary of state said Montoya exceeded the $5,000 limit on what publicly financed candidates can contribute to their own campaigns.
You can read the judge’s order here. Montoya was quoted by The New Mexican as saying he will appeal the judge’s ruling.
Of course, those issues pale in compassion to the potential trouble Montoya could face before the state Supreme Court. Earlier this week, the state disciplinary board accused him 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.
The charges are serious. In addition to being potentially damaging to his campaign for judge, they could threaten his future as an attorney. And, were the Supreme Court to take the extreme step of stripping him of his law license, Montoya would no longer be eligible to run for judge.
Montoya has pledged to fight the charges.