Dennis W. Montoya
Appellate judge candidate Dennis W. Montoya wants people to know he doesn’t share the views of a N.M. Public Regulation Commission candidate who, in response to an e-mail Montoya sent out Wednesday, called the residents of Eldorado “bigoted Anglos.”
That Democratic PRC candidate, Andrew Leo Lopez, wrote in response to a Montoya campaign e-mail that he had spoken at a forum in Eldorado and “told the bigoted Anglos that I wanted them to now change their disinclination to vote for Hispanic candidates beginning today.”
Lopez stood by those words in an e-mail exchange with me, and I authored a commentary on Wednesday debunking his claim and calling his words sad.
Later Wednesday, Montoya, also a Democrat, sent an e-mail to the same list distancing himself from Lopez’s words.
“I want to make it clear that racially charged sentiments expressed by someone else are NOT mine or those of my campaign,” Montoya wrote. “…I support Hispanic parity, but not painting all members of a particular race or ethnic group with a single brush. I’ve seen enough of that in my life and in my career, and I’m quite opposed to it.”
Montoya added that Anglos from Eldorado, like anyone else, are invited to his upcoming campaign event the original e-mail he sent Thursday was asking people to attend.