Montoya: Touts political experience

Steve Terrell | The New Mexican

5/18/2008 - 5/19/08

Harry Montoya has spent more time in elected office than all his opponents in the 3rd Congressional District race put together.

He was elected twice to the Pojoaque Board of Education, serving eight years. Then he won a seat on the Santa Fe County Commission, representing the northern part of the county, by defeating Valerie Espinoza (now county clerk) in 2002, then winning another four-year term unopposed in 2006.

But the race for Congress has been something of a struggle for Montoya.

Like most other candidates in the crowded Democratic primary, he doesn't have the political connections of Ben Ray Luján and he doesn't have the money of Don Wiviott to carry his message.

When state party leaders held their pre-primary convention in March, Montoya came in fourth place — behind Luján, Wiviott and Benny Shendo Jr., getting a modest 11 percent of the delegate vote. This was well below the 20 percent needed to get his name automatically on the primary ballot, so he had to submit more petition signatures to keep his candidacy alive.

In terms of fundraising, Montoya is in a distant fourth place, according to the most recent reports.

He said in a recent interview he can win "once people see my experience." Contrasting himself with Luján, a state Public Regulation Commission member, Montoya said: "There's a difference between making policy and regulating. There's no policy development in regulating."

Although his campaign can't afford to advertise on broadcast television — unlike Wiviott and Luján — Montoya said he will have some campaign spots on cable television later this month.

Hands across culture

Although he has held public office since the mid-1990s, for the past 12 years Montoya has made his living as chief executive officer of Hands Across Culture Corp., an Española-based nonprofit he co-founded. HACC specializes in drug-prevention education in Española and Pojoaque schools. Montoya's salary at HACC is about $76,000.

According to federal tax
documents, HACC in 2006
had a budget of more than $900,000, nearly all of which came from state and federal government grants.

But some of that money has come from county government.

In the current fiscal year, HACC received $7,500 from the County Benefit Fund for a health-promotion program for Española and Pojoaque schools. In the previous year, Montoya's organization received $15,000 from the county for the program.

"Hands Across Culture applied, as did many other agencies and organizations, for that funding through the Health Support program. We went through the review just as any agency would," Montoya said when asked about a possible conflict of interest. "They have independent reviewers who make the recommendation to Steve Shepherd (director of the county Health and Human Services Department), and he makes the recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners. ... There's no way we're going to get any preferential treatment from the reviewers or anyone."

HACC has tried to obtain other funding through the county as well.

In November, County Attorney Stephen Ross wrote to the state Department of Finance and Administration concerning a proposed contract with HACC involving state driving-while-intoxicated grant money. The county wanted to contract with HACC for a program in Pojoaque designed to delay the age at which young people start to drink alcohol. Montoya's organization was the only agency to respond to a county request for proposals for the project.

However, that grant agreement has a clause that prohibits contracts with entities in which members of the community's governing body have an interest. Ross proposed amending the grant agreement to allow HACC to get the contract as long as Montoya agreed not to participate in any decision involving the contract and agreed to provide annual financial statements.

The state balked at the idea of changing the conflict-of-interest provision to allow the contract.

In June 2007, the county and HACC entered into an agreement of understanding to try to get federal funds for a program to mentor children of incarcerated parents. Montoya said the program never got off the ground because the federal funding didn't come through.

A lobbyist in the family

Another potential appearance of conflict of interest for Montoya is the fact that James Rivera — who was Montoya's brother-in-law — had a contract with the county to lobby the state Legislature. The county paid Rivera $10,000 for this year's 30-day legislation session and $20,000 for last year's 60-day session.

Montoya said he did not exert any influence to get the contract for Rivera, who was first hired for the 2004 session. "He had the contract before he even married my sister," Montoya said. Rivera no longer is married to his sister, Montoya said.

Furthermore, he said, the county terminated Rivera's contract after this year's session. This, he said, was prompted when a New Mexican reporter called him about a possible conflict of interest. Montoya said he suggested the termination because of the perceived conflict of interest. "I know some people will do whatever they can to make me look bad, and I don't need to have any perceived conflicts with any family member."

Deal or no deal

Montoya's campaign made news in the north early this month after he told the Rio Grande Sun that Luján supporters had offered him political support if he dropped out of the congressional race and waited for a chance to seek the legislative seat of Luján's father, House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé.

Montoya's campaign manager, Eli Senna, in an interview this month stood by Montoya's statement. He said Montoya was contacted by "people he considered good friends" who made the offer before and shortly after the pre-primary convention. But like Montoya, Senna refused to name who had made such an offer.

The Luján campaign denies such an offer was made.

Though he said Ben Ray Luján and Wiviott probably are the front-runners, Montoya predicted his campaign — visiting the various communities and listening to people's concerns about veteran services and health care — will be successful.

"The thing that's surprised me is the common problems we all share. You'd think maybe something would be a little different in, you know, Clovis or Gallup. But the reality is, we're all suffering from high gas prices, whether you're a rancher or a businessman. ... The reality is what we're dealing with in Santa Fe County they're dealing with in McKinley County or anywhere else in the state."

Phaedra Haywood contributed to this report

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.

HARRY MONTOYA

Age: 48

Education: Bachelor's degree in psychology and education from Westmar College in Lemars, Iowa; master's in counseling psychology from New Mexico State University.

Career experience: Drug- and alcohol-prevention coordinator for the state Department of Health; executive director of mental-health services at Presbyterian Medical Services; Piñon Hills Hospital clinical director of chemical dependency; currently CEO of Hands Across Cultures Corp.

Political experience: Santa Fe County commissioner, 2002-present; Pojoaque Valley School Board member for eight years; co-founder of the National Hispano Community Prevention Network.

Personal: Married to Doris Montoya; two grown children, three grandchildren.

Arrests: None

Web site: www.montoyaforcongress.com