Man sues over failed bid to run for Court of Appeals

Suit accuses secretary of state of favoritism in denying candidacy

Republican Party of Santa Fe Chairman Robert Graham and a man hoping to be a candidate for the state Court of Appeals, Thomas C. Montoya, have filed a lawsuit that accuses Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver of showing favoritism to the Democratic candidate in the race.

Montoya is an Albuquerque attorney tapped by the Republican Party to run for the court seat.

He says in a complaint filed Tuesday in state District Court that while neither he nor Democratic candidate Jane Yohalem filed documents of candidacy on the exact form required by the Secretary of State’s Office, Toulouse Oliver accepted Yohalem’s forms and her as a candidate while rejecting his forms and and candidacy.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Yohalem to the 10-member appellate court last last month to fill a position vacated by the retirement of Judge Linda Vanzi. Yohalem must be elected to the post in the November general election to remain on the bench.

Montoya claims in his lawsuit that Toulouse Oliver didn’t post the required form online until sometime in mid-June for a June 25 filing deadline, and both he and Yohalem used alternate forms.

“Despite the arguable defects in form — but clear substantial compliance — of both candidates filings, the Secretary rejected Mr. Montoya’s candidacy but not Ms. Yohalem’s,” the lawsuit says.

Montoya’s lawsuit adds he went to the Secretary of State’s Office on the day of the deadline and asked if there was anything else he needed to file. According to the lawsuit, officials “specifically” said he did not.

Two days later, after learning the secretary of state didn’t intend to accept his filings, he submitted his declaration of candidacy “using the Secretary’s preferred form,” Montoya’s lawsuit says.

Montoya is asking the court to rule his filing was in “substantial compliance” with election law and if it wasn’t, Toulouse Oliver bears some responsibility for that because the form was not posted in a timely manner and her staff told him there was nothing else he needed to file.

In the alternative, the complaint asks the court to find Yohalem’s candidacy is not valid because she didn’t use the prescribed form.

Montoya declined to comment on whether the Secretary of State’s Office told him the issue with the forms was the reason his declaration of candidacy was not accepted.

A spokesman for Toulouse Oliver did not respond to email and phone messages seeking comment.

Yohalem — also named as a defendant in the lawsuit — did not immediately return a call seeking comment.