LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - An attorney for Del Norte Credit Union has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a perhaps former, perhaps current member of the CU’s supervisory committee regarding statements made to Credit Union Journal.
Chuck Montaño, fraud and special audits director for New Mexico’s Office of the State Auditor, has been a member of DNCU for 30 years. and has served on the CU’s supervisory committee for four years. During an interview with CU Journal, Montaño adamantly denied any wrongdoing and vowed to “not let people intimidate me into silence.”
Earlier this spring, Montaño and another supervisory committee incumbent came up for re-election. According to Montaño, two days after member voting closed on April 27, Roger Stutz, chairman of DNCU’s nominations and elections committee (NEC), invalidated the election results based on a by-law change that was not approved until April 29. The new by-law designated supervisory committee members as appointed by the board, rather than elected by the membership.
On May 28, Montaño sent a registered letter to William Verant, director of the Financial Division of the New Mexico Regulation & Licensing Department, a copy of which Montaño provided to Credit Union Journal. In the letter, Montaño challenged the validity and legality of actions taken by the DNCU NEC chairman, board chairman and the DNCU board to invalidate the supervisory committee election. Montaño requested that Verant direct the DNCU board and its chairman to make the election results available immediately to him and to the entire DNCU membership.
Six weeks after the close of the election and the subsequent decision to make the supervisory committee an appointed body, Montaño said he still does not know if he is a member of committee or has been removed. In May, Montaño spoke to CU Journal regarding his letter to Verant, the supervisory committee election and issues he has had with audit procedures at Del Norte CU; those comments were published June.2
In a letter dated June 10, Joseph Manges, who identified himself as counsel to Del Norte CU, accused Montaño of “willful disclosure of confidential information concerning the affairs of the credit union” to reporters. Manges further wrote: “We note that the articles also include demonstrably false, misleading and derogatory information about the Credit Union…”
Manges goes on to refer to state law prohibiting the disclosure of any and all “confidential information.” CU Journal attempted to contact Manges to determine which of Montaño’s statements Manges considered “confidential.” The call was not returned at press time.
Montaño wrote back to Manges in a letter dated June 11. Montaño provided CUJ with copies of both his and Manges’ letters. In his June 11 letter to Manges, Montaño asserts that he has “certain rights, duties and responsibilities” to “express concerns regarding the electoral process just concluded in which valid 2008 election results have not yet been released…” Later he wrote, “…for the record, please let it be known that I have not, as stated in your letter, done anything to harm the legitimate business interests of the DNCU or [its] membership, nor have I falsely stated anything in my disclosures to anyone or divulged any proprietary information belonging to the DNCU.”
Montaño also stated to Manges, “I request that you stop and desist immediately with efforts to intimidate me into silence or otherwise strip me of my civil liberties.”
Montaño told Credit Union Journal, “If they want to pursue legal action, so be it. I will hire an attorney. But I won’t let people intimidate me into silence or prevent me from speaking the truth or enjoying my civil liberties.
“I feel strongly about this and I’m not going to back down,” he continued. “Until I see the election results, I will continue to inform regulators and others about what I see. Where are the election results?”
Montaño told Credit Union Journal he has yet to receive a response to his letter from Verant or any other New Mexico regulator.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
