Dems leave preacher at the altar

Disinvitation to interfaith function angers minister

By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 13, 2008 at 9:01 p.m.
Updated August 14, 2008 at 12:23 a.m.

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Photo by Tim Hussin © The Rocky

Fidel "Butch" Montoya is one of four ministers invited to the Democratic National Convention, but he was recently uninvited.

Fidel "Butch" Montoya is a forgiving soul, being a man of the cloth.

But that doesn't mean he can't get upset. And he is upset - at the Barack Obama campaign and the Democratic National Convention Committee. So upset, he's looking at supporting Obama's rival, Republican John McCain.

"They embarrassed me," he said Wednesday.

Montoya is a Pentecostal minister and founder of the H.S. Power and Light Latino faith-based initiative in Denver.

He was asked more than two weeks ago by none other than Democratic National Convention Committee Chief Executive Officer Leah Daughtry to be one of four representatives to the Democrats' Interfaith Gathering to kick off the convention.

Then, abruptly last week Daughtry called Montoya to disinvite him. Montoya said Daughtry told him the DNCC had vetted him and concluded that he had enough "controversy" in his background to warrant being removed.

Montoya said Daughtry wouldn't provide details.

"She indicated that when I worked for the city as manager of safety, there was some controversy. That's literally 10 or 12 years ago when there was controversy," he said. "When you're the head of the police department and sheriff and fire, you know you're going to be (in for) a bit of controversy. She said if they put a press release out, my name would distract from the others."

A pair of controversies

Montoya became Denver's manager of safety in 1994 and was replaced by Mayor Wellington Webb in 2000. During that time two high-profile incidents clouded his record.

One involved the hiring of a temporary worker, Paul Roybal, who allegedly used three Social Security numbers to claim his pay since 1997.

Roybal was Montoya's brother-in-law. Montoya said at the time that he had no involvement in Roybal's employment.

Also during that time, Montoya's son-in-law was hired as a recruit in the Denver Fire Department, raising allegations of nepotism.

The other incident involved the death of 45-year-old Ismael Mena, who was shot and killed when law enforcement officers serving a warrant for drugs knocked on the wrong door. The officer who signed the bungled warrant was charged with perjury but later plea-bargained that down to a misdemeanor and was allowed to return to police work.

Montoya doesn't think those controversies should have disqualified him from participating in the Interfaith Gathering.

To him, this is about his faith and being a Christian.

"I wasn't going to make a political speech, I was trying to pray," he said. "My record is about that."

Daughtry, who is a Pentecostal minister in Washington, D.C., and has been a bridge for people of faith to the Democratic Party, was key in getting the Interfaith Gathering off the ground.

Daughtry, along with DNC Chairman Howard Dean, established Faith in Action, the initiative that supports religious freedom.

According to the DNCC news release last week about the Interfaith Gathering, it will be a place where "delegates, elected officials, local residents, musical guests and spiritual leaders from many communities of faith will come together . . . In addition to the speakers' remarks, the program will include readings from diverse religious texts, prayers and musical selections."

Montoya was to represent the Protestant faith.

Rethinking the race

In her July 25 e-mail asking Montoya to participate, Daughtry said, "Hope this note finds you well. As we are finalizing details for our Interfaith Gathering, I wanted to extend an invitation to you to serve as one of the program participants . . . Specifically, we invite you to participate in the Opening Prayer/Litany."

The DNCC issued a statement Wednesday about Montoya being asked to withdraw.

"The Democratic National Committee follows standard vetting procedures. Unfortunately, Butch Montoya was issued an invitation before his DNC vet was complete," the statement said. "We informed him privately that we had to rescind his speaking invitation. We chose to relay this to him in a private manner. He chose to make this issue public."

As for backing McCain, Montoya said his experience with the Democrats has made him rethink the presidential race and the issues of abortion and gay marriage.

"I was almost willing to overlook those for the sake of change, but when this happened to me, I guess it's making me change and now realize that, all along, it was politics as usual," Montoya said. "They don't have to give me a place on the program, but they could say they're sorry and that they made a mistake."

Interfaith Gathering

* When: Aug. 24 at 2 p.m.

* Where: Wells Fargo Theater at the Colorado Convention Center.

* Cost: It is free and open to the public.

* Tickets: Visit www.demcon vention.com/interfaith or e-mail Interfaith@DemConvention.com or call 720-362-2520.

* Key participants: Bishop Charles E. Blake, the seventh presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ; Ingrid Mattson, director of the MacDonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary; Sister Helen Prejean, the nun who wrote Dead Man Walking; Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, vice president of the Orthodox Union.

• August 13, 2008

  10:10 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  beentheredonethat writes:

  It's no mistake. "They embarrassed me." Wow. He's been victimized-- Butch Montoya's key personality trait is pride, and it has been all along. A Divinity degree does not guarantee that a person's character is above reproach. If it did, there would not have been so many scandals in religious institutions.
  And morals and ethics are not the same thing. So Montoya may push his morals on anyone who will listen, but his business ethics have been compromised (at best) for many years. Remember when they found that he hadn't the college degree for his high-paying city job and he got the mayor to swear that he would find or make him a job at a comparable salary? Talk about an embarrassment for the mayor and for Denver.
  So, no-- the DNC staffers haven't made any mistake except perhaps to have considered him in the first place. Just a word of advice to those staffers: Watch your back. You have damaged the pride of a Montoya. You tried to keep it private, but he probably told all his friends and now it's ALL YOUR FAULT.

• August 14, 2008

  9:55 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  blu_boi writes:

  You can do a google search on any of these religious leaders and find enough "controversy" to warrant removal:

  Bishop Charles E. Blake - earns a $900,000 salary and owns a 10,000-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills while most of his congregation lives in impoverished South Central Los Angeles. (also rumors of 1.6 million dollars being stolen from the church)

  Ingrid Mattson - Allegations of Hamas ties

  Sister Helen Prejean - The best of the group but still she's a pro-life activist.

  We already have a "religious right" to deal with, do we really need a "religious left"?

• September 13, 2008

  2:43 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  BuzzBomb writes:

  Butch is a two-bit punk. "A man of the cloth?" Hardy, har har hah!

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