Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales is asking a judge to lay down the law in his race for mayor.
The city clerk denied Gonzales hundreds of thousands of dollars in public financing last month due to forgery and fraud allegations within his campaign, according to KOB4.
With hopes to receive $660,000 in public funding, Gonzales was denied by the city clerk when Mayor Tim Keller's reelection campaign filed ethics complaints against Gonzales' campaign, KOB4 reported in July.
The city clerk sent the Gonzales campaign a letter saying "The Office of the City Clerk cannot provide that certification on the record as it stands today because of the obligation all officials have to safeguard public funds," KOB4 reported.
Gonzales' campaign stands accused of forging more than 100 signatures on documents to facilitate financing, the outlet reported.
When KOB4 questioned some of the people who purportedly signed the documentation, some individuals confirmed that some the signatures were not theirs.
"Interestingly, every judge in Albuquerque has recused themselves from this case so the Supreme Court appointed a judge from Santa Fe to hear Gonzales' appeal," Chris Ramirez with KOB4 said. "That hearing has not yet been set up."