The Santa Fe New Mexican from Santa Fe, New Mexico • 11

ELCJUSO B-2 EESTGETS BOVH3IY mmmmm 1 1 I 1 i Jj School lbdard'TaGe swells with candidates By GREG TOPPO The New Mexican 1 I JS I- f- I (j i V0 Bf mmksUBmh Ken Prentice Martin Lujan David Hutt Dan Ullbarrl Tom Fiorina DonttaOSena Wilfred Quintana Carla Lopez computer consulting business A native of New York City Prentice has lived in Santa Fe since 1989 He is a high school graduate and has a 24-year-old son who lives in New York Prentice first became involved with the local school system after the 1994 High School Summit He has followed the school board ever since consulting on budgetary decisions and playing a major role in getting school board meetings televised on the local public access cable station David Hutt 60 the Northern New Mexico and Albuquerque representative for Lubrication Engineers -a Fort Worth Texas-based company that manufactures high-performance industrial lubricants A native of London Hutt moved to the United States when he was three years old He is a naturalized US citizen and has Seven candidates vying for two seats on the Santa Fe School Board filed declarations Tuesday with the Santa Fe County Clerk But former Municipal Judge Tom Fiorina who earlier had said he would be a candidate was not among them Fiorina said Tuesday he decided against seeking the District seat saying his family want him involved in another political campaign In election five people will seek the District school board seat which represents the south side of the city as well as parts of Santa Fe County The seat is now held by outgoing member Marcel Legendre The District candidates: BKen Prentice 49 who runs a ordinator for the Civic Housing Authority Sena has two children- ages 12 and 6 who both attend! Kearny Elementary School A former PTA president at! Kearny Sena holds a degree in psychology from The' College of Santa Fe and is work-! ing towards a degree in I counseling at the college I In the District 3 race on the! Please see RACE Page B-3 of Las Vegas NM Quintana has lived in Santa Fe since 1968 A former teacher Quintana is ex-principal of Alameda Middle School Quintana has four children ages 34 34 32 and 29 and three grandchildren 15 12 and 8 Quintana and his wife are raising the eldest grandchild All three attend Santa Fe Public Schools Donlta 0 Sena 34 a native of Santa Fe is social service co Las Vegas NM who owns an insurance agency Ulibarri whose 8-year-old son attends Kearny Elementary School is president of the Kearny PTA A 1967 graduate of St High School Ulibarri studied business at New Mexico Highlands University for three years He served in the US Air Force for four years Wilfred Quintana 57 a native lived in Santa Fe for 3Ya years Hutt holds a 1960 degree in botany from Pomona College and has done graduate work in evolutionary genetics at the University of California at Berkeley Before coming to Santa Fe Hutt who has three grown sons served for 13 years on the Murrieta Calif school board in Riverside County Dan Ullbarrl 48 a native of tax revenue 13 i I 3 drops By BEN NEARY The New Mexican a ZJL i 1 i The city of Santa Fe received a sharp jolt of bad financial news this week: A monthly gross receipts tax check is nearly 10 percent lower than the same month last year The $39 million check compared with $43 million last December leaves the city halfway through this fiscal year with total gross receipts revenue lagging 25 percent behind the year before This check reflects the ehare of sales taxes merchants collected on goods ahd services in October In total the city has so far collect $254 million for the first six months of this fiscal year compared with $261 million last year The city had projected a one-half percent increase this year over list "It may' and I want to emphasize may necessitate further cuts as part of the mid-year Acting City Manager Frank DiLuzio said Tuesday He said Please see MONEY Page B-3 Manager denies Is V- abuse Of Snowflakes and Christmas Trees Above Salazar Elementary School third-grader Rosa Romero 10 second from left helps second-grader Danielle Rangel 7 left adjust her snowflake costume Tuesday afternoon Just before their winter musical program Slxttvgradsr Hope Benavidez 12 In the background adjusts the antlers of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Matthew Montoya 8 At right sixth-grader Dylan Coss 12 portrays the Christmas tree as he dances with Ashley Clokey 11 left and Jerrica Gallegos 11 duilng Tuesday's program at Salazar Elementary School Photo by Chuck Wlnf Th Mlcrr How to pick new candidate has Democrats divided By MARK OSWALD The New Mexican By BRUNO NAVARRO The New Mexican i A former Cfub manager 'denied on Tuesday that lie had ever heard complaints of sexual harassment contradicting the Pearlier testimony of several women and an assistant manager who worked at the Rodeo Road store were no concerns that icame to me about Toby Alire abusing said Louis Gonzales who managed the store from December 1992 to April 1995 He said Alire and several fe co-workers in the receiving department "Just get 'along in that On Friday David Sage now an assistant manager at the in Colorado Springs Colo said he had told Gonzales of an incldent in which Alire allegedly grabbed a female co-worker's breasts Gonzales replied "Well have to look into Sage testified Alire and parent company Wal-Mart Stores Inc were both named as defendants in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by two employees Co-plaintiffs Madeline Duran and Cathy Jean Coates testified last week that Alire had physically and verbally abused them making explicit references to eexual acts and his genitals The women also said managers ignored their complaints Please see ABUSE Page B-3 Eric Semi Considered the Democrats' frontrunner to replace Bill Richardson then have another closed session to make a decision The council's decision can be appealed to the state central committee and on to court Madrid opposes having any portion of the Judicial Council meeting in private "Given the ramifications of choosing a member of Congress" she said "every part of the procedure should be as open to the public as Serna said Democrats fight over the nomination process and should- instead concentrate on keeping the con-! gressional seat "You see the Republicans doing a lot of he said Party rules say that state central com-? mlttee members choose the nominee If a vacancy occurs on the ticket for US rep- resentative the district consists of-whole The wording is confus-! Ing In part because none of the three con- gressional districts in New Mexico con- slsts only of whole counties quire open party primaries for the vacancy difficult to assess the damage if only a few make the Maes said know how the public would view Former state District Judge Patricia Madrid another possible candidate said she reads the rules to allow the county committee members to make the choice although she acknowledged the rules are vague Earl Potter the state Democratic chairman said the meeting of the Judicial Council chaired by Rep Sheryl Williams of Albuquerque is planned for 1:30 pm Saturday in Albuquerque at either state party headquarters or the Bernalillo County party office He said the normal process for the council is to meet first in a closed executive session then have an open session where speakers can address the council A state Democratic Party committee meets Saturday to decide how the party will choose a nominee to replace US Rep Bill Richardson of Santa Fe if as ex-' pected the congressman is confirmed as US ambassador to the United Nations The Judicial Council must decide which of two groups state central committee members from Third Congressional District or county central committee members In the district will pick the Democratic candidate for a special election Party rules on choosing a Democratic nominee for a congressional vacancy are open to interpretation Under one reading 80 or 100 state central committee members would make the choice under the other possibility 500 or 600 county central committee members would Corporation Commissioner Eric Serna is considered the frontrunner for the nomination especially if the selection is left up to state central committee members "I will work with whatever process the party decides" Serna said Tuesday "Either way I feel that I have the votes to win" State Sen Roman Maes D-Santa Fa is among other contenders for the nomination who want a more open process He said a bill could be introduced in the legislative session that starts in January to re.