Martin Lujan says he likes to read books. Not novels or political history, he told an interviewer, but a good book about leadership.

"Martin loves to read," he said, referring to himself in the third person. "I believe you can learn a lot of the things in life from leaders. ... I am a life learner."

He offers inspirational observations such as: "It takes a village to raise a child. I think we are so busy building the village that we forget about the child." Or "Through life we are always going to go through times where we have to think, 'What sacrifices do we need to make to see the bigger outcome?' "

He said getting elected twice to the Santa Fe school board and facing decisions for public schools was good preparation for his City Council bid. But he maintains it wasn't his aim to use the school-board post as a springboard.

Lujan, 42, is one of six siblings. He grew up in what is now Council District 3 and left Santa Fe briefly to attend New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. A high-school athlete and senior class president, he went by "Marty" when he was younger.

He has a continuing interest in sports and has coached wrestling, football and basketball up to the junior-high level. He works as an assistant division director at the city of Santa Fe's Genoveva Chavez Community Center. He held a golf tournament to raise campaign funds.

The candidate enjoys support from many in the education community, including former school board member Carmichael Dominguez, who in 2006 was elected to District 3's other council seat.

Lujan said he wouldn't align automatically with Dominguez to form a voting bloc, but the two are longtime friends and hunting partners. Dominguez said he looks forward to having Lujan as a colleague because the two share a vision.

"I know that we work well together, and that was something that was evident at Santa Fe Public Schools," Lujan said. "I have to stress that we did not always agree. There were times that we battled in chambers very hard. ... But we always knew that we had to move on to tackle the next issue, and that's what we would do."

Dominguez would also be Lujan's neighbor if the candidate buys a Tierra Contena lot he has his eye on.

Exactly where Lujan calls home has been a campaign issue. Lujan this fall changed his voter registration to a house he rented on Hickox Street, but his family has continued to live in another house they own outside the city's limits.

The house on Hickox is both within Lujan's school-board district and the City Council district he seeks to represent. However, while the lot he's trying to buy is within the City Council district, it's outside the area he represents on the school board.

Lujan said he and his wife, Sue, the principal at Capshaw Middle School, stay in the Hickox home sometimes but not every night. He says the transition "has been challenging."

But Lujan said he makes a point to have "committed family time" and to tuck his 3-year-old son into bed at his county house.

Lujan said his ideal situation would be to build in Tierra Contenta after selling the county house, which has been on the market for more than a year.

"I am crossing my fingers because the market is not as hot as it used to be," he said. "I moved into District 3. I made that commitment, and we are committed to moving. My wife and I are looking for a sense of neighborhood where we will have the local school and the local park. Right now, we don't really have that. ... Soon enough we will be building the home we'd like to see in District 3."

Lujan said he didn't get negative feedback after a story appeared in The New Mexican in which the incumbent councilor, Miguel Chavez, said it appeared Lujan was trying to mislead voters.

"What I heard was 'What is he trying to say?' Because I think if you know Martin Lujan — if I'm committed to do something, I am going to do it. I am going to follow through."

Lujan said he's interested in working on better relationships within the community. He said he is proud that he recently was asked to film part of a documentary with the son of civil-rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and that he got to talk about "living the dream."

"We talk about our immigrant community, and we talk our Anglo community, our Native community, our Hispanic community. That's not what I'm looking at. Todos son Latinos. We are all together. We almost need to re-educate people about how it works. The power is in the numbers. The power is in being together."

Lujan describes himself as "an early riser," saying he's up most days by 5:30 a.m. If he is elected, he said, he will have to both resign from the school board and quit the job from which he has already taken a leave of absence to campaign. Nevertheless, he said, he's got "new energy" to bring to the council.

MARTIN G. LUJAN

Age: 42

Birthplace: Santa Fe

Education: Associate of Applied Science degree and a Bachelor of Science degree from New Mexico State University; certificate in executive management from The University of New Mexico's Robert O. Anderson Graduate School of Management

Occupation: Assistant division director at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center

Work experience: City employee for more than two decades

Other experience: Elected to two terms on the Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education; 2001-present, Santa Fe Regional Juvenile Justice Board; 2001-present, National Association of Latino Elected Officials; 2001-present, New Mexico School Boards Association; 2001-2004 Santa Fe Junior Wrestling Association

Personal: Married to Sue Lujan; nearly 4-year-old son, Lucas Martin Lujan; two dogs, Lab mixes Buddy and Maggie

Campaign finance: Lujan had collected $11,350 as part of the first campaign finance report, filed on Jan. 24. Among major donors were investor Garret Thornburg and Canyon Road retiree Thomas Dillenberg.

Have you ever been arrested? "Twenty-three years ago, while a student at NMSU, a fraternity brother and I were detained for trespassing. No charges were ever filed and no action taken."