It's sometimes hard to tell whether Anthony Garcia is running for father of the year or city councilor or both.

Early in his campaign, the retired civil engineer talked about his 22-year-old son, Michael, as much as he talked about ousting 14-year City Councilor Patti Bushee from Santa Fe's governing body.

But as the race gets closer to crunch time, Garcia spends more time on issues, getting more serious about answering specific questions in candidate forums, where he frequently taps his pen against the table in cadence with his speech.

It's Garcia's second contest with Bushee. He lost by a wide margin in 1996, when he polled 11 percent, or 436 votes, against three opponents. But the challenger is undeterred. In letters to the editor and campaign press releases, he has called Bushee "burned out," "not responsive," "negligent" and "detrimental."

On the topic of his son, Michael, Garcia gloats. It's not hard to imagine the tall, thin candidate volunteering to coach his son's grade school basketball team and reliving his own student-athlete days. Garcia took an early retirement in his 40s, he said, to stay home with Michael after he and his wife divorced with a 2-year-old son.

Michael Garcia had a sterling athletic and academic career in high school that included being named a national track champion and graduating as class valedictorian. The younger Garcia plans to start medical school soon.

"The proudest thing in my life is my son," the council candidate explained during a recent interview. "Just raising him and what he has done. He is blessed, and I am blessed for having him and for the environment I grew up in."

Garcia recalls a Santa Fe that is now mostly the stuff of memories. "It was a really, really nice childhood. It was small," he said of the town. "Everybody knew everybody."

His family roots trace to the 1700s when one of his ancestors owned land that is now El Rancho de Las Golondrinas, the Spanish Colonial living history museum.

His lifestyle mirrors traditional values, he said. Garcia built his two-story home himself off West Alameda over a five-year span, including felling trees and hauling vigas from the mountains.

"I've always been pretty conservative, very conservative," he said. "I don't like to get into debt if I don't have to."

Simple decorations at Garcia's house include an antique sword and rifle, and rosary beads that belonged to his uncle, the Rev. Miguel Baca. Spanish guitar music played on the built-in speaker system as he occasionally stirred pots of red chile and beans on the stove.

Since he's been home-based for decades, Garcia said, he has plenty of time to devote to his own interests such as cooking, fishing and projects around the house. If elected, he said, he'll have ample time to put into being a city councilor.

After graduating from high school, he got a job at what was then known as the state Highway Department, working while earning his degree in engineering at New Mexico State University through a state work/study program. Garcia left that agency after a half-dozen years and then spent six years working for what was then known as the state Public Service Commission, where he gained experience with utility systems and their operations and value, and eventually was promoted to chief engineer. Garcia also owned a liquor license that he used briefly in Albuquerque, mostly for catering for the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization. He said he also lives off returns from stock investments.

Raised Catholic, Garcia attended elementary school at St. Francis Cathedral School and attended St. Michael's High School for a few years, but graduated from Santa Fe High in 1964. The candidate said he's now "basically unattached every which way."

He sees himself as the underdog in the District 1 council race. "It's an uphill battle with an entrenched incumbent," he said.

Yet Garcia doesn't plan to spend much money on his campaign. He voluntarily filed a declaration with the city clerk that he will limit his fundraising to $1 per registered voter, which in District 1 would mean a maximum of about $12,500. Bushee already has that much in her campaign chest.

In the first round of required campaign-finance reports, he indicated he loaned himself about $1,000 for the race as well as hit up three friends for a couple of hundred bucks in donations.

One of those friends is Richard Gilliam, a county resident who retired from the equipment rental business. When Gilliam got to know Garcia, they were in high school, and the candidate went by the nickname "Doisey." Gilliam said he supported Garcia's campaign financially because Garcia does not represent any special-interest groups and has no hidden agenda.

"I know that he has a real, sincere concern for the city and the people that live in it and he is mindful of the changes that are going on and would like to see that sort of thing happen in a controlled manner," he said. "He's not into what I would call the theater of politics. ... Some candidates are not what they appear to be, but they are pretty good actors. He's not that sort of individual."

Garcia has shown an independent nature in how he approaches his campaign. For example, he turned down a request from The New Mexican to take part in a short video for display on the newspaper's Web site and initially declined to submit responses to a written questionnaire.

Even in his earlier campaign, he said, he didn't like answering stacks of surveys and attending multiple candidate forums.

Asked what he learned from that earlier race, he said: "That's a good question. I have been thinking about that. What did I learn? To stay out of it? I need to be like the little mouse. At least if you are like the mouse, if you shock him a couple times, he learns not to go over there."

Garcia nevertheless says he won't stop being critical of Bushee, although he said in the interview he didn't want to "bash" the councilor.

"I could live just how I am living," he said, "but I want to make the city a better place."

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.




GERALD ANTHONY GARCIA

Age: 61

Birthplace: Santa Fe

Education: Attended elementary school at St. Francis Cathedral School, attended St. Michael's High School and Santa Fe High School; earned engineering degree from New Mexico State University through a state work/study program.

Occupation: Retired

Experience: Worked for the state Highway Department after high school beginning in 1964, also spent six years with the former state Public Service Commission, where he gained experience with utility systems. Garcia also owned a liquor license he used briefly in Albuquerque, mostly for catering for the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization.

Personal: Son, Michael, is 22.

Have you ever been arrested? Yes. When I was a teenager I was charged with a misdemeanor. The charges were dismissed.