Ceremonial to go on

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — The relationship between the state of New Mexico and the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial is not changing.

That’s the word Tuesday from Craig Swagerty, deputy director of the New Mexico Department of Tourism.

He was responding to reports that the state was planning to sever its ties with the Ceremonial and shut down the office on Jan. 1.

The reports came from a news released earlier this week which said: “The New Mexico Department of Tourism has recently informed the Ceremonial Association that at the end of December, the Ceremonial Office will be CLOSED and beginning in January 2009, it will be turned over to the Ceremonial Association. They will also need to replace the executive director, who is no longer employed within the Ceremonial Office.”

The news release had no letterhead and was mailed to local media. It did contain Swagerty’s office and cell phone numbers.

Swagerty said he had no idea where the release came from but said it was untrue.

The state legislature was the one who set up the arrangement by putting the Ceremonial within the Tourism Office and it is the legislature that would have to terminate it, he said, which has not happened.

Louis Bonaguidi, chairman of the Ceremonial’s board, said the state appropriated $175,000 to the Ceremonial this year, which was to pay for a director and a staff assistant as well as utilities and rent.

He said after Gov. Bill Richardson directed state programs to cut their budgets back 20 percent to make up for shortfalls caused by declining gasoline prices, state tourism officials were talking about making the Ceremonial “the sacrificial lamb.” But after talking to State Rep. Patty Lundstrom, Bonaguidi said he was told the wording of the state law would not allow the tourism department to do that.

Swagerty said there are no plans to fire Jeri Poletto, the Ceremonial’s director. “The governor appointed her and only the governor can fire her,” he said, adding that Poletto has not submitted her resignation.

Poletto’s relationship with the Ceremonial, however, has been strained since the last event in August when she told Ceremonial officials that she resigned in a dispute over the running of that year’s event. However, while she resigned with the association, she did not turn her resignation in to the state tourism office, which was paying her salary, and because of that she has remained the de facto director, working outside the office.

Bonaguidi said that in talks with state tourism officials, the association was promised that this would be cleared up by December 1 and the way would be paved for the appointment of a new director, but that hasn’t happened yet.

“It’s still somewhat vague (as to who is in charge),” he said, adding that the actual running of the office is being done by him, Joe Tanner — another association official — and Gary Holtsoi, the state-paid-for assistant.