Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez told Hoy newspaper journalist Asela Maria Lamarche that he would seek international counsel to be able to carry out a better administration of the city of Santo Domingo should he win the 1998 election. Peña leads in the polls. Furthermore, he explained that he would designate several persons to be his assistants that will dispatch the administrative affairs daily with the deputy mayor. (Johnny Ventura is the candidate for deputy mayor.) He said he would invite the PRD aspirants for mayor who did not win their posts and other party members that have had experience managing city affairs to participate in the city government. He said that his wife, Doña Peggy, would be in charge of all social services of the municipality. "The problem of being mayor is not in the time one spends within the city hall, but rather in the time one gives to the position and I will give it time. ….I will be mayor, but my main role will be leader of the PRD," he said, explaining that he would handle affairs in order to exercise his leadership to fulfill the needs of the city. "It is logical that I win the elections, because I have spent my entire life fighting for this country, without requesting anything in return. Now I am trying to write my epilogue with the position of mayor. I believe this country cannot deny me that possibility." 62-year old Peña Gómez is terminally ill with cancer of the pancreas.
