Fernando C. de Baca says he resigned this morning from the position of chairman of the Bernalillo County Republican Party.
“The media sideshow which has developed, due to remarks taken totally out of context, has created a media spectacle of major proportions and, as a result, I decided to resign as of this morning in an effort to get the focus back on the 30 or more Republican campaigns in Bernalillo County,” C. de Baca said in an interview with 770 KKOB-AM’s Peter St. Cyr. “We have precious few days remaining before the general election and not a moment to spare.”
C. de Baca was facing heavy pressure from Republicans and Democrats alike to step down because of racially charged comments he made in recent days related to relations between Hispanics and blacks in the context of the candidacy of Democrat Barack Obama.
In the interview with St. Cyr, C. de Baca said he plans to “take a back seat” to the campaigns. His role with the party has yet to be worked out, but he said he may “try to work on the campaigns in the background.”
St. Cyr reported that Bernalillo County Republican Party Treasurer Ryan Cangiolosi will replace C. de Baca.
The first statement reacting to C. de Baca’s resignation came from Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley.
“Racial divisions have no place in
Comments drew widespread criticism
The furor is over a Friday blog posting on BBC News’ Web site in which C. de Baca was quoted by blogger Jon Kelly as saying, “The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors. African-Americans came here as slaves. Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won’t vote for a black president.”
C. de Baca claimed the quote was published out of context, and he was speaking in a historical context about his grandfather’s generation. He said he believes many young Hispanics will vote for Obama. But BBC News and Kelly stood by the blog posting’s portrayal of the comment as referring to Hispanics in general.
In addition, there was a recording of a separate interview C. de Baca conducted with a different BBC reporter in which C. de Baca said this:
“I feel strongly that Hispanics will not support, in my generation and the generation around my age, are not going to support the Democratic candidate for president primarily because there is a strong feeling that African Americans during the civil rights movement took advantage, full advantage, of all the benefits and programs that the government offered, that were supposed to be offered to all minorities. But we were left behind, we were left sucking air, and we resented that ever since the 60s, and I don’t see how a black president is going to change that.”
State party Chairman Allen Weh had said he had the authority to remove C. de Baca, though whether he actually does is unclear. Weh had not indicated whether he would try to remove C. de Baca. The county party’s central committee, which has the authority to remove the chairman, had not acted, but the executive committee had backed C. de Baca.
Weh had been joined by Sen. Pete Domenici, Reps. Steve Pearce, Tom Udall and Heather Wilson, several congressional candidates from both parties and others in calling for C. de Baca’s resignation. Other than the Tinsley campaign, top Republican and Democratic officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A difficult week
C. de Baca told St. Cyr that this has been a difficult week for him.
“People have drawn conclusions based on information, basic information, without checking into the facts themselves. Anybody that knows me knows that I have worked on behalf of minority Americans and all Americans over the last 40 years in various capacities,” he said. “I’ve been in the forefront of the civil rights movement, in the forefront of the Voting Rights Act movement, and I have been quite an advocate in promoting civil rights.”
He said 90 percent or more of the phone calls he’s received in the past week were from people supportive of him remaining chairman.
“However, I felt, after considering all the options and talking to party leaders, the senior party leaders, I decided that the future of our country’s at stake here, the future of our state Legislature makeup is at stake here. These things are far more important than Fernando C. de Baca,” he told St. Cyr. “I felt it necessary to step aside to get the focus back on the campaigns.”
Click here to listen to St. Cyr’s entire interview with C. de Baca.
Update, 3 p.m.
Republican 1st Congressional District candidate Darren White said resigning was “the right thing” for C. de Baca to do.
Meanwhile, Brian Colón, chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, said he is “glad we are putting these divisive comments behind us and can continue to focus on the issues that matter most to working families this election year — the economy, the foreclosure crisis, affordable health care and skyrocketing energy prices.”
Update, 3:10 p.m.
Weh released this statement:
“I have been informed Fernando C. de Baca has submitted his resignation as county chairman,” he said. “Mr. C. de Baca has worked hard on behalf of the party, and his contributions should be appropriately recognized. We are glad this matter has been resolved and wish him well.”
Update, 3:15 p.m.
Ivette Barajas, spokeswoman for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said C. de Baca’s resignation is “appropriate.”
“There is no room for these kinds of comments in public discourse,” Barajas said.
Update, 3:35 p.m.
The Bernalillo County Republican Party sent out a news release announcing that its executive committee has nominated Cangiolosi to be the new chairman. The release stated that C. de Baca “presented his resignation, effective immediately, to the executive committee.”
“I am extremely honored and humbled by the nomination and want to immediately turn the county party’s attention to making sure John McCain is elected president along with our other Republican candidates,” Cangiolosi said in the release. “I know there are critical issues facing the future of
“I want to thank Fernando for his years of service to our country, state and Republican Party,” Cangiolosi said. “I look forward to moving the county party forward as we prepare for the November elections.”
Update, 3:40 p.m.
Enrique Carlos Knell,
“Her feelings continue to be that Mr. C. de Baca should have resigned three days ago,” Knell said today of