Bernalillo County Republican Party Chairman Fernando C. de Baca won’t resign, and his county party’s executive board voted this morning to back him, setting up a standoff with state GOP leaders who have called for C. de Baca’s resignation.
Several media outlets are reporting on the county party board’s decision to stand with C. de Baca, including 770 KKOB-AM radio reporter Peter St. Cyr, who has audio of an interview with county party executive board member Doug Antoon.
Antoon accused BBC News of being “a rather very liberal international broadcasting company.” He said the organization was taking C. de Baca’s comment — that Hispanics won’t vote for a black president because, as conquerors, they consider themselves above blacks, who came to
And, in the interview with St. Cyr, Antoon challenged anyone who has called for C. de Baca’s resignation, including state party Chairman Allen Weh, to contact C. de Baca to discuss the situation.
The move by the executive board pits it against
Weh could not immediately be reached for comment. White’s campaign reiterated his previous statement that C. de Baca “has no business holding a leadership position.”
Only the county party’s central committee — a larger committee than the executive committee that voiced support for C. de Baca today — can remove C. de Baca.
Antoon pointed out that the county party’s vice chair, Elaine Miller, was quoted by the Albuquerque Journal this morning as saying C. de Baca should resign, but Antoon said following today’s meeting that Miller has changed her mind and supports the embattled chairman.
The county party officials decided to back C. de Baca, Antoon told St. Cyr, because it became clear at the meeting that C. de Baca “was being victimized for something that ran totally contrary to what everyone knows Mr. C. de Baca represents.”
The comments
The furor is over a Friday blog posting on BBC News’ Web site in which C. de Baca was quoted by 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 claims the quote was published out of context, and he was speaking in a historical context about his grandfather’s generation. He claims he believes many young Hispanics will vote for Obama. But BBC News and Kelly stand by the blog posting’s portrayal of the comment as referring in general to Hispanics.
In addition, a recording became public today 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.”
Dems attack
Asked for comment on the situation after C. de Baca’s second comment came to light — the comment about older Hispanics resenting blacks — state Democratic Party Chairman Brian S. Colón said C. de Baca’s comments are “reprehensible and divisive.” Speaking about Barack Obama, he said this:
“What we’re focused on at the Democratic Party of New Mexico is supporting a candidate who has a plan to bring a change in direction on the issues that matter most to working families: the economy, health care, energy prices and education. After eight years of failed Republican policies, New Mexicans are working hard to elect a president who will put the interest of middle-class families first in
Meanwhile, state House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Nambé, released this statement:
“I am outraged that Bernalillo County Republican Chairman C. de Baca chose to cast New Mexicans as racists,” he said. “It is an insult to the Hispanic community and to all of the voters of
“This election is too important for divisive politics. We have the opportunity to bring real change to
A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that only the county executive committee has the power to remove C. de Baca.