{"id":3761,"date":"2008-09-25T13:19:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-25T19:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/09\/c-de-baca-says-he-has-resigned-updated\/"},"modified":"2008-09-25T13:19:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-25T19:19:00","slug":"c-de-baca-says-he-has-resigned-updated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/09\/c-de-baca-says-he-has-resigned-updated\/","title":{"rendered":"C. de Baca says he has resigned (updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Fernando C. de Baca says he resigned this morning from the position of chairman of the Bernalillo County Republican Party<\/a>. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d C. de Baca said in an interview with 770 KKOB-AM\u2019s Peter St. Cyr<\/a>. \u201cWe have precious few days remaining before the general election and not a moment to spare.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In the interview with St. Cyr, C. de Baca said he plans to \u201ctake a back seat\u201d to the campaigns. His role with the party has yet to be worked out, but he said he may \u201ctry to work on the campaigns in the background.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

St. Cyr reported that Bernalillo County Republican Party Treasurer Ryan Cangiolosi will replace C. de Baca.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The first statement reacting to C. de Baca\u2019s resignation came from Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Ed Tinsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cRacial divisions have no place in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, period. It\u2019s time to move on, have the party pull together and confront the many issues that face southern New Mexico and the nation at large,\u201d the statement from the Tinsley campaign read. Tinsley was not among a large, bipartisan group of politicians who had previously called for C. de Baca\u2019s ouster or denounced his comments.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Comments drew widespread criticism<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The furor is over a Friday blog posting<\/a> on BBC News\u2019 Web site in which C. de Baca was quoted by blogger Jon Kelly as saying, \u201cThe truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors. African-Americans came here as slaves. Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won\u2019t vote for a black president.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

C. de Baca claimed the quote was published out of context, and he was speaking in a historical context about his grandfather\u2019s generation. He said he believes many young Hispanics will vote for Obama. But BBC News and Kelly stood by the blog posting\u2019s portrayal of the comment as referring to Hispanics in general.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In addition, there was a recording of a separate interview<\/a> C. de Baca conducted with a different BBC reporter in which C. de Baca said this:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019t see how a black president is going to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

State party Chairman Allen Weh<\/a> 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\u2019s central committee, which has the authority to remove the chairman, had not acted, but the executive committee had backed C. de Baca.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Weh had been joined by Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>, Reps. Steve Pearce<\/a>, Tom Udall<\/a> and Heather Wilson<\/a>, several congressional candidates from both parties and others in calling for C. de Baca\u2019s resignation. Other than the Tinsley campaign, top Republican and Democratic officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A difficult week<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

C. de Baca told St. Cyr that this has been a difficult week for him.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople 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,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He said 90 percent or more of the phone calls he\u2019s received in the past week were from people supportive of him remaining chairman.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, I felt, after considering all the options and talking to party leaders, the senior party leaders, I decided that the future of our country\u2019s 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,\u201d he told St. Cyr. \u201cI felt it necessary to step aside to get the focus back on the campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to listen to St. Cyr\u2019s entire interview with C. de Baca.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Republican 1st Congressional District candidate Darren White<\/a> said resigning was \u201cthe right thing\u201d for C. de Baca to do.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Brian Col\u00f3n, chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, said he is \u201cglad 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Weh released this statement:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI have been informed Fernando C. de Baca has submitted his resignation as county chairman,\u201d he said. \u201cMr. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Ivette Barajas, spokeswoman for Republican presidential candidate John McCain<\/a>, said C. de Baca\u2019s resignation is \u201cappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no room for these kinds of comments in public discourse,\u201d Barajas said.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3:35 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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 \u201cpresented his resignation, effective immediately, to the executive committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely honored and humbled by the nomination and want to immediately turn the county party\u2019s attention to making sure John McCain is elected president along with our other Republican candidates,\u201d Cangiolosi said in the release. \u201cI know there are critical issues facing the future of Bernalillo<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype> and the State of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and I am committed to electing our candidates who will help address these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank Fernando for his years of service to our country, state and Republican Party,\u201d Cangiolosi said. \u201cI look forward to moving the county party forward as we prepare for the November elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Enrique Carlos Knell, Wilson<\/st1:city>\u2019s communications director, pointed to a statement he provided to the media on Wednesday in which Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said, \u201cI don\u2019t agree with Mr. C. de Baca\u2019s remarks and they do not represent the views of the Republicans I know. Party officials are supposed to help candidates; Mr. C. de Baca is not helping and he should have resigned two days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHer feelings continue to be that Mr. C. de Baca should have resigned three days ago,\u201d Knell said today of Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fernando C. de Baca says he resigned this morning from the position of chairman of the Bernalillo County Republican Party. \u201cThe 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}