{"id":408021,"date":"2017-08-15T13:09:30","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T19:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=408021"},"modified":"2017-08-16T14:45:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T20:45:18","slug":"jimenez-resigns-from-dona-ana-county-gop-leadership-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/08\/jimenez-resigns-from-dona-ana-county-gop-leadership-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimenez resigns from Do\u00f1a Ana County GOP leadership post"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Roman

Las Cruces Sun-News file photo<\/p>

Roman Jimenez<\/p><\/div>\n

Roman Jimenez has resigned from his\u00a0position as\u00a0chairman of the Do\u00f1a Ana County Republican Party, the group announced Tuesday in a Facebook post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Victor Contreras, a longtime GOP activist, will serve as interim chairman “until the county central committee convenes a meeting to elect a new chairperson,” the post states.<\/p>\n

Calls for Jimenez’s resignation had been growing\u00a0because of\u00a0a Sunday Facebook post<\/a> in which he said\u00a0“violent, leftist protesters” were “getting exactly what they asked for” a day after the white nationalist rally in\u00a0Charlottesville, Virginia turned violent, leaving\u00a0one person dead and dozens injured. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M. and a candidate for governor, was among those who said Jimenez needed to step down.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of differences, Americans must treat each other with respect. The chairman\u2019s actions cannot go unaddressed. He should step down,\u201d\u00a0The Santa Fe New Mexican quoted Pearce as saying<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Las Cruces Sun-News editorial board agreed<\/a>. So did one of the few elected Republicans in Las Cruces, City Councilor Ceil Levatino.\u00a0\u201cThere are no words strong enough to express my outrage, disgust and disappointment at the comments made by the chair of the Republican Party of Do\u00f1a Ana County,\u201d Levatino said.<\/p>\n

The criticism started immediately after the county GOP posted Jimenez’s statement on Sunday afternoon. In response to the firestorm, the county GOP\u00a0wrote in\u00a0a Facebook comment<\/a>\u00a0that Jimenez\u2019s\u00a0post wasn\u2019t about the events in Charlottesville.\u00a0In\u00a0another comment<\/a>, the party wrote, \u201cOf course I condemn white supremacists and any associated violence.” The post was deleted\u00a0moments later.<\/p>\n

Jimenez told KOB-TV in Albuquerque<\/a>\u00a0he didn’t know about the violence in Charlottesville\u00a0when his statement was posted.<\/p>\n

At Saturday\u2019s white nationalist rally,\u00a0Heather D. Heyer, 32,\u00a0was killed<\/a>\u00a0and 19\u00a0others were injured when a car\u00a0plowed into a group of counter-protesters<\/a>.\u00a0James Alex Fields Jr.<\/a>\u00a0of Ohio, 20, has been charged in the attack.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Contreras, now the Do\u00f1a Ana County GOP’s interim chair, offered condolences to Heyer’s family.<\/p>\n

“I, along with the Republican Party of Do\u00f1a Ana County take a bold stance against all the extreme acts of violence, racism and hate that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia,” Contreras said in the group’s Facebook post. “We believe there is no room for bigotry, racism or hate in our country.”<\/p>\n

Contreras pledged to “uphold the very values that so many Americans have fought and given their lives for. Regardless of race, creed or religion, we all have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”<\/p>\n

The Facebook post announcing Jimenez’s resignation included no apology from Jimenez or the county GOP\u00a0for his Sunday statement.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Party of New Mexico didn’t stop hammering the county GOP after Jimenez’s resignation.<\/p>\n

“The difference between Democrats and Republicans couldn’t be more clear. While the New Mexico GOP was managing the fact that their official posted blatantly racist rhetoric, New Mexico Democrats were attending vigils, condemning violence and taking a stand against bigotry,” the party said in a statement. “This resignation is good news, but it by no means changes the fact that hate and racism exists in the Republican Party.”<\/p>\n

This article has been updated.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roman Jimenez had been under fire for saying “violent, leftist protesters” were “getting exactly what they asked for” a day after the violence in Virginia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":407078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[115,143,194],"class_list":["post-408021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-dona-ana-county","tag-race-and-ethnicity","tag-republican-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408021","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=408021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}