Bernalillo County GOP Gives C de Baca "Vote of Confidence" Despite Racially Insulting Statements

You have to wonder about the sanity of the members of the Bernalillo County Republican Party Executive Committee. Today they met behind closed doors to consider what should be done about what are, at the very least, incredibly insensitive words stated by County Chair Fernando C de Baca. Unbelievably, they decided he could stay in his party leadership post. Last Thursday at the New Mexico State Fair, C de Baca reportedly had this to say to a BBC blogger:

"The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors," he said. "African-Americans came here as slaves. Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won't vote for a black president."

KSFR Airs New Audio, Colón Reponds
It's now come to light that C de Baca also spoke with a BBC reporter who, unlike the blogger, recorded the interview. Santa Fe Public Radio KSFR did a segment today on that, with audio of more of C de Baca's comments about race, as well as a response from Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair, Brian Colón. Let's just say C de Baca's audio comments were worse in some ways than those originally reported on the BBC blog:

“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.”

In response Colón said, in part:

I think that the Chairman is out of touch with New Mexicans. I disagree wholeheartedly. I also disagree that this is part of the discord that needs to take place if we're going to talk about the future of America.

... I'm offended. I think his own party is offended. I think that at the end of the day New Mexicans are ready for change and that's what's gonna rule the day.

... I'm more disturbed now that I've heard the audio, and I think your listeners will be more disturbed as well.

GOP Exec Committee at Odds With Others in GOP
After listening to C de Baca's explanation today, the GOP County Exec Committee issued a unanimous "vote of confidence" for his continued leadership and refused to force him from office. They alone have the power to oust C de Baca.

The Exec Committee's take on what has become somewhat of a national -- even international -- story was directly in opposition to the strong criticisms and calls for C de Baca's resignation issued by other local Republicans. For instance, GOP State Party Chair Allen Weh, Sen. Pete Domenici and Darren White, the Repub candidate for Congress in NM-01, all criticized C de Baca's public conduct in no uncertain terms and suggested he shouldn't be allowed to hold a leadership position.

After the closed door meeting today, attorney Doug Antoon, a member of the Executive Committee explained in a phone conversation with Peter St. Cyr why the Committee decided to stand behind C de Baca. Among the claims is that the BBC is a "liberal" news outfit and thus didn't report the story accurately.

Both the BBC and the blogger who interviewed C de Baca stand behind the accuracy of the original story and the context in which the quotes were presented.

What's Really Going On?
There's reportedly been a rift between factions within the GOP in New Mexico for some time, and those for and agin keeping the Chairman in his job appear to be lining up along that fault line -- or is it several fault lines? The main division appears to be between the more "old line" Repubs, like Pete Domenici, Heather Wilson, Darren White and Allen Weh, and the newer breed of ultra-rightwingers like Steve Pearce, who have apparently captured some of the old bloc's thunder, at least in some places.

Bottom line: It doesn't really seem to matter to some Repubs whether Ferdinand C de Baca's comments were appallingly racist or not. What too many seem to care about is who gets to rule in the power positions within the GOP party structure. Priorities, priorities.

My Take
I have no personal knowledge of C de Baca's character or his intent in voicing what he did. What I do know is that anyone in a political leadership position in this day and age should understand that using such inflammatory language is a very bad idea, regardless. At the very least, I think it's clear that Ferdinand C de Baca used very poor judgment in saying what he did, and that he put GOP candidates in jeopardy by doing so. For that alone, you'd think he would have been forced to resign instead of being granted a vote of confidence.

What message is communicated by the GOP County Party giving its support to C de Baca despite his misguided and divisive racial statements? Nothing good, I can tell you that. It's like a dog whistle going out to the haters if you ask me. All the more so considering the problematical positions on race taken by many in the GOP since the civil rights era. States rights my arse. Remember the kind of merchandise that was sold at the recent right-wing "Values" convention? There's no excuse.

For background on this story, see my previous post, which includes links to earlier posts on DFNM and other sites that deal with this issue.

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