Heinrich to White: Oust Bernalillo County Republican Chair for Racist Remarks; Also, Info on C de Baca's Past

The crude, racists remarks made by Ferdinand C de Baca, the GOP's Bernalillo County Chair, are prompting outrage and on the national scene. As I posted yesterday, the comments by C de Baca were included in an by a BBC reporter who spoke with him on Thursday, at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque:

"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."

Today Martin Heinrich, the Dem candidate for Congress in NM-01, issued a statement calling on his opponent Darren White to join with him and demand Chairman Fernando C de Baca be immediately ousted from his chairmanship of the Republican Party of Bernalillo County following his racist comments reported by the BBC yesterday.

"I find GOP Chairman de Baca's comments offensive, short-sighted, and horribly racist. Spewing such bigotry proves once again that the GOP leadership of Bernalillo County is far too out of touch with New Mexican voters, who --“ regardless of political party --“ are a proud people who celebrate our cultural and ethnic diversity. GOP Chairman de Baca should step down and apologize to all New Mexicans for his disgusting display of intolerance. And if he fails to do so voluntarily, then I would hope that Darren White and the rest of the Bernalillo County GOP party leadership oust him immediately."

GOP Response
A local McCain campaign spokesperson and a statement from Darren White's campaign today denounced C de Baca's statements, but Fernando himself has been incommunicado on the matter, as have Steve Pearce, Pete Domenici, Ed Tinsley, the Republican Party of New Mexico and other GOP candidates and members, at least as far as I know.

Criticism is not enough. How can the MCain campaign and the Republican Party allow de Baca to continue in a public leadership role? Doesn't that add up to sanctioning his remarks in a way, or at least tolerating naked bigotry within the GOP's official party structure?

C de Baca Plead Guilty to Bid Rigging
By the way, this isn't the first time that Ferdinand C de Baca has created controversy. Ferdinand once plead guilty to bid rigging, as noted in this post by NM Repub blogger Mario Burgos:

Here'€™s what the Albuquerque Tribune (7/24/96) reported about C de Baca'€™s 1996 bid-rigging conviction in California:

Fernando C de Baca, 58, of Albuquerque pleaded guilty Tuesday in San Diego County District Court to conspiring to inflate bids for asbestos removal at two malls owned by the Hahn Co. of San Diego. One of them was Coronado Center in Albuquerque.

C de Baca and his co-defendant, Thomas Sytko . . . agreed to pay a $600,000 fine. C de Baca’s share was $150,000 . . .

Robert Fellmeth, a former prosecutor and the founder of the Center for Public Interest Law at the University of San Diego School of Law, called the fines the largest he can recall for criminal antitrust violations in California.

C de Baca won the contracts in return for kickbacks to Sytko. The scheme netted the two men about $310,000.

C de Baca barely avoided a three-year prison sentence. In addition to the California fine, C de Baca also paid a $25,000 fine in a settlement with New Mexico prosecutors.

When he ran for the State Senate last year, this is how C de Baca characterized the bid-rigging/kickback episode when the Albuquerque Tribune inquired about his criminal record:

In 1996 I was convicted of an anti-trust violation in California and paid a fine. My case was reviewed by the Superior Court of California in early 2004. The charge was dismissed and expunged.

C de Baca is perceived as a member of the far right bloc in the GOP here, the same wing of the party that supports Rep. Steve Pearce, who's running against Tom Udall for U.S. Senate here.

If you read Burgos' entire post, you'll understand why Mario wanted to get this info out about C de Baca. Turns out that Fernando had pulled some shenanigans within the County and State GOP that were less than stellar in trying to promote the far-right power bloc he supports within the Party.

And think about this -- C de Baca is perceived to be aligned with the GOP forces that back Steve Pearce, the extreme rightwinger who's running against Dem Tom Udall for U.S. Senate here. I wonder if Steve Pearce agrees with C de Baca's comments. We'll have to wait and see.

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