John Billingsley, Chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico
The New Mexico Republican Party of New Mexico elected a new chairman on Saturday (Dec. 8) but the question behind the vote for John Billingsley of Alto centered on whether his election was a referendum on Jay McCleskey, the chief political strategist for Gov. Susana Martinez.
Billingsley, a 67-year-old retired businessman, received 245 votes from GOP members attending the State Central Committee meeting, compared to 103 votes for John Rockwell of Albuquerque and 6 votes for Lance Klafeta, also of Albuquerque.
Billingsley replaces Monty Newman, who has served as party chairman for the last two years.
Leading up to his election, Billingsley wrote an opinion piece that ran in a number of newspapers across the state in which he wrote, “let’s not fool ourselves; the Republican Party frankly got wiped out” in the Nov. 6 elections:
I believe our party must return to the lead role in grassroots, candidate recruitment, messaging, and fundraising. For too long, the party has adopted a top-down approach when it comes to communicating our message and values to voters.
Multi-million dollar TV campaigns and mailers go a long way, but they don’t take the place of direct personal engagement in our communities and having frank but civil conversations with people about how we can alleviate our national, state, and local problems.
Jay McCleskey, photo courtesy of KNME-TV
McCleskey, the hard-charging political advisor, led a political action committee called Reform New Mexico Now that spent $2.4 million in the past campaign to win elections for Republicans. The GOP picked up three seats in the state Senate but even though there was hope Republicans could take control of the state House of Representatives for the first time since 1953, Democrats picked up two seats in the House.
A number of Roundhouse Republicans, including outgoing state Sen. Clint Harden (R-Clovis) and sitting House rep Anna Crook (R-Clovis) complained about McCleskey and Gov. Martinez involving themselves in the GOP primary between Pat Woods and Angie Spears in which negative ads popped up.
In an opinion piece that ran in the Quay County Sun just before the primary election, Crook wrote that the “nastiness, misinformation, innuendo, slanderous mailings, robo calls and, in some cases, flat-out lies have created a toxic political environment the likes of which I have never seen before.
“Even worse, it appears this kind of politics is being driven by outsiders — people who do not live here, don’t work here and don’t raise their children here.”
On Saturday, Billingsley did not mention McCleskey in his speech to party members and after the vote, he praised McCleskey and suggested the differences are more of a strategic nature.
From the Albuquerque Journal:
After the voting, Billingsley struck a softer tone toward McCleskey, calling him a “fantastic strategist” and “second-to-none” in campaigning on behalf of the governor.
“I personally don’t think we can do without people like Jay McCleskey as strategists, because they have a very definitive role in working with candidates,” Billingsley said after his election. “Sometimes they get, I guess you would say, a little overzealous. It’s because that is their job. It is my job to sit down and work them.”
And in the Santa Fe New Mexican:
Billingsley added, “I’m on board with [McCleskey’s] support of Susana Martinez. I’m on board with him going forward in two years with her re-election. … That doesn’t mean we’re going to allow him to run the party. But he will definitely share in some of the decisions.”
Former state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones of Albuquerque, who lost the recent 1st Congressional District race to Democrat Michelle Lujan-Grisham, said she felt the vote for Billingsley did represent a reaction against McCleskey’s moves against Republican candidates such as Pat Woods of Clovis. Woods won an open state Senate seat despite strong attacks from McCleskey, who worked for the campaign of Woods’ primary opponent, Angie Spears, whom the governor had endorsed.
One Billingsley supporter, who asked not to be identified, said Billingsley will be very successful “if the Fourth Floor and the Fifth Floor reach out to him.” The “Fourth Floor” is a reference to the governor, who works on the fourth floor of the state Capitol. The “Fifth Floor” is a nickname for McCleskey, especially among those who think he has too much influence on Martinez. “It’s a two-way street, though,” the supporter said. “He’s got to reach out to them as well.”
One of McCleskey’s defenders is Darren White, former Sheriff of Bernalillo County and currently general manager of the Downs at Albuquerque. In the days leading up to the Republican Party meeting, White posted a sarcastic post on Twitter:
And then on Sunday morning after the Billingsley election, White tweeted:
Update: Another thing to consider is that given a political climate where Super PACs and independent organizations can spend so much money — plus state limits on donations to candidates – the power of state parties could be greatly diminished, or even some say, practically obsolete.
It certainly has been an interesting political year.
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Here’s a list of the other party officials elected Saturday:
Rube Render – 1st Vice Chair
Rick Lopez – 2nd Vice Chair
Charles Christmann – Congressional District 1 Vice Chair
Alice Eppers – Congressional District 2 Vice Chair
Frank Trambley – Congressional District 3 Vice Chair
Orlando Baca – Secretary
Devon Day – Treasurer
