Dear Fellow Republicans,
The time has come for us to consider who will become our next RPNM
chairman. Will we as SCC members retain our current leader, or will
we choose someone else?
For me, there's one thing for certain. Robert Aragon must not come
within a mile of being RPNM chairman because of his record of
disloyalty and sewing and tolerating division among fellow
Republicans.
Consider these facts:
FACT #1: Robert Aragon is in bed with mudslinger Jay McCleskey, who
wants to control RPNM's money and influence in deciding which
candidates get nominated – and who works against the party and its
candidates when he's not in control.
Believe me, I know, because Jay McCleskey tried to sabotage my
campaign for governor.
Robert Aragon's partnership with Jay McCleskey tells you everything
you need to know about the direction he will take RPNM. The focus
won't be on electing Republicans up and down the ticket. Instead, it
will be all about who controls RPNM's money, and specifically which
favored consultants and vendors will get the party's business.
RPNM will merely become an empty shell where money will flow from
donor pockets right back into the wallets of consultants like
McCleskey and his friends. In doing so, RPNM will no longer invest in
a ground game to turn out and register new Republican voters.
Working hand in glove with McCleskey is disgraced former Gov. Susana
Martinez, who is so deeply unpopular with the public that today's GOP
candidates won't dare use her name or ask for her endorsement (the
reason: years of embarrassing personal scandals, like secret lawsuit
settlements with several state employees that cost taxpayers millions
of dollars – including a male state police officer on her protective
detail). Together, McCleskey and Martinez have a long history of
dividing and working against RPNM and Republican candidates when they
can't control it, or when their chosen candidates face primary
challengers.
During the last six years of the Martinez administration when the RPNM
was not under McCleskey's thumb, there were several occasions when
Gov. Martinez personally tried to intimidate donors and prominent
speakers and prevent them from fundraising for or attending RPNM
events.
With McCleskey as the shadow party chairman, we can also expect that
McCleskey candidates will be the chosen candidates – and anyone who
challenges them in primary elections will be threatened, or worse,
defamed.
Just ask Scott Chandler of Deming, who sued McCleskey and the Susana
Martinez-aligned Advance New Mexico Now PAC for defamation and
received a significant financial settlement. Chandler ran for a house
seat against a McCleskey-Martinez ally and was subjected to defamatory
mailers that according to a sworn deposition were approved by Gov.
Martinez herself (Source: "New Mexico rancher Scott Chandler awarded
settlement in defamation lawsuit," Deming Headlight, 1/26/22).
Other victims of McCleskey's dirty mudslinging in primaries are State
Sen. Pat Woods and State Sen. David Gallegos, who each beat
McCleskey's clients in 2012 and 2020 respectively.
Then in 2018, Gov. Martinez directly attacked Yvette Herrell just days
after winning a hard-fought primary against McCleskey client Monty
Newman. Just when the party needed to heal and unite, Martinez told
the Albuquerque Journal that "there are some questions" about
Herrell's ability to fairly represent New Mexico (Source: "Governor
questions GOP pick," Albuquerque Journal, 6/6/2018). That line of
attack was used repeatedly by the Democrats in their campaign and
surely contributed to Herrell's razor thin loss that year. Even Vice
President Mike Pence, when on a visit to Roswell to campaign for
Herrell and the rest of the Republican ticket, tried, but failed to
convince Gov. Martinez to stop her destructive actions.
And yet when all these things were happening, Robert Aragon never once
stepped forward to speak out against these outrageous displays of
pettiness and divisiveness.
FACT #2: Robert Aragon wants to let Democrats decide who becomes
Republican nominees.
Earlier this year during the legislative session, Robert Aragon,
acting in his role as 1st Vice Chair of RPNM under Chairman Pearce,
betrayed Republicans by going rogue and secretly schemed with
Democrats in Santa Fe to put an end to New Mexico's pre-primary
convention process and instead open our primary to Democrats.
Specifically, Aragon misled the Democrat chair of the Senate Rules
Committee and sponsor of the liberal election "reform" bill, Senate
Bill 8, into believing that RPNM was supportive of eliminating
pre-primary conventions. Upon hearing of this, Chairman Pearce
immediately called a Republican senator who corrected the record and
forcefully noted RPNM's opposition to this ridiculous idea. A few
weeks later at the SCC meeting, Chairman Pearce invited Aragon to
explain his actions and incredibly, he admitted to supporting the
elimination of the conventions!
Thank goodness the bill failed, or else it would have given Democrats
a major role in nominating Republican general election candidates.
To Robert Aragon, our pre-primary convention process is not just an
annoyance, it's a hinderance to those who can't withstand the scrutiny
of grassroots Republican leaders like yourselves. Instead, he would
rather cancel and silence you, and bypass the party on the way to the
primary.
In fact, Robert Aragon's wife, Peggy Muller-Aragon – a Jay McCleskey
client – came in dead last in the 2022 pre-primary convention vote for
lieutenant governor and thus couldn't get on the ballot through our
process. It's no wonder why he wants to take away your voice in
nominating candidates.
After the discovery of his backroom scheming and combined with the
clear conflict of interest of his wife running in a contested primary,
Aragon was asked to resign from the RPNM board.
But what else would you expect from a former Democrat party leader,
who still retains deep ties to his old party? After all, while on the
Bernalillo County GOP executive board, Aragon endorsed Democrat Manny
Gonzales for mayor (another Jay McCleskey client – see the pattern?).
FACT #3: Robert Aragon failed miserably as Bernalillo County GOP chair
To know what Aragon would do as RPNM chairman, you only must look back
to his failed record as Bernalillo County GOP chairman. In 2018,
Aragon failed to raise money for and develop a voter turnout operation
that could have made a major difference in state legislative races.
Instead, Republicans lost EIGHT GOP-held seats in the Albuquerque
metro area. At least some of these seats could have been saved if
Aragon had fulfilled his basic duty as county chair.
Once these seats were lost, it made it that much easier for Democrats
to lock in their gains when they successfully pushed gerrymandered
maps through the legislature last year.
So why is Robert Aragon so motivated to jump into RPNM's top job now?
Well, in a presidential election year like 2024, money from the RNC
will be flowing into the state party and as stated previously, Jay
McCleskey wants his hands on it. With Robert Aragon in charge, the
RPNM vault will be wide open to McCleskey.
Another reason Aragon and McCleskey want control of RPNM could be that
they are preparing to run another one of their favorites for a U.S.
Senate seat, which is yet another way for McCleskey and his group to
make millions from donors.
In closing, the stakes for the party are much too high to entrust a
Democrat and Republican party insider like Robert Aragon.
LET'S MAKE THIS YET ANOTHER LOSING CAMPAIGN FOR JAY MCCLESKEY!
I also have this on Facebook Live at Jay C. Block on my political page.