Although we generally avoid taking seriously most rants from the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Party of New Mexico, and Joe Monahan, a number of long-time readers have urged us to review Monahan’s latest serving of disinformation—which he provided today.
Today gives us a great opportunity to educate our readers about how the Lefty blogger spin cycle works. In short, Monahan’s anti-Republican blog puts forth fact-free commentary in an effort to encourage the media and activists to adopt his line of anti-GOP thinking.
These fake narratives find their way into mainstream media outlets (and the minds of reporters who share the same Leftish views or can’t think critically). Unfortunately, these rantings and “insights” also serve to influence political insiders or even some honest conservatives and loyal Republicans who read these blogs. 
The Martinez Haters and Monahan: A Relationship that Goes Back a Long Way
For years, the Martinez haters have been very close to Joe Monahan. They leak to him, pay him off by purchasing ads on his blog, and otherwise help him attack Republicans. In turn, Monahan seems to imply he is quoting Yates directly, while Yates appears to provide Monahan with straight-up pro-Democrat, anti-Martinez narratives while Monahan tries to shield the Yates crowd from criticism.
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(This isn't hard to understand when you remember that Yates, Murphy, and Monahan wildly enthusiastic supporters of Democratic Senator Tim Jennings and strongly opposed Republican Senator Cliff Pirtle in his successful effort to end Jenning's 34-year reign. Murphy and Yates didn't think that was long enough.)
For this reason, most of the mainstream media have stopped using him as a political analyst—because he’s neither independent nor an ethical analyst. A review of any portion of his history makes it clear the only fair conclusion is that he’s a paid Democrat operative who distorts facts and spins in order to push the anti-Republican narrative.
Monahan Channeling his “Republican” Leakers in 2012
We will get into what he spun this morning, but to understand the proper context, we must look back to what he said in 2012 when Barack Obama had 
been re-elected in a landslide. Despite that terrible environment for the GOP, New Mexico Republicans picked up a net gain of 2 seats in the legislature, including defeating Senate President pro-tem Tim Jennings and Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia.
Republicans held 32 seats in the state House—the highest number of seats Republicans have ever held following a
presidential election in modern history, including even those presidential elections in which the Republican won the White House.
So, what was Monahan’s spin in 2012? He put forth the Democrat/anti-Martinez case that the Republicans got “wiped out,” that they had “lost everything,” and that Martinez and her team were terrible and they needed to be sidelined and pushed out of the party.
Here’s what he said about the 2012 election outcome:
“The party's poor election night performance has prompted the reappraisal of the campaign in which the Martinez Super-PAC spent millions in an effort to change the make-up of the New Mexico Legislature, but got hardly any bang for its buck.”
But for anyone who knows anything at all about politics, this so-called “analysis” (it really can’t be called that) was ridiculous.
No bang for the buck? Monahan wished that to be the case—he likes it much better when there is no Martinez (or any other) SuperPAC spending “millions.”
More precisely, Monahan has no problem will SuperPAC’s spending “millions” if that money goes to Democrats—like this year for example.
But what was the reality? Despite Monahan’s putting them down, Republicans actually had a net gain in legislative seats and, just as important, Martinez’s PAC successfully assisted moderate Democrats in primaries against progressives.
The net positive effect of that entire effort became clear just a couple of months later during the 2013 session when Martinez passed a big tax reform package with the votes of the legislators she had gained together with the votes of the moderate Democrats she had helped resist “progressive” primary challenges.
Of course, all of this was actually crystal clear immediately following the 2012 election—but that was apparently not what the Yates-Billingsley-Murphy crowd was urging Monahan to say. And keep in mind, Monahan values his “alligators”— both the Democrat ones who are his natural constituency, as well as the “Republicans” who are key to his efforts at sowing discord and achieving his goals.
The Murphy-Yates-Billingsley crowd were and are his bread and butter, so Monahan went to work trying to paint an anti-Martinez narrative.
Monahan then went on to promote a key Martinez-hater, John Billingsley, fashioning this blurb:
“Billingsley served as campaign manager for conservative southern Congressman Steve Pearce's 2008 US Senate run. In an op-ed piece he signals his split with (Martinez consultant) McCleskey and says the party needs to run more of the show--not Jay (and Martinez)”.jpg)
Monahan then goes on to reprint an anonymous email that was sent to Republicans trashing Martinez and her team.
But who had written the “anonymous” mail? Guess who? The anti-Martinez crowd.
It was later revealed that the author of the anonymous email was Jamie Estrada, a man who later went to prison for stealing Martinez’s emails, and (with the help of future Steve Pearce confidant and employee Anissa Ford and Democrat Party chair Sam Bregman) leaking them to Democrats and the media.
So, fast-forward to 2018
Republicans lose an unprecedented and astounding 9 seats in the legislature (8 net losses), all 12 statewide races, and the southern Congressional District, and fail to even put forth an independent expenditure effort or any kind of ground game, turnout effort, or even the most rudimentary form of campaign plan or organization.
(Meanwhile, in other states, Republicans were not suffering the same fate—precisely because they had competent state party organizations.)
But what is Monahan’s very creative take? (Or perhaps, more importantly, Harvey Yates’s, Billingsley’s and Murphy’s?)
Here it is—Monahan’s spin this morning:
“While the GOP's Martinez/McCleskey faction argue that the party's devastating losses were solely the fault of Cangiolosi and his mentor, former GOP chairman Harvey Yates, more mainstream political thinking sees the disaster as a natural offshoot of the declining fortunes of ABQ and New Mexico under the eight-year reign of Martinez and Mayor Richard Berry. They failed and thus the party failed at the polls. That's what happened in 2010 when Martinez came in by riding a wave of anger against Dem Bill Richardson.”
Mainstream? Monahan couldn't get further out of the mainstream if he tried to take an ocean liner down the Rio Grande.
Mainstream thinking? Who is doing all this "thinking"? This is true only if the “mainstream” just fell off a turnip truck—you’d have to be extremely ignorant of politics, campaign operations, and elections to reach this kind of a conclusion.
You can't Compare Richardson to Martinez and Reach the Monahan-Yates Conclusion. Here's Why:
In 2010 there were tons of ads, mail, and TV directed against the failed policies and failed administration of Bill Richardson—it weighed the Denish 
campaign down like an anvil tied to a rowboat.
Did you see any such advertising this year aimed at Susana Martinez? No? That's okay. We didn't either.
Neither did Harvey Yates, John Billingsley, Mark Murphy, or Joe Monahan. But they want you to imagine that it existed.
There was no evidence of any "wave of anger" imagined by the Monahan Boys, or Harvey and the gang. So it was just made it up. After all, it's easier than manning up and taking responsibility for incompetence.
There is so much to dissect in such an absurd spin it’s hard to know where to start. But at least we can say that Monahan stays on message: He is very consistent—whatever happens in New Mexico, if it’s bad: it’s always Martinez’s fault.
HERE ARE THE FACTS REGARDING WHAT REALLY HAS TRANSPIRED
1) It is not a point up for debate that the Martinez-haters ran Martinez out of the party.
2) After doing so, they had 100% total, complete control of the party to run it how they saw fit.
3) It is crystal clear that once they achieved that goal that they were satisfied with gaining their only true objective — to be “in charge.”
4) It is also clear they had no idea what to do at that point, or how to build a plan for a statewide effort in the modern campaign era.
5) Consequently, they got crushed. Due to their own ineptitude. There is no one else to blame.
6) To blame Martinez is absurd.
Despite Monahan’s best efforts, this was not a run-of-the-mill mid-term loss for Republicans that can be shrugged off, let alone attributed to some stupid 
notion of “voter fatigue.” This was a butt-kicking of historic proportions.
Here is what the Yates-Murphy-Billingsley team produced:
- Republicans are left with 24 members of the House. 24!
- They lost every statewide race. All 12!
- Neither the state GOP nor the Yates-led cabal succeeded in creating or funding a single effective independent expenditure committee to assist legislative campaigns.
- The state party left Republican legislative candidates and incumbents completely defenseless—letting the Democrat committees overwhelm them with mail, radio, and TV
The state GOP did not fulfill its most basic duty to run a field and turnout operation – they had less than $1,500 in the bank in October!
Included here are some examples of anti-Republican mail attacking Martin Zamora and Lisa Shin.
The mail has scurrilous charges that have no
basis in fact whatsoever. But legislative candidates were left defenseless. The Cangiolosi-Billingsley-Yates-Murphy team appears to have provided them nothing to fight back with.
ON THAT NOTE: Yates even spent some $70,000 on a video that was distributed in northern New Mexico that had no effect whatsoever on any race, anywhere. What would $70,000 of good media have done in Jim Dines race? In Sharon Clahchischilliage's? In Brad Winter's? Answer: That amount of money would probably have saved three or four seats. But the people who pushed Martinez out simply did not know what they were doing. They destroyed the GOP's entire election effort.
So it becomes laughable when you consider that back in 2012, when the GOP: 1) had a net gain in legislative seats, 2) defeated the Democrat Senate President and Whip, and 3) achieved an historic high of 32 GOP House members, that Monahan (with input from Yates and Billingsley it appears) opined that Republicans suffered a humiliating defeat and Martinez and her team should be pushed out of the party.
Compared to their analysis about this election, when Republicans literally lost everything and ended the election with a historic low in 24 House seats…..and Monahan and his "alligators" dismiss the losses as a “natural offshoot,” not the fault of those in charge of the campaigns, and—get this—Monahan amazingly manages to insert his standard view that it was what? That it was Martinez’s fault anyway. Of course. That’s his standard default comment. Wow!
It’s a stunning display of intellectual dishonesty that serves but one purpose—to protect the incompetent Martinez haters who serve Monahan's needs with constant input to his blog, which in turn ensures that the Republican Party remains irrelevant for a generation in New Mexico.
But hey, Yates, Billingsley, and Murphy got to be in charge!
MORE EXAMPLES of NEGATIVE DEMOCRAT MAIL That the Cangiolosi-Billingsley-Yates crowd apparently did nothing to defend against—And these were Baseless Attacks, but GOP Candidates had no Comparable Effort to Defend Themselves as they had When Martinez was Allowed to Lead the Effort
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Intelligent Political Discourse—for the Thoughtful New Mexican
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