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Republican Chairman Martinez Steps Down

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By BILLY HOUSE and WILLIAM MARCH, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 20, 2007

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez resigned Friday as chairman of the Republican National Committee after only 10 months.

The first-term senator sharply rejected talk that he may be worrying about his political future and called such speculation politics as usual.

Martinez said his decision to leave the RNC post was based more on his 'internal clock' and that it is time to get back to his main job, serving Floridians as their senator.

The Cuban-born Martinez had been President Bush's handpicked chairman after the party's disastrous showing in the November elections, a move that placed a Hispanic face prominently in the role as the GOP's main fundraiser and agenda promoter.

From the beginning, Martinez had indicated he wanted to serve in the RNC job only about a year.

Still, Martinez's departure comes months earlier than was speculated. He had not been expected to leave until late January or February at the earliest, when it is likely to be clearer who the GOP nominee for president will be.

The abruptness of his announcement led to immediate and widespread speculation that concern about his own political fortunes was part of his decision.

Martinez does not face re-election until 2010, an eternity in political years, but he could face a tough Democratic challenge.

Potential challengers who have been subjects of speculation start with Alex Sink, Florida's chief financial officer, but include Mayors Pam Iorio of Tampa and Buddy Dyer of Orlando, and state Sen. Steve Geller of Miami.

Meanwhile, Martinez's job-approval numbers, never high during his Senate tenure, have dipped since the controversy over immigration reform, in which he backed the president's proposals for a path to earned citizenship for illegal immigrants.

'At the time, I though he was nuts' to take the RNC post, said Jennifer Duffy, an expert on the Senate for The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan political newsletter. 'He had low poll numbers to begin with. And if I'm a senator from Florida, I'd rather be out there building my own war chest to scare off the Alex Sinks of the world.'

Disputing Democratic Claim

The Florida Democratic Party said Martinez left the post because of 'approval ratings in Florida dropping to Bush-like lows.'

Martinez said Friday that wasn't true.

Responding only briefly to a question about whether he was resigning because of concern about his political situation, he said he was not concerned and called the Democratic Party statement politics as usual.

Democrats weren't the only ones making that suggestion, though.

University of South Florida political scientist Darryl Paulson, a Republican, called Martinez's resignation a recognition that he's in some serious trouble in his re-election, and that he has fences to mend.

'His position as chairman probably put him in greater jeopardy in his own race,' Paulson said.

In a September poll by Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute, 38 percent of registered voters sampled said they approved of Martinez's performance in his position, while 33 percent disapproved and 29 percent said 'don't know.' That approval rating was virtually unchanged from similar polls done in July and June.

In February, before the height of the controversy over immigration reform, the same poll gave Martinez 48 percent approval ratings and 22 percent disapproval.

Much of that drop in the polls came after Martinez had worked as one of about 10 senators who tried to shape a bipartisan compromise that could bring citizenship to millions of immigrants in the country, but the fragile deal could not muster enough support.

Martinez's close ties to Bush also have placed him in the cross-hairs of foes.

Formerly Orange County chairman, he attained national notice when Bush named him secretary of housing and urban development in 2001. Bush then urged him to run for the Senate in 2004 - though Martinez had previously said he was more interested in running for governor - and asked him to take the party chairman post early this year.

Part of the reason Bush wanted Martinez as chairman was to enhance the party's outreach to Hispanic voters.

That outreach has fallen on hard times because of the GOP opposition to Bush's immigration reform proposals.

That opposition also put Martinez on the opposite side of an argument with nearly all the presidential candidates - one of whom will become the new nominal leader of the party when he wins the nomination next year.

'I think the immigration debate certainly put him in an awkward position, and at odds with the party's base,' Duffy said.

Martinez downplays all of that. 'It was my goal as general chairman to lead the party as it established the structure and raised the resources necessary to support our presidential candidate and ensure Republican victories next November,' he said. 'I believe we have accomplished those goals.'

President Praises Work

The RNC by the end of August had raised $55.3 million in contributions and had $16 million in cash in the bank. The Democratic National Committee had raised $34.8 million and had $4.7 million in the bank and a debt of about $2 million.

'He has more than fulfilled his mission,' Bush said in a statement Friday.

Bush added that Martinez had effectively communicated the party's commitment to addressing the issues most important to all Americans.

'His message of hope and opportunity has resonated throughout America and strengthened support for our agenda,' the statement said.

Martinez has shared the chairmanship with Mike Duncan, a longtime RNC official who has been running the party's day-to-day operations. With Martinez's departure, the RNC will have a single chairman.

Said Duncan, 'Our party has effectively laid the groundwork for the 2008 Republican presidential nominee thanks in large part to Sen. Martinez's efforts.'

Predictably, Democratic National Committee officials saw Martinez's 'premature' departure differently. 'Under Mel Martinez's leadership, Republicans have seen their party brand diminished, voters leaving in droves and fundraising in a steep decline. But Mel Martinez's departure will hardly solve the GOP's problems,' said DNC communications director Karen Finney.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com. Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch

@tampatrib.com.

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