The email from left field
Ray Rocha, long-time political junky and former marketing man, is going against the Washoe County GOP.
Following a dust-up at the Washoe Republican Central Committee a little over a week ago, Picon is beginning to see the lines drawn in the sand for November 2024. In a landslide vote, the GOP voted to oust appointee and former Reno Rodeo executive, Clara Andriola. The vote was based on her track record of siding with Alexis Hill and Marialuz Garcia on the dais. Turns out, she voted against Mike Clark and Jeanne Herman much more than she ever voted with them.
As a result, some Republicans, who are likely the same crowd that joined Bob Lucey in supporting Mike Clark's democrat rival in 2022, are outraged. One of them is our own Ray Rocha, co-founder of Redmove, an organization whose mission includes to promote “Republican principles, and candidates.”
Picon received an email from Ray Rocha to Washoe County government's favorite media source, Mark Robison at the RGJ. In that email, rife with poor grammar and spelling snafus, Rocha calls out the Washoe GOP. In part, the email reads, “a small group of less than 150 took it upon themselves to throw her out the central committee,which she didn't even belong to & then throw her out of being a Republican which you can't do weather you agree or not with her view's --BAD MOVE FELLOW REPUBLICANS.”
Picon is a bit confused, Redmove and Rocha sure seem to be focused on Republican principles, at least according to their website, yet we have seen the opposite occurring of recent.
Rocha and Mike Clark had a small rift when Clark was not introduced at a function. According to Clark, Rocha introduced everyone from the dog catcher to the server, yet somehow not him. For Ray Rocha’s part, he claims he did not see Mike in the room. Either way, there seems to be some bad blood there, and now we may know why.
There has been no bigger critic of Clara Andriola’s governance than Clark. He has called her out on the dais and in the media, focusing on her voting record, which is deep blue. This rift between the two has caused a divide within the party insiders. There is a decidedly center-left group of registered Republicans that are supporting Clara, despite her documented record. Ray Rocha is apparently among them.
The timing of Ray Rocha’s email seems to put into question where Senate candidate Bill Conrad lands on support of Mike Clark. For his part, Bill Conrad co-founds Redmove and is vying for a Republican seat in the United States Senate. Not only is Nevada teetering on being blue, Conrad would need wide support from ALL Republicans, even those smelly WalMart folks who voted for Donald Trump. What is seemingly lost on Rocha, is those same people are who marched Lucey out on his ass in 2022.
Picon will undoubtedly catch grief for airing insider Republican drama, however right is right and Ray Rocha is way out in left field on this one.