RSS Feed MenuTomorrow’s the day for the Virginia State Central Committee meeting which will decide whether Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jeff Frederick will stay in office. 58 of the 77 central committee members support a change in leadership, joined by all five U.S. House members from Virginia, our candidate for Governor Bob McDonnell, and Republican leaders in the state legislature.
Frederick is fighting back; his supporters allege that a “small” group of “party insiders” are pushing for Frederick’s removal against the “grassroots.” They claim that Frederick was elected last year at the state convention and this shouldn’t be changed.
As I wrote in an earlier post, the other thing that happened last year was that the party united behind the ticket of Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling for this year’s gubernatorial election. That — not Frederick’s election — was the most important event for Virginia Republicans. McDonnell supports Frederick’s removal as chairman (his statement is here). That’s enough for me,
If Frederick is able to stay as Chairman, then Bob McDonnell will not have the chairman he prefers as he runs. Money will, rightly, go to McDonnell directly, rather than to the RPV — which has the potential to hurt other candidates downballot.
McDonnell is currently leading, but it’s early days. If keeping Frederick as Chairman helps elect a Democrat, how does that help the causes the “grassroots” support?
Obviously, the best thing for the party is for Frederick to resign, even at this late stage. But if not, it’s time to listen, not to some “elite,” but to the Republicans we’ve worked to put into state and Federal office and get a new Chairman who can work with the party.
PiltdownMan // Apr 3, 2009 at 8:40 pm
It would be huge for the GOP to win this governor’s race. A Dem loss would greatly undermine the rationale for Tim Kaine’s elevation to party boss. It would be helpful to us in Virginia if national conservative voices could start hyping this thing now because Kaine will pour all available money in to it to avoid an embarrasing defeat.
PiltdownMan // Apr 3, 2009 at 8:41 pm
As for Frederick, to borrow aphrase from Hyman Roth, “He’s small potatoes.”
ottovbvs // Apr 4, 2009 at 6:13 am
This does smell a bit like a conspiracy by insiders to remove Frederick. Apparently the moving spirits in all this are the same people who opposed him when he was elected. Either way it’s not going to be pretty. If he wins there will a schism, if he loses there will be a schism. In strictly electoral terms it’s better if he hangs on I would have said or the party is going to lose a lot of foot soldiers.