The Flip-Flop: Frederick MUST STAY!

I've had it.  

I've had it with the constant venom being spewed by so many of the establishment Republicans and their blogger allies with regards to Jeff Frederick that I am officially flip-flopping.  When I said that Frederick should resign for the good of the party, I was expecting that I would get the same reasonable response from the folks on the other-side of this issue.  But as I've delved into this debate, as I've watched folks on both sides "discuss" this, I've noticed that in no way do I want to be apart of this.  I've said from the beginning that Jeff should get exactly what Hager got, one state-wide election.  He couldn't do any worse than what the establishment leadership gave us in '07.  

My reasoning for hoping that Frederick would step aside was because I saw no way for him to find a soft landing out of this for him.  Everyone has weighed in, people that really matter, and we need unity heading into this gubernatorial election.  I have voiced disgust at how this has come about, but I have granted that Frederick has had his struggles.  Those on the other side made no such attempt to find a common ground out of this situation.  Frederick was chairman when we lost three congressional districts and the state flipped Democrat for the first time in a generation.  He has to own part of that.  But he didn't have much help.  In the 11th, we had an incumbent congressman who seemed more interested grooming his Democratic successor than helping Republicans win.  In the 5th, we had an incumbent that couldn't stopped eating his own foot.  It was only in the 2nd did we have a true incumbent working as a good Republican for the ticket.  As for the state switching, its hard to sell a product that claimed to be a "conservative" yet then turn around and say he wanted to buy everyone's mortgages.  We had a candidate who had one of the unorganized campaigns in modern Republican politics.  Frederick owns those loses, but he wasn't given much to work with either.

But then again, this has nothing to do with Jeff Frederick.

I've been sensing this from the beginning, to be honest with you.  Jeff Frederick represents the grassroots Republicans, the ones who make time to go to a convention, the one who knocks on the doors and makes the calls.  It was those Republicans, the every day types that got him elected to that position.  When he challenged John Hager, he was challenging the establishment - this moment was bound to happen because the people who made Jeff Frederick chairman are people that so many of these types don't want to be in control of the party.  They want us to be good little Republicans and go out, knock on doors, make phone calls . . . but they know what's best.  These are the same people that said "game over" when Jerry Kilgore put out those death penalty ads, and had no idea how right they were.  So it doesn't matter that this is Jeff Frederick, it could be anyone.  Frederick just made the stupid mistake of trying to elevate the grassroots to a position of real leadership.  I mean, people will talk themselves into hating Frederick because his picture is on the website or whatever petty, ass-backwards, pointless action they can imagine.

That's what has finally changed my mind, because a stand has to be taken.  If its not Frederick, it will be the next outsider/grassroots conservative that makes a run for the top that will be torn apart.  You will also notice that many (though not all) of the Frederick-haters are the same ones who hate Ken Cuccinelli, a fellow outsider/grassroots conservative who has thrown grenades into the establishment of the Senate for the last seven years.  So instead of trying to logically look at the pros and cons of Frederick's brief chairmanship, I've decided that there is a more important fight in this that has nothing to do with how much money he's raised, his relationship with the McCain campaign, or anything else that has to do with the mechanics of the party.  It has everything to do who should be leading the party.

If I roll over on Jeff Frederick, then there will be more of these purges from these establishment puritans who don't want activists, independent thinkers, people who care more about what the activists say and less about what the leadership, the lobbyists, and the consultants say.  It was those who told Jerry Kilgore he could win Northern Virginia by running death penalty ads.  The establishment has run this party for most of the 2000s, and watch Mark Warner and the Democrats steamroll over all of us over and over, take our issues, and define the terms of politics in the state.  It was the Hagers, Kilgores, Chichesters, Howells, Davises, and others that over saw losses year after in every part of the state.  Rome wasn't built in a day, with the kind of Republican party that Jeff was tackling, how could he win in 2008?

I'm one of those people who finds time to attend events, knock on doors (though not as much as others), has been in unit committees, and is an active YR.  Hell, the last two years I've rented pick-up trucks for the 4th of July parade to adorn with candidate campaign sign,  I try and do the small things to help my party and all its candidates win.  This move by the state central committee is a slap in the face to people like me who work hard at the grassroots level, who went to that convention and voted for Jeff Frederick.  I cannot support this coup, this attempt to invalidate the will of the grassroots because the establishment doesn't like the people that put Jeff in that office.  These people have no constituency, nobody to answer too.

Jeff Frederick must stay on as Chairman of the RPV.  If we let him fall, every conservative after him will have the potential to fall to the same mob.  This is higher than Frederick, this is principle that just cannot be compromised.  Its the difference between an active conservative grassroots who feels they are apart of the party; or a group of unelected establishment leaders who simply think they can run the party veering left and into the ground and expect us to just do what they say like good little children.  Its the difference between people who care about building a real grassroots party or caring more about what the lobbyists, insiders, and electeds think of them.  

Jeff Frederick has my full, 100%,, unequivocal support.

Go ahead, do your worst.  

Comments

[edm]

Chris - completely with you on the antipathy towards the party elite insiders, and the tirades from Loudon Insider. These guys never liked the (rather resounding) result at last year's convention, and they haven't shut up about it, since.

However, when our congressional delegation and our candidate for governor all make statements saying that the jig is up, then the jig really is up. I hate it. I hate what they've done. I hate that they haven't grown up and respected the clear decision of the convention for five minutes in the past year. But, it's time to patch this bloody sore, and put in someone who can command respect, results, and revenue from everyone. Ed Gillespie, anyone?

[Chris]

I hate it enough now that I'm willing to go down with the ship if it does go down.

[Willie Deutsch]

Thank you for joining the movement. I know some people will be after you hard, but as a grassroots activist I am very happy you are fully supporting Jeff now.

I also must say while I disagreed with your desired outcome in your last Jeff Frederick piece, I thought it was a very good piece.

[James Atticus Bowden]

I love you, man. (Are you old enough for a Bud?)

Call it "growing" based on new information.

Or, keeping your opinions in line with the truth as you know it. Like, if charges went to the Commonwealth's Attorney - that were true - I'd flip flop against Jeff.

Chris, this whole fight is about power. Not C vs M vs L. It is about power, power, power and the money the RPV moves (over a million a year)to the right people.

[Spank That Donkey]

Bravo Chris!

I don't which paragraph to try and highlight in a linking post, because you are nailing it in every paragraph!

Bravo!

[NoVA Scout]

superb. Now we volunteer to carry around truly sub-standard kit because we get tired of the unruly mob elements of the blogosphere. I have some sympathy for that, and my mentor, JAB, has made some good points about process. Yes, all this should have been done quietly and the grown-ups should have asserted themselves with inner force but no external perturbations (although Frederick would have dragged it into the streets even if his opponents had not. But, really, the lad never should have been permitted into that position in the first place and its symptomatic of how dysfunctional we are as a state party that this discussion even is occurring.

[James Atticus Bowden]

NoVa: The grown ups had a chance to act like grown ups. This all could have been finessed. Like a good Bridge hand. It wasn't. It is HB 3202 II. In a mixed metaphor, this political lynching is the second political abortion, self-performed, in two years.

Not good.

[Darrell -- Chesapeake]

And now it starts. About time. This trench has been pretty lonely.

[Loudoun Insider]

Frederick is no more "grassroots" than anyone else. He bought his way to be Chairman with over $130,000 (!!!) of other people's money. He's just as indebted to special interests (most of all himself and his wife) as anyone else. State Central Committee will make this call, and most of them are just as (most more so) "grassroots" as Jeff Frederick. There are acutal real conservatives out there who walk the walk who can fill the position - Anthony Bedell for one. Let's get a real man in there, not a pretender.

[Spank That Donkey]

Secretly... is LI on Jeff's Payroll? He's highlighting Frederick's ability to fund raise?

Guess what genius... $20 bucks was mine and a lot of other folks...

I hope Hager is truly embarrassed by this guy...

[Steve]

Chris,

Great post and you put it into words ane sentances that many have been looking for. I agree and hope enough people make enough noise for the TOP to hear us...

[Z]

As a sometime reader of your blog I've enjoyed your perspective on VA, politics, history and even wrestling, Chris. However, with this post you've pretty much lost all credibility once and for all.

I understand you and some other Frederick fans are young, but at some point you need to realize that holding (and keeping) no core convictions that can't be changed by your mood invalidates your place in the public discourse.

You're all over the map man.

I get your frustration--this is a fairly large imbroglio with lots of players and motives. Yet somehow arriving at "Jeff Frederick must stay" because you've now been enlightened about some omnipresent power struggles is the absolute height of naivete.

Your first commenter highlights the intellectual honesty you should aspire to.

Until you mature some more and can stop allowing yourself to be emotionally manipulated into being a shill for slimeballs like Frederick you should probably stick with just posting YouTube videos of your favorite bands.

[Anonymous]

LI,

You keep bringing up the fact that Jeff spent money to be elected State Chairman. Do you really think John Hagar didn't spend any money in his losing effort? If I had to guess I would say that Hager spent way more money on his campaign than Jeff did.

[novamiddleman]

Have fun going down with the ship

Jeff Fredrick is a sophomoric idiot. The rest of you still think Ronald Regan is the way to success and can't see the forest through the trees.

Wake up does McDonnell have to lose now before you clowns finally get it???

I am a proud RINO that actually wants to WIN in Virginia sometime this decade.

[Rick S]

If he had the support of the candidates running for statewide office, I would support him. Without that, it's a waste of resources to have him remain. I don't like the people taking him out and let the FCRC chairman know that this has to be done very rarely.

[In Credible]

BUT if Jeff is forced out, yet again we will have a party chair shoved down our throat at the convention-- You are never going to find someone who will please everyone. This is not so much Frederick being unacceptable as it is the perceived threat to the established leaders power bloc. And novamiddlemanI want to win Virginia-b not at the expense of ur core values. Anyone read the planks of our party platform recently?

[Carrie]

LI - Frederick was elected to be our chairman. If folks wanted a different candidate to be the current chairman, then they should have run for the office last year and gotten more votes than the rest of the mix.

Sorry Z, but you lost all credibility when you stooped to name-calling and belittling the author on a rather immature level.

Rick S - Perhaps the folks running for statewide office made the error and should not be rewarded by your support. The only reason why I have stuck with the GOP is because I believe in the principles the party is supposed to be standing on, and I'm hopeful that we can rebuild our party by getting back to being the conservative party again. However, I don't hold this party or its candidates higher than my principles. If this coup takes place, and it is obvious that there is no wrongdoing grave enough to warrant removal proven in this case, then the GOP has lost my husband and I. How dare the establishment think they can get away with disenfranchising the voters?

[Z]

Whew. Thanks for clearing this all up, Carrie. Gosh, I guess we won't need to have the April 4 meeting after all thanks to your crack analysis.

Sorry. Cheap shot. What I meant to say:

Bye Carrie. Oh, and bye to your husband, too. If you two really think removing Frederick is a "coup" and endangers conservatism, the party is probably better off without you.

[NoVA Scout]

Carrie: I've always considered JF and his buds to be the "establishment" within the modern Virginia RPV. It's a pretty unimpressive establishment, as establishments go, but one of the problems we Republicans face in Virginia is that the Party mechanisms have been gummed up for years by folks with a few buzzwords and no skills or accomplishments to their names. That LI and a few other outsiders are pushing for a change that might enable Rs to be a real political power in VA seems very anti-establishment, and very grass-rootsish to me.

[Emmett]

Hello. That's very nice site but I've seen this before here:
http://text.inguaro.com/fea3e4513a1e1bf6e6348699f3f85ffc
fea3e4513a1e1bf6e6348699f3f85ffc

[200 Grande]

I love how "NoVA Scout" refers to LI, or "Loudon Insider," as an outsider, and then proceeds to redefine the entire premise of the debate.

[NoVA Scout]

200 Grande: as the song says, "It's just a thing I do . . ."

[Sick of It]

I'm no Frederick fan.

But the petty, immature behavior of the anti-Frederick folks is making me sick. You're not helping your case, you sound both childish and unhinged, and a lot of us not obsessed with this fight frankly think you're pretty much in exactly the same category as Jeff Frederick.

Chew on that one a bit.

[Resolve It All Ready]

Your logic is flawed. The pro-Jeff folks are saying that we should keep him becuase 1) he was elected at the convention and 2) the establishment is out to get him. These are not the lithmus tests to be applied.

If you recall, Bill Clinton was elected, but no one had a problem with him being impeached. In other words, because someone is elected by the majority, does that mean that they can never be removed?

Assume arguendo, that there are folks out to get Frederick. Does that change the fact that if he preformed well in 2008 then we wouldn't be having this discussion? If Frederick preformed well, SCC have a leg to stand on and wouldn't be contemplating his removal. For example, in the NFL, when a self-centered obnoxious player performs well and helps the team, all his transgressions are overlooked. On the other hand, it's the player who doesn't put up the numbers who is released.

Therefore, the only lithmus test should be... Did our Chirman perform well? Did his performance help the team? Were his communique (via RPV website) helpful to Team McCain (e.g. the altered pic of Obama that garnered negative publicity)? Notice that I was careful not to be oversimplistic and ask if the GOP won all the races under Frederick's watch (after all, somethings are out of his control). My call is to simply evaluate his performance.

Also, shouldn't we consider the platform that he ran on in which he crucified Hager (and the establishment) and promised that he could win elections?