Thursday, March 26, 2009

Is the Executive Committee Pushing this, and not State Central?

During the beginning of this week, two of Jeff's most vitriolic detractors on the blogosphere, The Contemporary Conservative, and Loudoun Insider, referred to an article they believed was the best case for why Jeff Frederick should resign as RPV Chairman. As someone who reads most of what is being said about the issue online, I read the article. Even without comparing the piece to the vitriolic things that have been written by those leading the effort to remove Jeff, this was a very well written article.

The article is written by Col. William Flanagan, a party activist and RPV state central member from the 4th district. In it he responds to some of the reasons people have used when e-mailing him in support of Jeff Frederick. In the second paragraph he details how he came to sign the letter. He states that he didn't vote for Jeff at the convention, but tried to work with him afterwards. Here is the money quote describing the pressure used to get him to sign the letter.
In late November, just before the Republican Advance, I was asked to support his removal. I declined and advised against it. Since that time, more things have been brought to my attention. Only after separate meetings at the end of February, with three members of the Executive Committee and detailed questions and answers, did I sign on to ask the Chairman to step down or to be removed.
As a member of state central this party activist didn't see anything to justify removing Jeff by the Republican Advance in December. This was months after the website and budget issues had occurred, and a month after the general election. As a member of state central who wasn't predisposed to Jeff Frederick who couldn't find anythign worth removing him as chairman. It took three meetings with executive committee members, and the disclosure of things presumably not included on the letter to convince a former Hager supporter to sign the letter to remove Jeff.

State Central members have responded indignantly to the accusation that the effort to remove Jeff isn't a grassroots effort by saying that state central members are elected as well. However this story begs the question, are they acting independently, and how many of them originally wanted Jeff to resign? Is this really an effort by state central or a move by the executive committee? If these people were agressively talking and persuading people to help them remove Jeff, did it take a couple meetings with our elected officials to bring them on board?

Those trying to remove Chairman Frederick are insistent that this is a grassroots effort. If they believe this, I dare them to prove it. How many people did y'all have to persuade with unreleased information in private meetings to gather the support? How many people joined the effort of their own free will? Since Bob McDonnell was the first elected official to call for Jeff to resign, was he involved in any of the persuading?

These are all questions that need to come out as the RPV decides whether or not the man who was overwhelmingly elected by the grassroots will remain the party chairman. If this information is released soon, it will be found out eventually and released, and I can only pray it doesn't further destroy the party the McDonnell/Bolling ticket was supposed to unite.

If you would like to get involved in the We Support Chairman Jeff Frederick movement, please join us on facebook, or the RPVNetwork, sign the petition, and contact your state central members and the McDonnell campaign.

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