Mark Sell Becomes LCRC Chairman as Loudoun Voters Reject the Politics of Demonization

I would like to take a moment to congratulate Mark Sell on winning the race for LCRC Chairman this past Saturday. He and Candace Strother ran very clean campaigns built around continuing to advance conservativism and continue the winning momentum in Loudoun. They were able to get almost 1,000 people to vote in the election and both campaign structures will be very useful in the years ahead.

Mark Sell is a committed conservative of both the fiscal and social variety. He worked very hard to pass the Marriage Amendment in 2006, and has attended as many Tea Party events as possible over the past year. He constantly volunteered with the door to door effort this past fall as he does every year for the Republican ticket, and received Ken Cuccinelli's endorsement. He knows how to campaign and recruit volunteers, and is committed to our conservative values. He will make an excellent chairman.

While Glen Caroline and Candace Strother have been very gracious in their congratulations to Mark Sell, some of Candace's supporters are very reluctant to unite behind Mark Sell after the vote. Some are taking a we will support him if... approach, (which I respect and understand) while one of Loudoun's most prominent bloggers has continued to show nothing but vitriol and hatred for Mark Sell and his supporters following the election.

The blogger I am talking about is Loudoun Insider. Following the election he wrote one of the most vile and divisive posts in his history. The day before the election he said that if you voted for Mark Sell you would be sending the LCRC back to the dark ages. In a comment on another post that day he called Mark a woman, and after the results came in he called Mark a name I will not repost on this blog. Using this kind of rhetoric about Mark and his top supporters does nothing to build the party. We can and should debate the merits of electing different people, and dig into what they believe, but name calling and ad hominem attacks of this sort have no place in the political dialogue. If you want to argue this party should be a big tent and an accepting party, then you are a hypocrite to demonize people who have worked hard in it over the years.

I am thankful to the voters of Loudoun for rejecting the politics of demonization, and I am thankful that Mark Sell's supporters refrained from this kind of personal mean spirited politics.

Howie Lind is Running for 10th District Chairman

Earlier I mentioned an upcoming announcement coming out of Fairfax Co. Howie Lind state central member from the 10th District will be challenging Jim Rich for the 10th District Chairmanship at the 10th District convention. Black Velvet has all the details, and announced it first. I and many other activists from across the state are happy to see a strong challenge to chairman Rich. He has made a reputation as a chairman who is concerned with holding personal power than advancing the party, and trying to take down anyone who disagrees with him. If you believe in free and open government I hope you will join Howie Lind in his bid for 10th District Chairman at the May 22nd convention.

(True to form, I am hearing Jim Rich and his friends on the Loudoun County Republican Committee executive board Glen Caroline, Candace Strother, and others are working to set the filing deadline for Loudoun delegates for February 20th which would people from getting involved in the process as opposed to having it at the regular LCRC mass meeting in March.)

Jeff Frederick Receives a Warm Welcome at the NOVA AG Debate

On Tuesday March 10th, the Loudon County Republicans showed their support for Chairman Frederick at the NOVA Attorney General Debate.  This was a couple days after the effort to unseat Jeff Frederick became public, and the same day the GOP State Senate leadership issued a letter calling for Chairman Frederick to resign.  When LCRC Chairman Glen Caroline introduced Chairman Frederick there was instantaneous spontaneous applause for the chairman, and interestingly noone booed.  If you don't believe that a gathering of roughly 200 Loudon Co. Republicans supports Chairman Frederick, check the video out yourself. 

This is yet another instance of the grassroots support Jeff Frederick enjoys as RPV chairman.

(While the audio quality isn't the best, the introduction takes place rougly at minute 1:06.  If you would like to help keep Jeff Frederick in office, please join the "We Support Chairman Jeff Frederick" group on RPV Network.)