RPV Chairman Jeff Frederick responded today to the detailed charges against him in the latest round of battle that is doing little more than harm Virginia Republicans:
RICHMOND, March 17 — In fighting to keep his job as chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick sent a memo to supporters today that paints his critics as GOP “insiders” responsible for the party’s dramatic decline in recent years.
In the lengthy statement, Frederick vows he “will not back down” even though nearly every top ranking GOP office holder in the state is calling for him to resign.
Frederick said he represents the party’s grass roots in a clash against the “small minority” who want to turn the Virginia GOP “into a rubber stamp for its long-time insiders.”
“For years, the Virginia Republican Party had been run from the top down, with consultants and lobbyists providing far more input into the direction of our party than the grassroots,” said Frederick, who blamed national and Virginia party leaders for loss of U.S. Senate and House seats in 2006. “Rest assured, we’re fighting for the future of our Republican Party and our commonwealth and we will not back down.”
Virginia Virtucon has the complete text of the response here and, from what I’ve read of it, it seems clear that Frederick’s survival strategy involves enlisting the grassroots and trying to turn this into a battle between them and the so-called “Richmond elites.” Given the forces arrayed against him, it seems unlikely that Frederick will be able to survive, but if he persists in this strategy, he’ll do a mighty fine job of tearing the party apart just months before a critical election.
Frederick is all about Frederick, so his actions are no surprise. Disgusting and self serving, but not surprising.
Hope you don’t mind – I had to post your analysis in a comment at TC, with a link to BTB of course.
“he’ll do a mighty fine job of tearing the party apart just months before a critical election.”
Really? It’s him? Or was picking this fight now simply those elites attempting to harm a grassroots party at the most critical time? It seems no matter what happens, they will blame Frederick for the problems, failing to recognize that the very people they loathe are the people who brought the GOP to statewide dominance in the 1990s.
And as for “Loudmouthed Inciter’s” comment that Frederick is “all about Frederick,” that’s pretty bold talk for a nihilist whose only goal is destruction, demonstrated by his unwillingness to attach his name to his nihilistic rants.