Jim Rich Bashes Elected Party Leadership

By E M Barner | Friday, December 5th, 2008 | Politics

Jim Rich, the GOP’s 10th District Chairman, is a prime example of Republican Good Old Boy politics. He is known more for bashing Republicans he doesn’t like, than for working hard for all the Party’s nominees. His private disdain for many hardworking grassroots activists is, unfortuantely, public knowledge.

Once again, he has taken his personal opinions to the Washington Post — this time in an effort to undermine Jeff Frederick.

Some of us think that it is time he took the same level of responsibility for electoral outcomes that he demands of others — and let someone else lead the 10th District. I agree with the following letter of fellow activist, Bob Maistros, who issued that call earlier today. See his letter, posted here.

December 5, 2008

Mr. Jim Rich
Chairman
10th District Republican Committee
PO Box 1344
Middleburg, VA 20118

Dear Mr. Chairman:

As a communications advisor to three Supervisor campaigns and the LCRC in the 2007 election cycle, all facing an already difficult uphill climb, I was stunned not only by your efforts to undermine our local committee and our candidates, but also by your public disparagement of our ticket of incumbent Republican Supervisors in the Washington Post less than a week before the election.

Now, with your remarks in today’s Post publicly ridiculing the duly elected state chairman of your own party – as part of a concerted campaign on the part of the party’s Old Guard carefully timed to peak on the eve of the annual Advance – you have truly crossed the line. And you have demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that the time has come for new leadership and fresh blood in the position of 10th District Chairman.

You may not have noticed, but over the past four election cycles, your district has been transformed from solid red to a deep blue. Our local party has suffered defeat in a series of key county, state and national contests – with little apparent effort on your part or that of your leadership team to stem the tide.

Setbacks experienced by the party over four consecutive election cycles have included:
· The losses of the 32nd and 67th legislative districts to the Democrats in 2005 and the opposition party’s successful defense of the seats in 2007
· The loss of the 33rd Senate district to the Democrats in a special election in 2006 and their defense of the seat in 2007
· Tim Kaine’s carrying of Loudoun and Prince William Counties in 2005
· Jim Webb’s carrying of Loudoun and Prince William Counties in 2006
· The loss of the Republican majority of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors in 2007
· And now, Barack Obama’s and Mark Warner’s carrying of Loudoun and Prince William Counties in 2008.
While these losses can be attributed to a number of factors, one constant is that they occurred on your watch. Jeff Frederick has been in place for six months. You’ve been in place for 16 years.

You apparently like to point to Rep. Frank Wolf’s continued success – which is almost entirely attributable to his own strong record and other advantages as a candidate. But as District Chairman, you must bear ultimate responsibility for the failure to mobilize resources and support in a manner that produces victories for all Republican nominees. For the entire year, in one of the most critical battleground districts in the state if not the nation, the 10th District Committee has spent a grand total of $53,310.38 on all candidates.

In addition, I have personally experienced your favoritism of specific factions that has led to division and confusion within the Party and badly damaged our reputation with voters. Last year, you conspired with the then-leadership of the Republican Party of Virginia to overturn the Loudoun County Republican Committee’s Convention Call – outside procedures established in the state party plan and in a manner calculated to favor one specific candidate for Supervisor and create the appearance of disarray in the local Party. You privately expressed support for the notion of removing duly re-nominated incumbent Supervisors from the ticket based on never-substantiated assertions in the Washington Post, groundlessly threatened to disband our unit committee, and engaged in the public attacks on our candidates referenced above.

So I guess it should come as no surprise that you have now gone public again with your recent campaign to undermine and intimidate Jeff Frederick, even as he and his team are now finally free of the distractions of an election and can double down their focus on reorganizing the state party apparatus and upgrading its resources. It’s a shame you can’t use your obvious media skills and rapport with the Post to benefit our party, its candidates and its leadership, instead of tearing them down. And as someone who was Chief Writer for President Reagan’s re-election campaign in 1984, I would also note that it’s a scandal that you refuse to abide by his 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.”

Mr. Rich, enough is enough. The time has come for a District Chairman with the demonstrated ability to bring to bear the state-of-the-art practices for effectively managing, coordinating and deploying resources needed to achieve victory in our district in the critical upcoming election cycles. But just as important, we need a Chairman who can support and promote unity among Republicans locally and statewide in order to turn our common focus on our opponents – rather than to turn on our own in the media.

It’s time for you to step aside as 10th District Chairman so that the search can begin for a unity candidate willing and able to cooperate and coordinate with our statewide leadership in undertaking the task of modernizing and strengthening our outreach in pursuit of a solidly red Virginia.

Sincerely,

Bob Maistros

Cc: State Central Committee, Republican Party of Virginia
Hon. Frank Wolf, U.S. House of Representatives

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