Commentary by Jason Kenney cross-posted at J’s Notes. Opinions expressed here to not necessarily reflect those of Bearing Drift.
Bob Hollsworth wrote earlier this week some thoughts I’d been having as well (shared earlier today here on Bearing Drift):
But this is what baffles me about the Frederick story.
What would a win look like?
The party rules say that his detractors need to have 75% of the vote at the smackdown to remove him.
What if they fail by one vote or a couple of votes?
Is this a win? Would he declare victory if only 74% of the Central Committee voted to remove him?
Unless every report I”ve read is seriously wrong about the likely final count, it appears that Frederick is in a “no-win” situation.
He is either booted out or he stays on after an effective vote of no confidence.
This really isn’t much of a choice.
Don’t tell that to Jeff Frederick.
The robo-calls are spreading, starting last week against Mike Thomas and Bob McDonnell, this week spreading to Tucker Watkins and others. Frederick came out yesterday with his defense against the SCC’s ten charges against him.
He is refusing to go without a fight and resorting to desperate tactics that serve no one but himself. But to what end? At this point, with just about every elected Republican coming out against him, who wins if Jeff Frederick remains?
Not the grassroots. No, even if you want to ignore that every member of the SCC was elected by the same delegates (and then some) that went to last year’s convention and even if you believe Frederick and that this is a matter of grassroots vs. establishment, grassroots will not win this fight. Because in the last ten months what has Frederick done to reach out to the grassroots? It wasn’t RPV fighting in the trenches last year, it was assorted organizations working around RPV. 2009 looks to be the same, especially if one looks to Joe Murray’s fight in the 46th, the same district that contains the Alexandria City committee that voted almost unanimously to support Frederick’s removal.
I was opting to remain on the sideline through this because, quite frankly, I don’t have much of a say in the end. It is SCC making the call because that is their right according to the Party Plan.
But Frederick’s efforts to drag this out in public, to make this into an ideological fight when it is one of failed management, to try mislead the public and astroturf his “grassroots” support, to make this about HIM and not the Party he was elected to represent and lead, to decide that if can not stick around that he is going to destroy everything he possibly can in his wake, well, how can anyone not speak up?
This hurts. This is infighting that didn’t need to happen. Many have offered assistance to Frederick in all areas only to be rebuffed, the SCC gave Frederick an opportunity to explain himself then gave him a way to step down and save face only to have it blow up on them, so many opportunities presented themselves to not have it end up this way and one man chose not to take advantage of them.
Instead, Jeff Frederick decides to go back to his college roots:
It brought to mind a story another Georgian told me about a state convention where the chairmanship of the CRs was being contested. The representative from the University of Georgia won. That didn’t sit well with everyone:
The head of the Emory University CR’s lost and stormed out, taking his chapter with him and then went on a petty vendetta to break up the Georgia College Republicans. The guy wound up destroying the Emory CR’s through his actions.
That guy’s name? Jeff Frederick.
I do not pretend to know what is best for the Republican Party of Virginia overall. But I sure as hell know that this is not good. Jeff Frederick was given an opportunity to explain himself and, when he failed to do so, to step down. Instead he is fiddling while the apparatus burns down around him.
If he goes, we can move forward.
If he remains, only Jeff Frederick wins.
