Poll: Who’s getting the worst deal in the Frederick saga?

Here’s a question you might want to ponder as we approach the Saturday vote at RPV: Who ends up hurting the most if a vote is taken?

Is it Jeff Frederick? Clearly he is the obvious choice. Resigned as a member of the House of Delegates to do RPV full-time. Was promptly surprised by this move by the SCC only after he resigned. Quite possibly will be removed from a position he was elected to fulfill. May have his business/livelihood impacted. Still has a family to support. May face legal proceedings.

-or-

Is it Bob McDonnell? The not so obvious choice, but he really got the ball rolling when he said “more effective leadership” was necessary at RPV. After that statement, the bandwagon filled-up pretty quickly. Therefore, as the de facto leader of the party, a lot of the onus over Frederick’s removal falls to him. Will folks that support Frederick continue to support McDonnell? Will they potentially seek another gubernatorial, independent candidate – or will they just stay home and not participate?

A choice I’m not providing in this poll is you – the grassroots. Clearly in all this continued nonsense the person getting the worst deal are those who are seeking leadership and a steady hand at the tiller. During a time of economic uncertainty and government overstretch, instead of concentrating on issues that matter, we’re talking about internecine behavior. For more on this subject, read a great post by Shaun at his namesake blog.

And, another choice I’m not providing is the State Central Committee itself. They took a great risk by moving forward on this. Whether it be Gary Thompson, Kate Obenshain, Ed Gillespie, John Hager (and, yes, I know, at least two of those changes could not be helped), the RPV chairman has faced a degree of criticism by leaders in the party. The one constant amongst these changes has been the Congressional District members themselves. Perhaps a little introspection might be in order on what we can do to advance the cause instead of just changing the head. You can only fire the coach so many times before you have to start looking at the players.