Mike Thomas, Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, issued the following statement regarding Bob Fitzsimmonds’ ill-timed and regrettable Facebook post:
“Freedom of Religion is just as much a part of our Constitution as Freedom of Speech. What is missing here is responsibility. Any individual is entitled to express his or her opinions on a subject. I will defend their right to do so, even when I disagree with it. BUT, if the individual is an officer or leader of the Republican Party, they have a RESPONSIBILITY to the Party to conduct themselves in a way that is respectful of others and accurately reflects the values of the Party.
“Regrettably, the RPV Treasurer has not, in my opinion, exercised this responsibility as an officer of RPV through repeated public comments that are at best not respectful of others and not reflective of the Party, and he should step down as Treasurer.”
Thomas is the latest to call for FitzSimmonds’ to step down and is right: The FitzSimmonds’ post is not only disrespectful, but completely unnecessary. He intentionally waded into controversy where no controversy existed. That demonstrates a lack of judgement. And, for that alone, regardless of the content or context of his post, he should resign where he can make all the comments he wants on Facebook – or RPV State Central should vote to remove him.
