Byler invokes…Stalin?

Gary Byler has been around Republican Politics a very long time.

He was a College Republican. Helped former US Sen. John Warner (R-VA) win election in 1978 and became an aide.

He was even in the Office of Cabinet Affairs during the Reagan administration for a year – 1982-83 – of which he was involved with, according to the Reagan Library:

“Cabinet Matter issue tracking system; a description of the Cabinet Council process, from the scheduling of a meeting through the drafting of the meeting minutes; the work of the Cabinet Council Executive Secretaries; examples of issues that bypassed the Cabinet Council system (the Intercircuit Tribunal proposal, the 1983 appointing of a new EPA Director); the role of Cabinet Council working groups; the division of responsibilities among the Office of Cabinet Affairs staff; and the establishment of a tracking system for the Grace Commission’s recommendations.”

Cool. We all know that without the admin, nothing gets done.

He’s been a fixture in the 2nd Congressional District for years. He’s been GOP chairman of the district, faced down challenges, and generally has the respect of many.

However, he’s been acting kind of flaky contrarian these days.

First – running against his protege, Curtis Colgate, in an effort to regain the 2nd Congressional District GOP chair. Wasn’t it Gary’s own interpretation of who should be seated on the 2CD GOP executive committee and who should not that leveraged Colgate’s election in 2013 2014?

Second – he recently wrote a ridiculous strong rebuke of Congressman Scott Rigell, simply because Rigell had the gall to say “vote anyone but Trump.” Which then, quite frankly, is quite telling because

Third – we see the type of player he is: invoking the name of Joseph Stalin, as Trump’s regional director, in order to stack delegates to the Republican National Convention who will vote in lock-step for Mr. Trump.

Byler, who is never too far from controversy, said to the Virginian-Pilot:

“If you control credentials, you control the convention. If you control who gets to be seated and who gets to vote, then you control the outcome,” Byler said. “Like Stalin said, ‘Whoever controls the ballot box wins the election.’”

So, this is what it’s come to? Trump supporters must now quote Stalin and employ his tactics.

I’m sure Reagan would be proud, Mr. Byler.

Update from RPV Chairman John Whitbeck:

The Republican Party of Virginia strongly condemns the use of quotes from Joseph Stalin to describe anything having to do with the 2016 presidential campaign. Stalin is one of the most deviant and evil men in world history and his statements have no place in American political discourse.

Let’s be realistic though, the Republican process to nominate our presidential candidate is transparent and fair compared to that of the Democrat Party who essentially rig every presidential nomination by subverting the will of the voters using Super Delegates.