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RPV Chairman Jack Wilson: A Profile In Courage

I’ve had it. 

I want to start by saying I’ve had it. I have had it with the extremists in our party who, every time they don’t get something their way, they demand the resignations of our party leaders. I am tired, just simply exhausted, of the times that I have watched leaders in the Republican Party of Virginia get screwed with their pants on by the extremists and the grifters who profit off of wreaking havoc on them. I am tired of the constant need to be upset or offended when someone stands up for what is right if they don’t agree with it.

Most of you are familiar by now with the 97th House of Delegates District debacle. This “campaign rally” held by Scott Wyatt over the weekend was nothing more than a scam on the voters of that district.

When it became abundantly clear that Scott Wyatt nor his extremist followers were going to follow along with the Party Plan or the ruling of the RPV, Chairman Jack Wilson spoke up. He tried to be nice at first, hoping that the Wyatt campaign would try to comply. When it was clear the Wyatt campaign would not comply, Chairman Wilson laid the hammer down. Chairman Wilson did what was right. He called this event that occurred this past Saturday what it truly was — a campaign rally. This event was not sanctioned by the Republican Party of Virginia, it was not to be held in the first place for reasons well-outlined in Wilson’s letter, and the results have no bearing on who the nominee is for the 97th House of Delegates district.

You see, the real problem is that the extremist wing of the Republican Party of Virginia is beside themselves because for the first time in awhile, we have an RPV Chairman with actual leadership skills and a backbone, willing to stand up to the extremists in our party.

When I say extremist, I want to clarify what I mean so that my words are not confused. It’s not the Trump voters that give me heartburn. For the most part, I work hand in hand with the supporters of the President to advance our Republican principles.

The people I’m talking about are the Scott Wyatt crowd-types. They take one vote, or one statement, or one action of an elected official and then want to burn everything to the ground. They act as if they have a mission from God to destroy the Republican Party and then rebuild in their own image. By the way, “in their own image” means they want everyone to think, act, and believe the same thing that they do, or else. That’s what we are dealing with in the 97th House of Delegates District from the Wyatt campaign, and that is the problem that currently plagues the Republican Party of Virginia in general.

I have been in the Republican Party of Virginia serving as campaign staff, activist, blogger, and in minor party leadership roles for the past 10 years. Three RPV Chairmen have served in that time. The only one who has stood up for himself or the principles of our party has been Jack Wilson. The only one who has walked into a disaster situation and offers to help fix it is Jack Wilson. The only RPV Chairman who has had the ability to be honest and show leadership skills is Chairman Wilson.

Lest we not forget, we here in the 6th Congressional District were in a godawful mess last year. A nasty mess that involved FEC complaints, a slew of pissed off candidates, a congressional district chairman paying one of the congressional candidates on his companies’ payroll, and a congressional candidate who could have put the reddest district in the Commonwealth into play for the Democrats. Who was the person willing to stand up to the extremists like Scott Sayre and Cynthia Dunbar? Who was the one willing to put their name and their credibility on the line for the betterment of the Republican Party of Virginia? That was Jack Wilson.

When our party had nominated a neo-confederate who was going to tank our congressional chances and make us all look bad, who was willing to pick up the Republican Party of Virginia banner to make sure someone with a little sanity ran the party? That was Jack Wilson. Chairman Wilson could have waited until it was an easier time to run the party. He could have waited till it was more convenient for him to run for RPV Chairman. He took the mantle of the Republican Party of Virginia when no one else wanted to because everyone else was scared of being the adult in the room.

Now we stand at a crossroads in the Republican Party of Virginia. It’s the time that separates the boys from the men. Chairman Wilson could have done what most Republican Party Chairman do, which is sit by and not comment. He could have kept to himself.

Instead, he spoke up.

Jack Wilson deserves nothing but our praise for his work as Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is the first Chairman in years to stand up for what is right. Jack Wilson is not afraid of the extremists, he is not afraid of the crazy people, and he is not afraid of the grifter consultants who get rich playing on the fears of the extremists in our party. For once, we have a Chairman with (and I want to put this in all caps so that my point is made properly),

TESTICULAR FORTITUDE

to stand up for what is right. Year after year, I have watch party leaders get screwed over by the most extreme members of the Republican Party of Virginia. Something goes a different way in a nominating contest, something gets said, somebody does something that makes the extremists in our party freak out.  Most of the time the Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia just plays nice with extremists in the party or he just outright bends over backward to meet the wishes of the extremists just to then have the extremists turn around and then stab that Chairman in the back (example: all the people who wanted to get rid of Chairman Whitbeck in 2016).

Jack tried to be nice and Scott Wyatt didn’t listen. So Jack Wilson read him the riot act.

Because of the actions of Chairman Wilson, for the first time in an extremely long time, I am proud to belong to the Republican Party of Virginia.