Time For RPV To Start Staffing Up On Grace Street

When someone is in business, if the competition has a competitive advantage, soon you will be out of business. The business that has the stronger, larger, and higher quality staff will survive all the ups and downs that can be thrown at a business.

Last month, the Republican Party of Virginia held it’s quadrennial leadership elections. Clearly, by the results of the election, the status quo at Grace Street was not working. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the status quo in electing former Delegate Rich Anderson as RPV Chairman.

While Chairman Anderson is doing a great job representing RPV at events, the honeymoon period is starting to end. Anderson has to get down to brass tacks because the Democratic Party of Virginia has numerous competitive advantages over the Republican Party of Virginia.

We tend to stress about policy frequently, but not the process of electing candidates all the time. I am by no means saying the policy isn’t important, but if we do not have a team necessary to build the RPV, we will continue the losing streak being felt by Virginia Republicans.

On September 14, the Democratic Party of Virginia sent out a press release stating they had unionized their staff. The number of staffers that unionized? 52.

FIFTY-TWO PEOPLE ON STAFF AT DPVA! Is someone at RPV pulling the fire alarm yet? Now, the other kicker is, 27 of those people are full time working out of the DPVA downtown office in Richmond. Those staffers include data analysts, coalition builders, voter registration, and voter protection.

On the Republican side, we are woefully unequipped. Our candidates fight each other to the death. Republican candidates get the nomination, they look to RPV for help, and help isn’t there. RPV was and is still, well, for lack of a better word, broke. They have less than five full-time employees, no Executive Director at the moment, minimal data management, and no money. On top of that, and by no means do I wish to disgrace the Obenshain legacy, the Obenshain Building on Grace Street is falling apart.

It is time for Chairman Anderson to get serious about staffing RPV with a dedicated, well-educated team of professional political operatives. I have spoken with activists, donors, and RPV leaders across the state who are looking for the leadership to get started on staffing the Republican Party of Virginia. Not just for 2020, but also for the critical gubernatorial election of 2021.

Chairman Anderson, it’s time to get serious and start staffing up on Grace Street. Let’s get a team of data analytics staffers, comms team, and professional operatives together to win back the Commonwealth. With less than two months until Election Day, it’s time to get serious and start staffing up.