Mr. Ed, A Virginia Legend
By Greg L | 4 March 2008 | RPV | 11 Comments
A Guest Posting by Alex P. Keaton
The last component of Mr. Ed’s legacy as RPV Chairman died last week, when the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that the regional taxing authorities were unconstitutional. Ed crafted and defended these unelected unconstitutional regional taxing authorities claiming this would be the best way to keep a Republican majority in the Senate. Well guess what, HB 3202, much like Ed’s brilliant Hill Outreach program, failed miserably.
Voters cried out over the abusive driver fees, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that the regional taxing authorities were unconstitutional and last, but certainly not least, NOVA has now entered into invalid bonds. I certainly hope the state will not seek to bail out these investors. They bought the bonds. It’s their problem.
But back to Ed… His tenure in Virginia, much like most of his career, was a waste. He is nothing more than a vapid leech who used positions to set his “friends up with contracts. Ed is a third tier political consultant who ruined the Republican Party of Virginia, and cost us a majority in the Senate. Why?
Because he don’t actually understand political strategy. He never has. Maybe the smart thing for President Bush would be to get rid of Ed. His approval ratings haven’t gotten any better since Ed went on board with team Bush; in fact you have gotten worse.
It couldn’t hurt his approval ratings, that’s for sure.
Where was the grassroots help in Northern Virginia on Election Day? The only Republican Senator left in Northern Virginia is Ken Cuccinelli. He has his own grassroots activist machine and does not depend on the party for help. Jay O’Brien did need the party’s help, so did Bob FitzSimmonds. We could have picked up Jay’s seat; we could have picked up Colgan’s seat for Bob. Why didn’t we?
Because no party structure exists. Ed’s plan was to turn to Hill staffers for poll coverage on Election Day, yet the polls were bare. Any strategist would have found a way to generate poll coverage. Ed couldn’t because of three reasons; 1) he are not a political strategist; 2) he had no real plan; 3) he had no follow through. Exactly how much time was spent in developing this great voter turnout system?
We know that Ed put virtually no time into establishing a grassroots base. Ed wasn’t in Virginia very often, and when he was it was simply to defend the “genius” HB 3202. This plan failed. You failed. Republicans have lost the majority in the Senate. Republicans have no activist base. Republicans have nothing right now, because of Ed.
Ed, do VIRGINIANS a favor and never cross the Potomac again.
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“Because he don’t actually understand political strategy”
He don’t, huh? Well perhaps APK is alittle too wet behind the ears to remember a little think called the Contract with America which delivered the House of Representatives to the Republicans. A little piece of work by Mr. Gillespie.
Yea, let’s blame the guy who came in and tried to help for the ineptitude of the current leadership at RPV.
Perhaps it’s hacks like APK that need to check out of the party for the betterment of the party!
Alex, good analysis but you can blame the TomDavis and the Fairfax GOP crew for Jay O’Briens loss. As bad as Jeanmarie got beat, she should have seen this coming from a mile away and retired early right after the GA session in 2007. All resources, both human and financial could have gone to O’Brien and he would have won easily. Fairfax County GOP just did not have the resources for three huge races. This almost never happens so I don’t necesarily blame them. If O’Brien had the support that Jeanmarie recieved he would have won in a landslide.
As for Fitzsimmons, the Dems had to use a ton of extra last minute cash and Manpower to save his seat. Thiwere absolutely scared to death, he was going to lose. This was the seats is an advantage only the dems have with the last two governors. They the dems were most concerned about during the closing weeks since they knew they had it wrapped up for Chap.
I am not a fan of ED but he along with McDonnell and Davis really did hurt things in the long run with HB3202 being declared unconstitutional. Thats about all he had time to do as chair of RPV. Developing any type of grassroots strategy even in hard red GOP areas was extremely difficult this year. Just ask any political strategist in the state. Many candidates resorted to “paying” volunteers and they still could not get the required help. The best formula for fixing the grassroots is a strong and healthy national party. Right now the RNC is anything but strong and healthy. Leadership starts from the top down.
Interesting analysis. I’ve no love for Gillespie, but he can hardly be blamed for the failure of elected Republicans to listen to the grassroots. Had they done so, they wouldn’t have bought Gillespie’s bill of goods. And the grassroots is uninterested in putting any effort out for tax increasers.
I think Anon also makes some good points, particularly regarding the unique situation in Northern Virginia. However, I would dispute his final statement, since it fails to account for the synergy between leaders and the grassroots. Leadership which reflects the Party’s base is the most effective, and is the way that the GOP came to majority status in Virginia. ‘Problem is, our elected leaders forgot how they got there.
” I certainly hope the state will not seek to bail out these investors. They bought the bonds. It’s their problem”
1) What did the purchasers of the bonds do wrong?
2) What would that do to Virginia’s credit rating for future bonds?
First anon… He did nothing to help the current leadership at RPV. He spent most of his time in DC “playing” consultant. Virginia is far too important of a state politically for them to use for things like a temporary placeholder seat for Ed to be sent to W’s staff. Virginia Republicans deserve better than that kind of bullshit. Contract with America, yeah and that went very well didn’t it. How many of those items were delivered to us… oh yeah NONE.
Second anon… You are right he wasn’t chair very long, but it was in a time where a grassroots game should have been assembled. Again i go back to my point above, the RNC sent him here as a placeholder. VA is WAY too important of a state politically for that. We don’t deserve that.
James… You are right, and I think I glossed over your point in my analysis of Cuccinelli, but def. it could have used more attention. Bottom line is that conservatives aren’t going to help Tom Davis, or any of the other political hacks. Conservatives are going to help candidates they agree with. People can cite that Reagan quote all they want: he increased taxes a few times as well.
Pat… The purchasers of those bonds invested in something. Say I were to go buy 400 shares of Dundermifflin paper tonight, and it tanked tomorrow. Should the government bail me out??? Absolutely not, and this situation is no different. Those investors invested in those bonds. The bonds are invalid. Life’s a bitch. As far as the AAA bond rating, you can lay off the Chichester tax increase talking points for a minute. I frankly don’t give a damn about our AAA bond rating. Honestly if it goes a way, maybe it will reign in state spending a little, and maybe they can’t get the bond for that $41million new general assembly building in BOTH budgets.
Addendum…
Ed had just started with Dick Army when contract with america was drafted and he actually had nothing to do with the drafting of it.
-APK
For a second there I thought this post was about Eugene Delgaudio, who has long had the Mr. ED moniker attached to him!
The problems with RPV go way beyond Gillespie.
I think APK is correct about the Contract with America facts. The guy to ask would be Morton Blackwell… after all, it was drafted at his cabin in the Blue Ridge.
I think all here have made excellent points regarding the RNC and Virginia in particular. I think we all can agree on one thing, I do think our leadership ALWAYS needs to be Virginia based not DC based. Ed had absolutely no clue of the Virginia dynamics outside the Capital Hill area. NO placeholder, ever again!!!!! ED has probably never set foot in the rural areas that made George Allen rise to the level of U.S. Senate and were Gilmore originally pulled off his upset over Beyer.
I think we always need a Virginia man or women representing us as party chair, ED was not a “Virginia” man even though he may have resided in VA.
As James Young stated so well I also firmly believe there must be “synergy” between the grassroots and the leadership and that clearly has not been the case. Cuccinelli is the only politician in NOVA, that has mastered this art during tough times nationally for the GOP. You cannot teach this type of grassroots. The RNC cannot magically “pay volunteers” or get hill staffers to help a state race during tough times. I imagine Cuccinelli’s supporters truly cared and knew why they wanted him to return to Richmond. Most if not all other state campaigns this year could not even get “paid” volunteers much less any grassroots support. When the RNC is in the tank and we have almost historically low ratings, Cuccinelli’s grassroots support held strong. Sadly, this is probably a lone exception statewide.
Cuccinelli is not alone in being able to orchestrate a victory against the blue NOVA tide. Del. Jeff Frederick has been smashing his opposition by wide margins in an otherwise blue portion of PWC. Like Cooch, Frederick is not a squish. He wins by sticking to core conservative principles, working hard, and mobilizing a grass roots effort that shares his beliefs. The lesson to be learned by watching these two and other GOPers who won last November, and contrasting them to the losing Republican candidates like Mrs. Tom Davis, is that those who lead–those who stand on principle–can win, even when the tide is against them. Those who quiver and quake, and campaign in whichever direction the wind is blowing, will be swept aside, often dragging down their erstwhile compatriots with them.
With respect to the RPV organization, I agree with most of what has been said, particularly by James Young. So long as the organization is a self-absorbed insider’s club, it will not attract the money and devotion of the grass roots. And, so long as that’s the case, we’ll not be able to mount effective campaigns in the competitive areas of the state. This is why it’s important that everyone go to their GOP county conventions/mass meetings and become delegates to the state convention in May. We have an opportunity to dis-entrench the whole loser’s mindset from the RPV by electing Jeff Frederick chairman and unseating John Hager, the entrenched establishment’s choice of successor to Gillespie.
About Gillespie, I think much of what has been said is fair but I offer my own two points: (1) The Contract with America was very important to establishing our majority. It would have happened without Gillespie, but it is wrong to not give him some credit for it…he was there, helped write it, and DEFINITELY helped launch it. (2) Whatever else you feel about him, Gillespie was important to the Administration’s ability to sell and launch the surge in Iraq. The surge has worked, and has consequently done an incalculable service to our nation for generations. Gillespie deserves our thanks for this, if nothing else.
RE: “Loudmouted Inciter’s” comment: yeah, yeah, we know you hate Eugene Delgaudio. Apparently, mainly because he sought to dismiss as 10th Congressional District Chairman precisely the kind of GOP leadership — e.g., Jim Rich — which ignores the grassroots and wants to deliver go-along-to-get-along tax-and-spend policies, rather than sharp differences and real choices.
Of course, given his resounding re-election victory in a bad Republican year in Loudoun County, Eugene Delgaudio is perhaps the ONLY elected Loudoun Republican NOT suffering from a case of ED.