John McCain's 2nd Senatorial District Chair Blasts Jeff Frederick

Dear Fellow Republicans:

I am writing you this letter in this momentous time of our party's history. This year alone we have opportunity to move our communities to select Republican candidates for local government, House of Representatives, Senate, and even President of the United States. One very important election that falls in the middle of all these but has great affect all the outcomes of all these races and races beyond is that of electing our state party chairman.

The position of party chairman is in my eyes the key in holding our state for the cause of Faith, Family, and Freedom that is the Republican Party.

We have two candidates for chairman of our party, Delegate Jeff Frederick and our chairman for the last 8 months, former Lt. Governor John Hager. In looking at which choice would best serve our party, I have come up with several points the lead me to conclude there is only one real choice for chairman.

1. The prohibition on fundraising by elected officials

Members of the General Assembly are not allowed to raise funds while the General Assembly is in regular session. According to the Code of Virginia, this includes raising money for political committees, which is what the Republican Party of Virginia is. The Assembly is in session for a minimum of 45 - 60 days. How can we give the Democrats in our state a two month head start in fundraising? The first job of party chairman is to raise money to support our party and our elected officials. Personally, my boss would not employ me if I could not do my job for two months out of the year.

2. Would Delegate Frederick have to leave his Delegate seat?

The one solution to the prohibition on fundraising would be for Delegate Frederick to give up being a Delegate. As he has mentioned in his many e-mails, we have a thin majority in the House of Delegates and need to defend that majority. Delegate Frederick has stated that he and only he could keep his Delegate seat under Republican control. It seems to me that Delegate Frederick is being disingenuous and selfish by not putting our party first and defending the majority in the House of Delegates by doing the job his constituents elected him to do. One does not have to have advanced degrees in political science to know you can not have your cake and eat it too. Will Delegate Frederick selfishly choose himself or will he choose true leadership and continue the job he started as Delegate?

3. What is Delegate Frederick's financial history with the RPV?

As hard as Delegate Frederick is campaigning for the chairmanship of our great party, I thought he must have true love for it. He must want to help it grow. He must want to do work for all Republicans in Virginia from Bristol to Alexandria to Portsmouth. Especially since he accuses John Hager of not doing enough. Is that true?
In researching this question, however, I was amazed to see the following:

* Instead of Delegate Frederick's business, GXS Strategies, contributing money to the RPV, it had actually billed the Republican Party of Virginia for $13,700.

* Approximately $7000 dollars donated given to candidates from campaign committees over his political career as a Delegate.

* Approximately $86,000 dollars of "in-kind" donations, but to his own campaign via his company, GXS Strategies.

* $0 dollars donated directly to the Republican Party of Virginia.

By contrast, Lt. Governor John Hager has given approximately $47,601 dollars since 1997 to our party and candidates. From his own money, not others'.

When you love something you help it grow, you support it, and you give it the utmost attention. The words of the emails and mailers are beautiful words, but the actions do not follow them at all.

4. Truthfulness?

I keep reading all kinds of accusations from Jeff Frederick about Chairman Hager, our Congressional District Chairmen, the RPV State Central Committee and the RPV staff. If true, some of these accusations might be cause for concern. So, I began asking questions. And the answers tell a different story:

a. Del. Frederick lays the blame for every loss of a General Assembly seat in 2007 at the feet of RPV Chairman Hager. (Keep in mind that John Hager only became Chairman at the end of July, just 3 -+ months before Election Day.) Even more amazing, Jeff's messages and literature imply that Chairman Hager is also responsible for GOP losses in the General Assembly in 2003 and 2005. Wow.

In reality, we have lost seats NOT because RPV was not doing enough. We lost seats because voters no longer could see a difference between Republicans and Democrats on key issues like taxes. Delegate Frederick was there. He knows what happened. And while I thank him for opposing those tax increases in 2004, Jeff Frederick knows better than to than to tell you something that is not true about John Hager just to get elected chairman.

b. Delegate Frederick tells us in his campaign e-mails and literature that re-electing John Hager as chairman will ensure Mark Warner's election, and he wants us to conclude that somehow John Hager is really a closet Mark Warner sympathizer. What? Can that be true?

Well, the truth is actually this. After serving our party for 30 years in almost every imaginable capacity, including as only the 2nd  Republican Lt. Governor in the 20th century, John Hager was asked by Democrat Governor Mark Warner to return to state service as the first Assistant to the Governor for Commonwealth Preparedness, heading up the first Virginia post to begin pulling together Virginia's response and future plans in the wake of 9-11. This important post needed a leader of stature with the skills to bring together diverse local governments to help the Commonwealth recover from the attack on the Pentagon and to be prepared for future emergencies, including terrorist attacks.

It is no secret that many Republicans were not happy that Lt. Governor Hager accepted this post in a Democrat administration. But, John felt strongly that our homeland security was too important to leave to others. So important, in fact, that he was willing to do it knowing he would be the subject of criticism from some quarters. What happened, though, is very different from the story that Jeff Frederick would have us believe:

* John continued to attend almost every meeting of the State Central Committee during this time
* John participated in numerous fundraisers and campaign events for our candidates, including Attorney General Jerry Kilgore who was running for Governor

Most importantly, when Governor Warner came forward with his plan for the largest tax increase in Virginia history, John Hager resigned from his post because of his strong disagreement with Governor Warner on this issue. If just a few more members of the legislature had shown this kind of courage, the tax increase would never have passed and Republicans would still control the State Senate.

c. Of great importance to me is having a party chairman who shares the conservative principles that we hold dear.   To read Jeff Frederick's materials, I would have thought that John Hager is a pro-choice, conservative-hating liberal.  What I found out is that John Hager not only ran and was elected Lt. Governor as a pro-life conservative, but he was the most pro-life, conservative Lt. Governor to have ever served in that office up until that time!

John Hager and Mark Earley did square off for the Republican nomination for Governor in 2001, but when Mark Earley won the nomination for Governor,  John jumped in and supported Mark Early just as he has for hundreds of other conservative candidates.

There is just nothing here, folks

While I could go on for many more pages of this, let me summarize by saying in almost every instance where I looked into one of Jeff Frederick's accusations, I found that they were simply not true.

And then, it began to dawn on me that Jeff Frederick's ENTIRE campaign is built on negatives - trying to criticize and tear down Chairman Hager and any party leader or activist who has the audacity to support the chairman. Try as I might, I could find almost nothing that Jeff Frederick actually plans to do, or how he intends to rally our party after he has spent weeks blaming anyone and anything that stands in his way.

We can do better than this. And the fact is we already are, with John Hager as our chairman for the last 8 months.

The chairman of our party must lead the way for all of us active in the Republican Party of Virginia to join together and work for a common cause. The chairman must reach out to volunteers, small donors, and large donors to inspire them to work and give as they can so that each of them will receive value back in having Republican leadership serving the citizens of our great Commonwealth. The chairman must build and retain candidates who will not just run for office but will win and build the Republican majority that is the backbone of growth and leadership for our state. Finally, the chairman must build the party itself with both volunteers and field staff and inspire them to work hard and stay strong for the cause of Freedom and the Republican Party.

With all this I know of only one person who can do the job and do it with leadership, class, and integrity, that person is our current chairman, Lt. Governor John Hager.

     Sincerely,

     Lee Talley
     2nd Senatorial District Chairman

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