Yes yes… long expected, but way overdue.
Why now? A little prompting, as Zak Moore over at Roanoke Red Zone questions a Jeff Frederick e-mail claiming endorsements that properly belong to current RPV Chairman John Hager. An honest misstep I’m sure… but not one that sways my decision making process.
When Hager was first elected, an unnamed reporter pulled me to the side and told me RPV just made the best move it had made in years. “John Hager,” he told me, “is the hardest working man in politics. You’ll see.”
It’s not the fact that Hager can make the trip from Winchester to Hampton Roads one day, then the next morning you discover he’s starting in Roanoke and making his way towards Fairfax. Nor is it his deep contacts and relationships he has built up both inside the Republican Party as well as in Richmond. It’s how he does it… that’s what’s so impressive.
I’ve had the privilege of working with John Hager. I would accept that privilege again at anytime, under any circumstances. Our staff is excellent (RPV’s Executive Director Charlie Judd deserves so much credit for this), our resources the strongest we have seen them in years, and despite the convoluted ways Virginia Republicans seem to run our state elections, I’m confident those disconnects will continue to dissolve under Chairman John Hager.
Before 2007, I would have shared many of the complaints about RPV that any unit chairman or state-level candidate would have shared. While the Republican Senate Leadership Trust, the House Republican Campaign Committee, and the RSLC try to figure out (another story for another day) how best to put our candidates over the top, RPV leadership is making sure our Virginia Republicans are in the best position to win — despite the personalities, turf wars, or other inside baseball that occurs inside any given operation.
As a conservative, allow me to say this: Hager is with us on every issue we care about, and will go to the mat for conservatives every time. I am convinced after working alongside John Hager that — if Hager had been given the Republican nomination for Governor in 2001 — Mark Warner’s legacy would have consisted of a very profitable if dubious stint with Rep. Christopher Dodd… and little else.
John Hager has my endorsement for Chairman, because we deserve real leadership in Richmond. Hager is bringing the party together, Hager understands how substance beats style, and Hager knows this party needs to get back to our conservative basics: by helping good Republicans and beating bad Democrats.
That reporter was right. John Hager really is the hardest working man in politics… and RPV deserves a chairman willing to work that hard for us. While I agree with Jeff Frederick on the vast majority of issues, his race for Chairman comes two years too late. Nothing further needs to be said.
I’m proud to have the opportunity to vote John Hager as RPV Chairman at the State Convention in May, and if you are going to be a delegate this year, I urge you to do the same.