The battle lines are clearly drawn in the 7th District State Central race between the True Conservative Ticket of “Original Brat Pack” members, versus the VCN/McGuire Woods insider ticket of Alec Thomas, Jasen Eige, and Marie Quinn.
The True Conservative Ticket of Susan Lascolette, Dewey McDonnell, and Ron Hedlund are the ticket to support in the race for RPV State Central Committee at the 7th District GOP Convention on Saturday, May 21st. They are the grassroots ticket, for the people and by the people.
The Conservative Unity Ticket (a poorly thought out acronym, BTW), consisting of Alec Thomas, Jasen Eige, and Marie Quinn, is in its totality the anti-Dave Brat establishment ticket that will be used to take over the State Central Committee by the McGuire Woods/Cantorite Richmond Establishment crowd…the same crowd that continues to work towards the eventual defeat of Dave Brat in a future nomination contest.
The VCN/Anti-Brat Ticket
Jasen Eige, of Henrico, is a former McDonnell administration official and current lobbyist at McGuire Woods Consulting. He was the last minute draft choice of the VCN when they couldn’t find another candidate. The criticism of Jasen is simple: he’s on the ticket to rubber stamp the VCN agenda, which is the takeover of State Central by the Richmond Establishment and eventual defeat of Dave Brat in a nomination contest. Also, as senior counsel to Gov. McDonnell, he was a cabinet level appointee who was asleep at the wheel during the Johnnie Williams saga when he should have been working to keep the Governor on the straight and narrow.
Alec Thomas, of Chesterfield, whom we believe is a paid employee of the VCN or affiliated organizations, is the son of RPV First Vice Chairman Mike Thomas, and is the most virulently Anti-Dave Brat candidate in the Commonwealth, having called the Congressman a “steaming pile of crap” and fighting against him at every turn. He is essentially being paid by the establishment to run for State Central. It is not Congressman Brat that is the crap-pile. Dave has been a good and commonsense Congressman for the 7th District, and on a personal note, is a great friend to me on one of my issues, including the saving of 35,000 American jobs.
Before Alec went to work with the VCN, he was the campaign manager of Henrico Sheriff Mike Wade abortive campaign to challenge Rep. Dave Brat for the 7th District GOP nomination. Furthermore, Alec led the fight on the 7th District Committee, which at the time was controlled by VCN members, to create the mandatory delegate filing fee in order to vote for the SCC seats at the 7th District Convention. That was a naked attempt to restrict the participation of the grassroots in the SCC voting process, while allowing the big money interests backing VCN to pay for the fees for their supporters.
And oh yeah…there’s this:
What Alec Thomas thinks of his Congressman
Marie Quinn of Chesterfield, a SCC incumbent, is a good person, and the only member of this ticket that has been a true Republican volunteer. In another place and another time, I’d advocate voting for Marie Quinn, except that she should never have associated herself with the VCN ticket. While she is an exceptional Republican volunteer and activist, she has not shown herself to be an independent voice on State Central.
Why Conservatives Should be Concerned About the VCN Ticket
1 – They are being used in the effort to take the SCC away from the grassroots and give it to the Richmond Insider/Lobbyist Crowd. Call it the “McGuire Woods” problem. Like RPV First Vice Chairman Mike Thomas, Eige is a senior lobbyist at McGuire Woods (not that there’s anything wrong with that, outside the party). Alec Thomas is the son of Mike Thomas. Electing them would be an expansion of direct lobbyist influence and control over the Republican Party, which is the opposite of giving greater voice to the grassroots. What do lobbyists want to give politicians? Money, mostly. But when they’re in positions of power within the party, they can also pull strings behind the scenes to favor those politicians. Say “NO” to the McGuire Woods takeover of the 7th District Committee and RPV State Central Committee!
2 – As a group they are Anti-Brat. Susan, Dewey, and Ron are “Original Brat Pack” members and endorse Congressman Brat’s efforts to craft conservative solutions for problems in Washington.
3 – They are NOT the conservative ticket. Alec Thomas, for example is a noted social liberal and has no core values, going hither and yon on the issues, in whatever direction the wind is blowing, all for short term political gain. In contrast, Susan Lascolette, Dewey McDonnell, and Ron Hedlund are all anti-tax-and-spend, pro-military, pro-traditional marriage, and pro-life.
4 – The VCN ticket contains only one Republican activist, while the True Conservative ticket counts all three as die-hard conservative Republican activists.
On May 21st, attend the 7th District Convention and stop the VCN ticket.
