Republican Party of Virginia Treasurer Bob Fitzsimmonds has announced to his fellow members of the Republican Party of Virginia’s State Central Committee that he is resigning his position in connection with the recent controversy over comments he made in a Facebook posting. This decision is a reversal of what he told The Bull Elephant on July 31, when he disclaimed any intention to give up his post. Fitzsimmonds says his resignation will become effective upon election of his replacement, so as to not leave the Party without a treasurer.
In a statement circulated this evening, Fitzsimmonds defended his Facebook post as being historically accurate, and said that his decision to resign was not because he was wrong in what he said, but because he had become a target for scrutiny by the Washington Post and the party’s opponents on the left.
However, it has become clear to me (and to all of you, I am sure) that the Washington Post and others are watching my Facebook posts and will not hesitate to take advantage of any opening I might give them. If it was not causing grief for others, I would not mind. But in fact, it is causing grief for a lot of you and others in party leadership and for that I apologize.
The resignation comes on the heels of criticism from around the Virginia GOP, as well as from left-leaning bloggers and politicians. Calls for Fitzsimmonds’ resignation came from Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell (R-Stafford) and Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins, among others. The Times Dispatch in an editorial actually characterized Bob’s statement as “bigotry” for the way it appeared to denigrate the contributions of those belonging to minority faiths.
I applaud Bob for doing the right thing for the GOP. He recognized the reality we live in and that—rightly or not—the kind of criticism he generated can become a liability to our Party and candidates. Bob is a self-described front line soldier in the culture wars. Unfortunately, he inflicted friendly fire damage one too many times. To his credit, he recognized that these two roles, as culture warrior and Party leader, can often be incompatible.
I agree with many who regard this episode as something blown out of proportion for political reasons. I also agree with others who believe Republicans are too quick to eat their own in these situations (especially compared to Democrats and their much more reflexively defensive posture when one of them makes a mistake). But it is also true that the Republican Party should pride itself on holding its leaders to a higher standard than the Democrats. This is doubly so given the inherent hostility of much of the news media; coverage of a whole election season can be devoted to a Republican “macaca” moment, while the newsmedia scramble to get every other Republican to publicly distance themselves from the offending GOP candidate. By contrast, in but one of many examples, a sitting Democrat elected official is credibly charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and taking indecent liberties with a minor, but all we get on that are workmanlike recitations of the facts and really no scandal at all. They are, quite literally, shameless.
Every year is an election year in Virginia, and that means that every time a Republican official says something objectionable it sooner or later ends up being placed at the feet of our candidates. As party leaders, we have a duty to not allow that to happen—to not become liabilities for our candidates, whether we are fairly criticized or not. More generally, we have a duty to our cause and to our fellow Virginians to be more visibly welcoming and tolerant, and to take concrete steps to overcome the left’s caricature of us as racist old white guys. Whatever your opinion of what Bob said, it is fair to say that it was counterproductive to both of these goals.
Call it a double standard, or whatever else you’d like, but it is a reality for Republican leaders.
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Fitzsimmonds’ statement is reprinted in full below:
I am writing to you as members of State Central regarding the dust up over a recent Facebook post of mine. Let me say up front that I stand by the statement. It is historically accurate, was a valid criticism of the President’s revisionist history, and not a statement on Muslim involvement in modern day America. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Allen West and others were criticized for making similar comments about the President’s speech.
However, it has become clear to me (and to all of you, I am sure) that the Washington Post and others are watching my Facebook posts and will not hesitate to take advantage of any opening I might give them. If it was not causing grief for others, I would not mind. But in fact, it is causing grief for a lot of you and others in party leadership and for that I apologize.
It seems that no matter how careful I might be, I will periodically give occasion for others to portray the party in a bad light, so long as I am a party official. After discussion with several party leaders it seems clear that I will either need to stop posting on social media or step down from my party office.Those of you who know me, know that I am not constitutionally suited to sit quietly on the sidelines. In addition, one thing I have learned from this whole episode is that a very large percentage of the folks I talked to in leadership have abandoned social media out of fear of falling into a situation like I find myself in. When I asked people who counseled me to stop posting how they planned to communicate with people under 40 the answers got vague.
I have come to the conclusion that with a few exceptions, most have abandoned communication with the next generation in any meaningful way on social media and I think this is a big mistake. Now I realize that even if you grant me this point, we could have a lively discussion about whether I am the right person to be out there.
Nonetheless, I am far more interested in engaging people in policy discussions than I am in party governance. For this reason, I am resigning my position as Treasurer. The Party Plan is clear that vacancies must be filled by the State Central Committee after announcement to fill that vacancy is advertised in a Call to a State Central Meeting. Therefore, to avoid a vacancy in the Treasurer’s position for several weeks, my resignation will become effective once the position has been filled by a vote of the State Central Committee (most likely the next State Central Meeting after the August 16th meeting).
I am deeply disappointed that with only one exception, those of you who called for me to resign did so without ever communicating with me. I want to thank those of you who called and emailed me and urged me not to step down. But I am confident it is the best step for the party and for me. I greatly value the friendships I have made in the last two years and look forward to continued collaborative efforts to advance the party.
