GOP 'Grass Roots' at Center of Turf Battle

RICHMOND

Even by Virginia Republican standards, the battle over whether Del. Jeffrey M. Frederick (Prince William) should be replaced as state party chairman is divisive and brutal, and the wounds it creates could have far-reaching consequences for the GOP in an election year.

Both sides in the dispute have crafted a strategy that revolves around the phrase "grass roots." Unfortunately for Virginia Republicans, there appears to be a huge disconnect over who makes up the grass roots.

And if a party doesn't know who its most loyal supporters are, can it really rebound from a string of election defeats? Or is this a case in which most party leaders know full well who their most loyal supporters are, but they don't like what they see?

When a majority of the Republican State Central Committee announced plans to try to remove Frederick as chairman two weeks ago, GOP gubernatorial nominee Robert F. McDonnell endorsed the move by saying the "grass roots" of the party want Frederick gone.

A few days later, the Republican leadership in the state Senate also called for Frederick's ouster, saying he had lost the confidence of the "grass roots."

On Friday, the five Republican U.S. representatives from Virginia called on Frederick to resign, saying "it is the sentiment of the grass-roots membership of the party to move in another direction."

In mounting his defense to the criticism that he mismanaged the party and is incompetent, Frederick used the same term.

"I make no apologies for standing against these efforts to remove me or the changes I've made within our party to give greater authority and input to the grass roots," Frederick wrote in a letter to GOP activists this week.

A year ago, Frederick did create a grass-roots uprising to topple former lieutenant governor John H. Hager, a moderate, as chairman of the state party.

After a three-month campaign, Frederick mobilized several thousand conservative GOP activists to show up at the convention to support him for a four-year term as chairman.

Many GOP leaders now say Frederick has been a failure. In an effort to remove him before his term ends, they have made 10 allegations against him centering on his management style and whether he diverted party business to a company he owns.