roanoke.com Real Politics / Preston Bryant

Preston Bryant is a Republican who has represented Lynchburg and part of Amherst County in the Virginia House of Delgates since 1996.

Suggesting that the Republican Party of Virginia has sailed smoother seas is an understatement. But to think it won't soon return to smooth sailing is folly.

The state party – hopefully – has pumped the last bit of bilge from the eavesdropping scandal that erupted more than a year ago, when its executive director, a loyal and hard-working partisan, let his drive for success overtake common sense and good manners. Ed Matricardi pleaded guilty earlier this year to one felony count of wiretapping for listening in on a private Democratic Party conference call.

Now, it seems that party chairman Gary Thomson, a mild-mannered CPA, was too mild-mannered in controlling that which came after Matricardi’s eavesdropping. Thomson resigned a week or so ago after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor. His crime: not acting to prevent Matricardi from distributing to others a transcript that had made of the illegally heard conference call.

Thomson is a stand-up guy. He’s a clean-cut, straight arrow. He did the right thing in resigning his party post, which he’d held for 2 ½ years. If the worst accusation that’s ever leveled at him is that once in his life he didn’t act quickly enough to keep somebody else from doing something Thomson may not have known at the time to be wrong, then he’ll certainly be okay.

The party now stands to right itself a bit more. In a couple of weeks, RPV’s 70-person ruling central committee will elect a new chairman. One candidate, Kate Obenshain Griffin, is the odds-on favorite. She’s an excellent choice, and she’ll be an excellent party head.

Griffin, from Winchester, is no stranger to GOP activists. She’s a 34-year-old mother of four whose conservative philosophy and Republican roots run strong and deep.

A decade ago, Griffin served on then-Gov. George Allen’s policy staff, responsible for health and education. That put her at the center of Allen’s initiatives to manage high-dollar health care programs – Medicaid was and is one of the fastest growing parts of the state budget – and institute higher academic standards in our secondary schools. Among Allen’s greatest legacies are the Standards of Learning that continue to prove their worth to public school students’ academic learning and workforce readiness. Griffin was Allen’s ally in the early days of the SOL debate with nay-saying Democrats.

Griffin continued her work in education when Allen appointed her to a four-year stint on the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia, the policy coordinating body for our 15 four-year and 24 two-year public colleges and universities. She rose to serve as SCHEV’s vice-chair. When Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore succeeded Allen, he named Griffin to his Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education, which conducted a two-year, in-depth review of our college and university system and ended up making some 75 recommendations to improve its quality, accessibility, and accountability.

So when state Republicans need a fresh face to articulate party principles on such important policy matters as health and education – two areas increasingly important to voters – how impressive it’ll be to have no less than the party chairman step forward to expertly lay it on the line.

It’s true that Griffin has the backing of U.S. Sen. George Allen and Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, the party’s two biggest titans. Allen has hit the big time in the Senate, where he’s heading the national party’s efforts to expand its majority in that most collegial of all bodies. He also still holds huge sway with legions of state party activists.

Kilgore, without question, will be the Republican nominee for governor in 2005. He is the titular head of the party today, and as such he’s entitled to weighted input on who the new party chairman will be. All else being equal, the state central committee should give great deference to Kilgore’s choice of Griffin. For the committee to do otherwise would be nothing less than foolish.

All of this is not to say that Griffin will be a toady of the big boys. Those who think that, well, they just don’t know her very well. She’s a strong, true-blue, rock-ribbed conservative whose voice resonates with grassroots activists, and she’ll work to advance what’s in the best interest of the party as a whole. So it’s not that she’ll be taking cues from Allen and Kilgore – it’s much more likely that they’ll be taking cues from her.

Griffin is the perfect person to help the party turn its boat right side up. That she’ll succeed is in her nature. After all, she’s a scion of one of the state Republican Party’s modern day founders, the late Dick Obenshain, who’s so much a conservative icon in the Old Dominion that RPV’s headquarters is named for him.

When the GOP’s state central committee gathers in Richmond on Sept. 6, they should recognize the extraordinary opportunity before them – and they should by acclamation name Kate Obenshain Griffin as the new chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

Let any elected or appointed official know what you think and how you feel by clicking here.

Post a message to Preston Bryant's message board

The Bryant Archive

Texas and Virginia

Colorado and Virginia

Ever our strength is our bond (rating)

Cutting telecom taxes -- the right way

GOP's philosophy of no

Virginia Democrats: Odd couplings with presidential contenders

Oh, (Big) Brother

Money, politics and higher education

McQuigg's roadmap