Trixie Averill is a 6th District Republican activist and fellow State Central Committee member who nominated Ed Gillespie for Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia at Saturday's State Central Committee meeting. She did a great job and I asked if I could reprint her comments here ... and she graciously agreed.
Ed was unanimously voted in as the new RPV Chairman and immediately began his duties. Congratulations, Ed! We look forward to rolling up our sleeves and tirelessly working together for the advancement of the Republican Party of Virginia.
Here are Trixie's nomination remarks.
Good morning, dear diehard “we wouldn’t miss the Advance for all the Christmas sale days rolled into one” fellow State Central members and guests.
It is indeed an honor to have been asked to stand before you and place in nomination the name of Ed Gillespie to be our new state chairman. I was quite surprised but nonetheless thrilled to have the opportunity to do something nice for someone who has already done so much for our party ... on the NATIONAL level.
We have had a difficult couple of years, no doubt about it. You all know the problems that the Republican Party of Virginia has faced, and you also know that Kate Griffin gave it her all and worked very hard to overcome what really were almost insurmountable obstacles. I wish Kate all the best and know that our paths will cross again and that she will always be a strong voice for our Republican principles.
That being said, and while we have made some significant progress along the way, there is certainly much more work ahead for us. It may sound trite, but it IS time for new leadership and a new perspective and the opportunity to learn from someone who is undeniably one of the top Republican strategists in the nation.
Yes, he has an impressive resume, one that includes some serious winning in 2004 for our beloved President Bush and retaining the House and the Senate majorities, as well as Elizabeth Dole’s 2002 Senate race where he served as her general strategist. He brings a level of expertise to our state party – for FREE – that we surely cannot afford to turn down.
I believe that we are at a crossroads now in Virginia politics. Some people (mostly the Main Stream Media who we don’t believe for a moment anyway) are saying that we’re turning from red into a blue state, and that we’re already purple.
I personally don’t think that is the case. I think we’re just fading a bit to pink right now. I know that we have the right philosophy, the right ideals, the right values ... just look at how well the Marriage Amendment did statewide ... but we need to fine tune our program and we need a new conductor who can make our diverse voices sing in harmony, even when singing in different keys.
One of his credits that really impressed me is that he was one of the principal drafters of the 1994 Contract with America which was responsible for returning the U.S. House of Representatives back to the Republicans after 40 years of wandering in the desert.
Hopefully it won’t take us that long to start winning at the top again, and I truly believe, after several rather lengthy conversations during which he was polite enough to let me ramble and rant and rave, I truly believe that he will help the Republican Party of Virginia develop our own winning program and start to re-connect with the voters once more.
Ed Gillespie is the right man at the right time for this job. It is not so much that we choose to elect him to this position, but we NEED to elect him to it. If President Bush believed in him enough to tap him for RNC chair, then I consider that we are extremely fortunate to have someone with his NATIONAL credentials (not to mention his top tier best friends who I bet would just LOVE to come visit him at a fundraiser or two) to be willing to move “down the ladder” to take on this new challenge and move us forward and into winning mode once again.
Please join me in supporting, in voting, and in welcoming Ed Gillespie to the Republican Party of Virginia, and together, let’s go from pink back to bright red from one end of the Commonwealth to the other.
Trixie Averill
6th District Rep
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