GOP Blames Losses on Party Strife

By Sandhya Somashekhar (Contact)

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Loudoun Republicans this week condemned the bitter infighting they said was responsible for their losses in last month’s local and statewide elections and called for greater party unity as voters prepare to select a new president and members of Congress next year.

At a Loudoun County Republican Committee meeting Monday night, they lamented the turnover of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors and the state Senate to Democratic control, which they blamed in part on a change in demographics and a national anti-GOP mood.

But they aimed most of their anger at fellow Republicans whom they said had fostered divisions within the party and in some cases campaigned against the party’s nominees.

“A party should be a place where people are free to express their opinions. But at the end of the day, when a decision is made, we all march out in unity, ” said Roger Zurn, the county’s treasurer and a longtime GOP committee member. “That’s ultimately what this party should be.”

It was the first meeting of the committee since the Nov. 6 election, when voters ousted four of the six Republicans on the Board of Supervisors in favor of Democrats. Two candidates who lost the GOP nomination at a June convention, Sheriff Steve Simpson and Broad Run supervisor candidate Jack Ryan, decided to run as independents in the general election.

Zurn and others urged the dozens of committee members at Monday’s meeting to put aside their differences in order to ensure victory for Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R) and the GOP nominees for president and U.S. Senate next year.

Also Monday night, Paul Protic, chairman of the Loudoun GOP, said he will not seek the office again in March, when the committee is scheduled to elect a chairman to a two-year term.

Critics have accused Protic, who works for Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), of being intolerant of moderate views. But he took a conciliatory tone and congratulated the Republican victors in the Nov. 6 election.

“The people of Loudoun have spoken,” he said. “We had some wins, we had some losses. And though we may not like all the results, we go on from here knowing we gave it our all and the good Lord has other plans for some of us.”

Protic said he was taking a break to focus on his family but expected to return to local politics.

The problems in Loudoun’s GOP mirror the challenges faced by the Virginia GOP. Statewide, the party has been divided between a deeply conservative faction and a moderate wing, both of which say their approach will carry the party to victory in the future.

In Loudoun, however, that division is compounded by the debate over growth and development.

Many Loudoun Republicans, including five of the six Republicans on the current Board of Supervisors, are pro-growth, favoring the rights of individual property owners and rejecting strict government land-use controls. But an increasingly vocal group within the party, including Supervisor Lori L. Waters (R-Broad Run), says unrestrained development spurs higher taxes as the government struggles to provide schools and amenities for the new residents.

The issue appears to have resonated with voters because of frustration over crowded schools, congested roadways and mounting taxes. Slow-growth candidates, including independents and members of both major parties, captured eight of the nine board seats.

Some speakers at Monday’s meeting said the Loudoun Republican Party needs to shed its pro-growth image and return to the GOP’s core ideals of small government, low taxes and conservative values.

“I don’t believe the last election was a repudiation of the traditional Republican values,” said Matt Letourneau, a committee member who lives in Ashburn. “The perception, whether it’s accurate or not, is that Republicans stand for growth. . . . I think that’s why we saw the results that we did.”

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