Gilmore Sought for RNC Chair

It is customary for a president to select, or at least concur in the RNC choice of, the party's chair, and with each new president there is usually a new committee leader.

The conservative governor, who has won considerable support of black voters in the commonwealth, sounds willing to accept, provided he could get around the current RNC requirement that the chairman must be a full-time, paid employee.

According to a report in Friday's issue of the Washington Times:

That rule conflicts with Gilmore's insistence on fulfilling his commitment to serve out his term as governor, which expires in January 2002.

It would take a simple-majority vote of the 165-member RNC at its annual meeting in January to waive that rule, and conservatives on the committee think that's do-able.

There had been some talk about Bush's chief campaign strategist, Karl Rove, becoming chairman. But he is now expected to join the White House staff, where Bush is reported to want him close at hand.

Among Gilmore supporters within the RNC there was some debate over whether he should be named the unpaid general chairman while someone else served as the elected chairman.

That would leave Gilmore as a figurehead spokesman without authority to hire and fire RNC staff and build the committee into an effective fund-raising and strategic-planning weapon for the Republicans going into the 2002 elections.

So the focus turned to waiving the rules in order to give Gilmore the undiluted authority of chairman for a year until he could come aboard full time.

Pro-Gilmore RNC members are now waiting in hope that President-elect George W. Bush will approve Gilmore to succeed Chairman Jim Nicholson, who has raised record sums for the GOP in his two consecutive two-year terms as its national chairman.

Because it is customary for a new president to offer an outgoing party chairman a suitable government post, friends of Nicholson, a Catholic and decorated Vietnam War veteran and Army Ranger, would like to see him appointed ambassador to the Vatican or secretary of the Army.

Indiana Republican Chairman Mike McDaniel, a conservative RNC member, said that "most of the national committee is waiting for directions from President-elect Bush. We're prepared to waive the rules."

That would enable Gilmore, 51, to serve out his term as governor.

Asked about that, Gilmore said Thursday that "if properly structured, I believe that it could be [done]. We'll see what the president-elect says."

"I haven't received any official word that he's the one," McDaniel said, "but Gilmore has tremendous ideas, is a good coalition-builder, a successful money-raiser, and would make an excellent spokesman. That spokesman's role has become more and more important."

Virginia Sen. John W. Warner said Gilmore's selection would be "a tribute to the tremendous success Virginia Republicans have achieved under his leadership."

Grover G. Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said that "Gilmore was my first choice for the vice president, my first choice for attorney general, and all conservatives are ecstatic at the prospect of having him lead the party.

"Some governors think if they get themselves elected, they've done the party a big favor. Gilmore got control of the state legislature for Republicans, and has been a national leader on abolishing the car tax and not taxing Internet sales.

"Unlike other governors, he spent a lot of time building the Republican Party in his state and recognizes the importance of being a party-builder."

Ron Kaufman, a Massachusetts RNC member, said, "Most important, from a party perspective, he built the party in Virginia brick by brick, precinct by precinct, into a majority.

"He's a prolific fund-raiser, a great talking head on television and exactly the kind of guy we need going into the 2002 elections."

A former RNC general counsel, David Norcross, cited Gilmore's "great track record with black voters in Virginia. If we can make inroads in that part of the Democratic coalition, it would be immeasurably valuable to us.

"I was beginning to give up hope, and I'm delighted we'll have someone who is going to keep my hope alive."