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Posted on 01/22/2011 10:37:11 PM PST by llevrok
Former radio talk show host Kirby Wilbur is the new chairman of the Washington State Republican Party.
Members of the party’s state committee and the party’s county chairmen elected Wilbur at a meeting in Tukwila today, effectively unseating former Chairman Luke Esser.
Wilbur collected 69 votes, while Esser, who had led the party since January 2007, received 36, said Peter Graves, the party’s political director. Bill Rennie of Puyallup received seven votes.
“The state party spoke today and said they want a new direction for the state party. They said they appreciated Luke Esser’s service,” Graves said in an interview. But “in order to take back majorities in the Legislature and take back a majority of congressional seats, the state party needed a new leader to come in and bring the Republican Party to that level,” he added.
Calling Esser his friend, Wilbur said he appreciated Esser’s years of service to the party.
“This should not be seen as a personal repudiation of Luke, but simply a change of direction to further build on his accomplishments of the past four years,” Wilbur said in a news release from the state Republican party.
Esser, a former state legislator, could not be reached for comment this evening.
Wilbur, 57, a longtime host on KVI radio, most recently served as director of Americans for Prosperity Washington, a state chapter of a national conservative group founded by former George W. Bush aide Karl Rove. Wilbur said earlier he was resigning as director of the state group.
The News Tribune has reported that there is a pending state Public Disclosure Commission investigation into complaints that Americans for Prosperity Washington may have violated state disclosure law. Wilbur told News Tribune columnist Peter Callaghan this month that the group’s disclosure filings from the November general election may have been late and inadequate.
Wilbur said he will work to improve the party’s message and mechanics.
“The last election clearly showed us that Washington voters share our outlook on taxes, economic growth and fiscal responsibility,” he said in the release. “I look forward to working closely with both our great elected officials and our talented grassroots activists to make ours a majority party and put this state on the road to recovery.”
Wilbur has served in a variety of party roles, including precinct committee officer, district leader, Young Republican chairman, county and state convention chairman and delegate to state and national GOP conventions. He noted that he met his wife, Trina, at a Youth for Reagan event. The couple live in Duvall and have two adult children.
He also has appeared on Fox News, CSPAN, Fox Business Channel and network news, and received awards from family, law enforcement, charitable and political organizations, including The Fund for American Studies, Young America’s Foundation and Families Northwest, the GOP news release said.
Washington State Democrats are slated to choose their party leader next Saturday in Olympia.
WA state ping (Kirby Wilbur update)
A great decision! Kirby deserves this position~!
Fascinating. I met Kirby at one of the conferences in DC (CPAC?)
There is hope yet for Washington State!! Kirby is a fabulous choice!! Go Kirby!
Thanks to llevrok for the ping.
Say WA? Evergreen State ping
Quick link: WA State Board
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I have never had greater hope for WA state. So pleased that Kirby’s victory.
The Tea Party effectively has assumed control of the Washington State Republican Party. I don’t know if this is good, bad or indifferent. The Teapartiers in my county are all elderly malcontents that left the Republican party in the past couple of years. They were lazy, mean spirited individuals that tried to block any attempt at progress.
I for one, don’t have much faith in Kirby being able to lead this party anywhere except to Dick’s Drive-in for lunch. I hope I’m wrong, but Kirby is a knee jerk reactionary and did not exhibit much vision when he was a radio personality. Additionally, I was a delegate to the GOP Convention last year and witnessed Kirby in action as the Convention Chairman...he did a terrible job. Unlike previous years when Kirby ran the conventions, this last one Kirby seemed to be in over his head. We didn’t get to all the agenda items because Kirby allowed the convention to time out!
I have even less faith in the complexion of the new X-Board. Time will tell.
I've heard of a foundation or non-profit he is running, but I've never heard of what it does or if there are any accomplishments to date.
Running a state party must be a terribly hard job. Maybe energy is a prerequisite, he seems to have a good share of that.
Does anyone know if Kirby is willing to expose the corruption by Gregoire and the in the state Supreme Court?
I’ve got the proof.
Does anyone know if Kirby is willing to expose the corruption by Gregoire and the in the state Supreme Court?
I’ve got the proof.
I didn’t even think we had a Republican party here any more. The one in my county went belly-up a few years back due to lack of interest.
contact Kirby.
Whenever God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window....
With all due respect....
The problems with timing State conventions stem from several things: 1) delegates who are new to the process and have not read nor care to abide by Robert’s Rules of Order, 2) the lack of advance notice with time to offer alternatives to platform planks besides bringing them up as issues in a protracted floor fight (the platform committee has representation from ALL walks of Republican life and if you want up front input, just volunteer for it or go and observe), and 3) the plethora of “resolutions” that come up at the last minute and threaten to delay the timely close of the meetings to the point where folks just get up and walk out.
It is not good policy to send delegates to a convention who have no idea what is is or how to behave so that the business is conducted in a smooth and timely manner.
Kirby is from the 45th District (ours) and he runs a tight ship. He gets the main business done in a timely and orderly fashion. Conventions are not fora for airing the party’s dirty laundry - that should be reserved for PCO meetings and board meetings, which incidentally, are all OPEN.
So, before criticizing Kirby Wilbur, try doing his job.
Don’t want his job...still valid criticisms since Kirby was nominated because it was thought he could advance the agenda. Time will tell.
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