Is Senate Candidate Jaime Radtke Just Status Quo?

As some may know this is an election year in Virginia, our entire legislature is up for grabs. The House of Delegates is expected to stay in the hands of the republicans, so many republicans are working very hard to turn our senate red. You may also know that I am doing work for the Tito Munoz, senate candidate in the VA 36. This is a contested seat for the republican nomination. Tito is facing off against former delegate and state GOP chair Jeff Frederick. I don't think that it is any secret that I am hoping that Tito wins the nomination and goes on to beat Toddy Puller in November.


We also will have an open federal senate seat next year as Senator Webb has announced he will not be seeking re-election. The GOP candidates are Senator George Allen who lost his seat to Webb five years ago and Jaime Radtke. Jaime is a former employee of Mr. Allen, so it is going to be an interesting race. But Jaime isn't just a former employee of George Allen, she was also the head of the Virginia Tea Party Association. Virginia was the first state to hold a state Tea Party Convention, it is said to be one of the most organized in the country. Jamie is a big reason that is true. She was very committed and worked for basically nothing to get our commonwealth organized. The Tea Party Convention was a great success and had some very big names that came and spoke, Herman Cain, John Fund, and Dick Morris to name just a few. I attended and enjoyed myself throughly. I have a great deal of respect for what Jaime was able to accomplish.


But, back to the state senate race...........As in most races the candidates receive endorsements. Tito was endorsed by George Allen. Jaime then endorsed Jeff Frederick. There are some things about Jeff Frederick that are quite troubling.


Frederick is a former delegate that has no real record of getting any major piece of legislation through. Frederick is also the former GOP Chair of Virginia. A position he was forced to resign from. Now, the stories vary depending on who you talk to of why he was forced to resign. One side of the story is that the "GOP establishment" in Virginia wanted to get rid of him and forced him out. This establishment includes now Governor Bob McDonnell. McDonnell was the Attorney General at the time and it was already well-known he would be running for Governor the following year. The other side of the story is that Jeff used a company that he had a financial stake in to do work. Another words, he profited from using this company. No formal charges were ever brought, the affair was dropped after he resigned. I can't get into Gov. McDonnell's head so I have no way of knowing if he truly wanted Jeff to leave or not. It wouldn't be unheard of, it could very well be true. The problem is that Jeff not only gave him the guns and the bullets, he put a target on himself and walked 20 paces. Jeff was GOP Chair when John McCain was running for president. Jeff made no secret of the fact that he didn't like McCain all that much. In the September before the campaign while I was out knocking on doors and making phones on a nightly basis, Jeff took a family vacation. His job was to get the base excited. If he felt he couldn't do his job to the best of his ability because he didn't like the candidate he should have resigned then. Not do a half-hearted attempt.


We can also move onto the small business that Mr. Frederick owns. He has been classifying himself under the 8(a) disadvantaged minority status. With this status he has been able to get set aside contracts from the federal government that many small business owners were never allowed to bid on. Frederick has denied using his status to get these contracts, but his website lists the following agencies that he has worked with:


Patent & Trademark Office IPA Blanket Purchase Agreement #45PTO254900


NECO (Navy Electronic Commerce Online) Registered


Department of Commerce COMMITS Contract No. 50-CMAA-9-00042.


GSA: IT Professional Services GSA Contract No. GS-35F-0558P


GSA: PES (Professional Engineering Services) GSA Contract No. GS-23F-0234L


GSA: MOBIS GSA Contract No. GS-10F-0262K


Frederick is the former GOP Chair in Virginia, he is a former state delegate, and he owns a nice home (I was there once for a fundraiser). I don't want to sound insensitive here, but his last name is Frederick, he speaks with no accent, and he looks like a middle-aged white guy. Many people wouldn't know that he was Hispanic by that. How exactly is this man disadvantaged?


All of this information is readily and easily available and it is all true. This isn't a smear campaign towards Mr. Frederick. This is about the principles that Ms. Radtke says she stands for. Mr. Frederick is running as the "anti-establishiment candidate" all the while taking the very establishment like advantages to further enrich himself.


Ms. Radtke says she wants to change the way Washington works. Isn't it a Tea Party principle is get rid of the federal government choosing winners and losers based on minority status? Or am I mistaken? If that is the case, why would she back a candidate such as Mr. Frederick? I contacted the Radtke campaign several times to get a simple answer of why she choose to endorse Mr. Frederick. I never heard back. I guess I am just some lowly blogger, so who cares. But I am also a voter. Not only am I voter, I am a primary voter too.


Again, this post isn't about Jeff Frederick, this post is about Jaime Radtke. Radtke waited until after George Allen came out and endorsed Tito to make any statement about the race. Once he did, she jumped on the Jeff Frederick bandwagon. The question I am left to ask is this just business as usual?