Just days after being embroiled in Virginia's first Twitter-gate scandal, the chairman of the commonwealth's Republican Party is giving up his seat in the House of Delegates -- with one catch.
He wants his wife to take his place.
On Tuesday, the Virginia GOP was trying to lure a single Democratic state senator to their side in order to split the Senate into a 20-20 tie between Democrats and Republicans, giving the Republican lieutenant governor the tie-breaking vote and the GOP control of the Senate.
Everything looked a go, but before all the "i"s were dotted and "t"s were crossed, Jeff Frederick twittered the dirty little secret so all could see, including Democrats:
Big news coming out of Senate: Apparently one dem is either switching or leaving the dem caucus. Negotiations for power sharing underway.
After seeing that, Democrats made a full-fledged charge toward said party-switcher and got him to change his mind. Crisis avoided. And shame ensued for Frederick.
The saga continued Friday morning when he sent an e-mail to his constituents saying he wouldn't seek a fourth term.
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“For me, it has always been about serving -- not power or position -- and because God has opened up other doors for me, I am glad to be of service elsewhere,“ Frederick wrote.
But while God is acting like WMATA, Frederick's own decision opened the door for his wife to take his place. She's not entirely sure she'll go for it, but already has a Web site, http://www.VoteAmy.com. Jeff Frederick's own Web site, VoteJeff.com, now redirects to a site with a big picture of his wife, as well with a message of, well, hope:
"Jeff Frederick isn't running for re-election, but maybe we can elect another Frederick to the House of Delegates. Help Jeff convince Amy to run."
InsideNoVa.com reported that Frederick’s move came less than a month after the chief fundraiser for the state GOP quit and other veteran activists have questioned his ability to prevent GOP setbacks in the November election.
