GOP chair tied to group that attacked Cantor

In Pat Mullins, Republicans hope they have chosen a new state GOP chairman who can heal the fractured party and reverse recent losses to Democrats.

But they have also elected a longtime party insider with ties to a controversial effort seven years ago to smear U.S. Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-Henrico, who has since risen through the ranks to become a key member of the GOP leadership in Congress.

Mullins was one of a handful of Republicans in early 2000 who formed the Faith and Family Alliance, a 527 political group that mailed out an anti-Cantor attack ad four days before Cantor faced Sen. Stephen H. Martin in a GOP primary to replace retiring congressman Thomas J. Bliley.

The ad attacked Cantor and his family over a business partnership’s late payment of Henrico taxes alongside the allegation: “Millionaire lawyer Eric Cantor says he wants to cut your taxes … but he didn’t pay his own. He got caught. He got fined. And he finally was forced to pay $31,527.17 in back taxes,” according to a June 18, 2000, article in The Daily Progress.

The Faith and Family Alliance was set up under the guidance of Tim Phillips, a former political adviser to GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell and president of the conservative nonprofit group Americans for Prosperity.

Under Phillips’ direction, several Republicans — including Mullins and Philip J. Cox, who now works as McDonnell’s campaign manager — formed the alliance to advocate on behalf of socially conservative candidates.

Mullins, Cox and Phillips all denied knowing about the attack ad against Cantor. Mullins quit the group the Friday after Cantor won the primary race by 264 votes. Cox had left the group in early April to manage Martin’s campaign against Cantor.

“I was furious when I found out what they were doing with that organization,” Mullins said. “As soon as I found out what they were really up to, I resigned immediately.”

Mullins said that he supported both Cantor and Martin during that primary race and was shocked when he saw that his group had attacked Cantor.

‘Not a pleasant experience’

“That was not a pleasant experience,” he said. “There were several of us led down that primrose path. Appropriate apologies were given to Eric.”

The anti-Cantor mailing was apparently sent out by the Faith and Family Alliance’s president, Robin Vanderwall of Virginia Beach. At the time, Vanderwall told The Daily Progress that he had received a $15,000 donation from a secret donor or donors to mail the attack ad to 40,000 voters in the GOP’s 7th Congressional District primary.

Vanderwall, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for soliciting sex from a minor on the Internet, told the Washington Post in 2005 that the Faith and Family Alliance was used almost exclusively to secretly finance political goals, including one organized by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The organization, Vanderwall told the Post, was used as a secret pass-through to fund Abramoff’s campaign against a ban on Internet gambling and to attack Cantor.

Vanderwall, who ran McDonnell’s 1999 campaign for the House of Delegates, told the Post that he was recruited to run the Faith and Family Alliance by Cox and Phillips. There is no evidence, the Post reported, that McDonnell had any knowledge of the organization’s work and there is no evidence that McDonnell’s campaigns have engaged in similar activities.

Phillips did not immediately return a call for comment.

Cantor, whose congressional district includes the counties of Louisa, Madison and Orange, said he harbors no grudge against Mullins and supports him as chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

“Pat is a friend who I know will energize our party and grassroots,” Cantor wrote in an e-mail. “He is a leader who will articulate the Republican principles we hold dear and will work hard to win over the hearts and minds of our fellow citizens. Pat has continually demonstrated the ability to work well with local activists, the business community and our leaders statewide. I am excited he chose to serve in this important capacity.”

Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said he remembers well the Faith and Family Alliance’s attack against Cantor.

“A despicable, underground campaign that was unquestionably anti-Semitic nearly beat Cantor in the GOP primary for U.S. House to succeed Tom Bliley in June 2000,” Sabato wrote in an e-mail. “Cantor had been heavily favored over state Sen. Steve Martin, but in the end he won by a couple hundred votes. Now the national and state GOP appears grateful for its lone Jewish House member — but the Republican base and some Christian groups almost insured his defeat. I’m amazed that Democrats and even Republicans haven’t raised this matter. Exactly who was involved? What did Mullins know and when did he know it? Mullins may be as innocent as he says, but this is a perfectly legitimate question.”

Short term

The Republicans’ central committee elected Mullins as the party’s chairman on May 2. He will serve until the party’s statewide Republican convention at the end of the month. Mullins, who is chairman of the Louisa County GOP and led the Fairfax County Republican Committee between 1990 and 1996, is one of two candidates who have filed to run for the GOP chairmanship at the convention.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the Franklin County Republican Committee, Bill Stanley, filed to run against Mullins for the chairmanship seat.

The GOP chairmanship became open after the central committee ousted Del. Jeff Frederick of Prince William County from the seat in April. Frederick’s 10 months as chairman were marked by controversy and several devastating losses for Republicans at the polls. In last year’s elections, the GOP lost one U.S. Senate seat and three U.S. House seats. The state also backed a Democrat for president for the first time since 1964.

In an e-mail to supporters on May 4, Frederick criticized the state GOP’s state central committee for placing the views of a few party insiders over the will of the grassroots rank-and-file. He urged his supporters to oppose Mullins as the party’s chairman.

“Remember, these are the same people who have led the compromising of our core principles and have overseen defeat year after year,” Frederick wrote. “If the Republican Party here in Virginia is once again to become a majority party, they are hardly the ones to be in a position to know what it will take to get us there. Nothing personal against the person they have selected, but that endorsement should be a signal to the grassroots of who not to support.”

The Democratic Party of Virginia apparently views Mullins’ history as possible ammunition to widen the divisions with the GOP.

“It looks like they’re getting the old band back together,” said Jared Leopold, spokesman of the state Democrats. “It’s no accident that Pat Mullins is the handpicked candidate to lead the Republican Party.”

Mullins, for his part, said he is focused on two priorities as the newly elected Republican chairman: raising money and expanding outreach efforts.

“I’ve got to bring the party back together,” he said.

With regards to fundraising, Mullins said, the GOP needs to work hard to keep up with the Democrats’ contributions from “every liberal group and Hollywood donors.” Unions, he pointed out, have already pumped some $500,000 into the coffers of Democrats seeking the governor’s mansion.

Reaching out

Mullins said he does not think the party needs to shift further to the right or the center, but rather needs to focus on maintaining its coalition between social conservatives and fiscal conservatives. The party, he added, also needs to reach out to ethnic voters, soccer moms, business groups and many other demographic groups.

Mullins is optimistic for his party’s chances in statewide and House of Delegates races this year, as GOP candidates enjoyed several recent victories in local races in Northern Virginia.

“We’re starting to see it happen,” he said. “When I look at what’s happening in Northern Virginia, I feel like it’s going to be great. Come November, we’ll return Virginia to the ‘red’ category.”