Bush Picks Virginia Governor RNC Chief, Sources Say

President-elect George W. Bush has picked Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore, a tough-minded, tax-cutting conservative with a talent for raising money, to become the chairman of the Republican National Committee, according to party sources.

The announcement will be made today in Austin, Texas, sources in Richmond said. Gilmore’s selection must be ratified by the RNC next month.

In the Virginia governor, Bush has chosen a firm partisan who spent much of the last year speaking for the GOP presidential ticket and will have no difficulty leading the charge in support of a major tax reduction, one of the new administration’s priorities.

Perhaps most important, Gilmore, 51, who was recently elected chairman of the Republican Governors Assn., has direct knowledge of what is likely to be the key political battleground of 2001 and 2002: the nation’s statehouses and governor’s mansions.

Although Gilmore’s hectic out-of-state schedule during the national campaign raised eyebrows among even some of his allies, aides say he will be able to handle both his chairmanship duties and his state job in Richmond, a short plane flight away. Moreover, sources said, Bush’s longtime political advisor Karl Rove will be providing strategic direction for the party from the White House.

But Lawrence H. Framme III, the new co-chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, said the RNC job is sure to distract Gilmore. “It’s just going to be another year of the governor not being here to solve the fiscal crisis facing the commonwealth,” Framme said. “He’s been spending the past six months on the road for Bush, and now he’s going to be spending the next year campaigning around the country.”

Gilmore had made no secret of his desire for the RNC post, which he set his sights on in earnest in mid-November, after announcing that he would definitely serve out the final year as governor. Under Virginia law, Gilmore may not succeed himself as governor.

GOP sources said the RNC will waive the normal requirement that the party chairman serve full time. Much of the day-to-day work of the RNC can be, and is, done by the paid staff.

As RNC chairman, Gilmore’s major adversary on television talk shows and other forums will be his counterpart at the Democratic National Committee, where fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe, a close friend of President Clinton, is expected to take over.

Gilmore will succeed retiring chairman Jim Nicholson, who will leave the post after two two-year terms with the RNC, which is now in far better financial condition than when Nicholson took over.

“We are in exceptional shape,” said RNC chief of staff Tom Cole. He said that the committee has more than $15 million in the bank, compared with an $11-million debt four years ago, a voter list with 165 million names, a one-year fund-raising record of $250 million in 2000, an e-mail list that has grown from 17,000 names to 1 million in the last year and 440,000 new donors.

Gilmore would bring to the job strong credentials in the conservative wing of the GOP, which Bush has been trying to appease after complaints from the right about some of his appointments.

Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, said Gilmore “is a party-building governor, and there are too few of them. This is a guy who finally got us both houses of the [Virginia] Legislature [in 1999]. He’s perfect as a choice.”

A state executive who prizes loyalty, Gilmore had crisscrossed the country during the campaign as one of three co-chairmen of Bush’s Victory 2000 organizing effort, as well as in his post as chairman of the Republican Governors Assn.

Party sources said Gilmore will have to give up his association post, which will likely go to Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas J. Ridge.