Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

VMI Alumni PAC Endorses GOP Ticket

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by

James A. Bacon
in ,

by James A. Bacon

The Spirit of VMI Political Action Committee (SoVP), formed by Virginia Military Institute alumni in response to the Governor Ralph Northam-ordered VMI racism investigation, has endorsed the Republican slate of candidates for statewide office — Glenn Youngkin for Governor, Winsome Sears for Lieutenant Governor, and Jason Miyares for Attorney General.

In making endorsements, VMI alumni have taken a different tack from dissident alumni at the University of Virginia and Washington & Lee University. The “woke” revolution transforming higher education across the country is being forced upon VMI from the outside, in contrast to the implementation of Critical Race Theory (cultural Marxism, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, or whatever you want to call it) which originates internally at other institutions. Neither the Jefferson Council at UVa nor the Generals’ Redoubt at W&L have engaged in electoral politics.

Although alumni activists at VMI express differences with the military academy’s administration and Board of Visitors, they do not regard VMI leadership as the enemy. They acknowledge that Superintendent Cedric Wins and the Board of Visitors are under intense pressure from Northam and Democratic legislators, who control the public purse strings, and the Washington Post, which has published an unrelenting barrage of negative articles, to fall in line with other public universities in adopting a social-justice agenda.

VMI relies upon state support for roughly one-fifth of its operating budget, not to mention financial aid for students and bonding capacity for major capital improvements. State politicians have the power to cripple the Institute financially.

Members of the Class of 1985 banded together to form the PAC, and they have been reaching out to other alumni who are appalled by the racism investigation. The Barnes & Thornburg report relies upon anecdotal stories and cherry-picked data to portray the Institute as racist and sexist. Far from being racist, say Spirit of VMI PAC leaders, VMI’s adversarial “rat line” and military training are a leveling force. The grueling experience makes racial, ethnic and class differences trivial by comparison.

The Spirit of VMI PAC is non-partisan, willing to support candidates of either party who express support for their goals. However, only Republican candidates for statewide office responded to interview requests. All were supportive of VMI. Said Youngkin: “As governor, I want everyone to know that I will support VMI and that it continues in the great tradition that we have already experienced.”

Readers can access links to videos of candidate interviews here.

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14 responses to “VMI Alumni PAC Endorses GOP Ticket”

  1. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    re: ” Said Youngkin: “As governor, I want everyone to know that I will support VMI and that it continues in the great tradition that we have already experienced.”

    wow! that should secure their support for sure?

    Who said Youngkin was not a politician? 😉

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      He talks alot but he don’t say nuthin’. Definitely a Republican.

  2. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Well, if they weren’t racists before…

  3. UltraModerate Avatar
    UltraModerate

    Way to virtue-signal for us, RINO. Everyone I know is writing in Amanda Chase. The GOP establishment can’t just pick this no-name in some secret meeting and then think we’re gonna vote for him. We want a REAL conservative.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      uh oh

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        No, Larry. That’s good. Youngkin has declared war on reproductive rights, and the more fractured their party, the better.

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          wait… that does not sound like snark or is it? 😉 Yep, Youngkin is threading that line trying to keep the base and still attract votes from further left. I thought he could have issued a statement aligning more with the VMI “defenders” but perhaps at this point, he’s still formulating his path and just issuing pablum statements.

  4. M. Purdy Avatar
    M. Purdy

    “The Spirit of VMI PAC is non-partisan…” It’s rhetoric, mission, and membership speak otherwise.

    1. owen dunlap Avatar
      owen dunlap

      Mike – im a member –60 year old and 40 years of voting as a democrat and not once for any republican when faced with the choices in front of me at the ballot – ( although i have recently changed my registration to independent) and — so maybe im an outlier in that regard but my guess is the PAC membership is a lot more varied that you think.

      its mission – to support the core values of the ratline/honor code /class systems and to support candidates willing to recognize the value VMI provides the state for the funding it gets.

      saddened by the information that not one democratic democratic candidate agreed to an interview prior to any endorsements

      1. M. Purdy Avatar
        M. Purdy

        Owen, the leadership, donor lists, and vocal membership are Trump supporters, Republican donors and Northam detractors. Their rhetoric is anti-Northam and rejects the experience of numerous minority and women cadets/alums. And their stated mission of protecting VMI’s core systems belies baseline anger and a sense of victimization. I can prove that b/c the B&T report *did not recommend* getting rid of, or even making major changes to, those very systems. And yet here we are. Why would a Democrat ever agree to be interviewed by such a blatantly partisan PAC?

        1. LarrytheG Avatar
          LarrytheG

          and why would such a group promote themselves as “non-partisan” – seems to be the thing nowdays.

        2. owen dunlap Avatar
          owen dunlap

          Mike – thanks for the reply / the PAC was formed well before the final report was issued and any recommendations were unknown at that time and still remain just recommendations from a law firm and not government actions or funding (and really who cares about a long detailed and nuanced and in some places positive to VMI report when WaPo headlines / facebook and twitter rule the day in the court of public opinion ) I 100% agree that the rhetoric is anti-Northam and angry and if you compare the letter Gov Northam signed when the investigation was launched .vs. the final report i don’t see where that anger is not justified. Im not sure if this anger is ever going to go away for many without some statement by the Northam that maybe calling for an investigation and convicting the VMI system and its alumni as guilty in the same letter maybe was the wrong way to go.

          Based on the comments from Gov Northam , and the legislative leadership and black caucus after the report was issued – it is clear to me that they reserve the right to use funding to get directly involved in every detail of VMI and direct the VMI BOV to rubber stamp as they see fit .

          1. M. Purdy Avatar
            M. Purdy

            Thanks, Owen. I’m aware that the PAC was formed before the final report. But its stated mission is to defend the honor code, regimental system, class system, ratline, etc. The report recommended keeping all of those systems, in some cases praising aspects of those systems, while making some structural improvements. Why then is the PAC still engaging in angry rhetoric, attacking the report, the recommendations, the Gov. and the BOV? It’s just directed anger untethered from the stated mission. As you say, you’re just angry at the gov.’s rhetoric. (I would argue that he was ultimately correct–the B&T report found institutional racism and sexism.)

            And what happens if Dems win in Nov. now that you’ve made your endorsement? What’s to stop them taking it out on VMI due in part to a now partisan attempt to stop any change, which uses the name “VMI”? And is the PAC now going to take issue with the Wapo’s latest story detailing sexual assault and rape? Are these fabricated stories and statistics? Are you going to fight any changes to improve sex assault reporting as unnecessary? From the outside, everything about this PAC seems off-base, unwise, and a bunch of old angry dudes upset at the world.

          2. owen dunlap Avatar
            owen dunlap

            Mike – regarding the WaPo story of some womens experience at VMI , I have written the PAC and asked for them to come out in full support of the statements by Gen Wins and the VMI AA. On that issue there should be no daylight at all between any parties. I do hate that some of the harassment on both racial and sexual issues has come via anonymous phone app chat and while i understand that VMI can not just run over 1st ammendment rights – i do hope they can come up with some way to educate the corp on that is fine to have speech – but that the best speech is with full ownership of it and not behind a screen name. That being said – the goal of all schools should be zero but it is just not just VMI that has sexual issues to address. Overall — big picture – since VMI went coed – it has gone better than i predicted at the time knowing the culture and mixing alcohol and young men and such few women. I think VMI has met the challenge since then well with a few missteps and more work to do.

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