Frederick assembles legal team

The embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, Del. Jeff Frederick, R-Prince William, has hired two lawyers in the fight to keep his job with the state GOP.

Those attorneys, Bill Stanley and Allen "A.J." Dudley Jr. of Franklin County, will represent Frederick during an April 4 meeting of the state party's governing committee at which a vote on the chairman's fate is expected.

Elected last May to lead the state party, Frederick has come under fire for Republican election losses last November and some impolitic public statements.

The simmering frutstrations came to a head last month when party officials presented Frederick with a signed petition as part of a campaign to remove him.

Frederick has resisted calls for his resignation -- former Attorney General and presumptive GOP gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell is among the prominent Virginia Republicans who have publicly said the chairman should leave.

Both of Frederick's attorneys are longtime state Republican activists. Stanley is perhaps best known as one of the lawyers who represented Paula Jones in a lawsuit against then Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. Dudley is the son of former state Del. Allen Dudley, R-Franklin.

Dudley declined to say how he and Stanley are being compensated for their work, but confirmed that state party funds are not being used to pay the tab.

"A fair and speedy resolution is in the best interest of everyone involved," he said during a brief telephone interview.

To dump Frederick, at least 58 of the 77 members of the state's governing body must vote him out of office at Saturday's meeting.

-- Julian Walker

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