The National Committeeman of Georgia and our former two-time chairman's name is:

ALEC POITEVINT

If as you say he is the "Governor's pick" to succeed our current chairman Ralph Reed then I guess you might as well get his name right.

Mr. Poitevint has worked tirelessly over the years for the GOP at all levels. At our recent Presidents' Day celebration our newly elected Republican governor Sonny Perdue graciously acknowledged the importance of Mr. Poitevint to his campaign. The election of a governor by the GOP was the culmination of hard work by many people at many levels over many years. However, while many fervently hoped for Sonny's victory and worked long and hard for it, it was Alec who truly believed not in the possibility of but the impending reality of Sonny's victory and set out to do everything humanly possible to make it happen. As I often have remarked, "He left no stone and no wallet unturned."

Since Ralph has announced that he is not running for reelection I can think of no one any better suited to be the GOP chairman in Georgia than a two time former chairman who also has long term experience as the Treasurer of the RNC and also significant experience in conventions on a national level. Alec was doing grassroots work when as they say "it wasn't cool." If, in fact, Governor Perdue's choice for the next chairman is Alec Poitevint then the Governor is not only lucky but really smart. Where else could we find anyone with Alec Poitevint's experience willing to take on such a thankless job at such an important juncture in time?

And about the convention. It is very important [to attend]. This is a chance for all of us to get together and organize for the 2004 campaigns. We can and will take back Paul Coverdell's senate seat if we put our collective minds and hard work to the task. I can think of nothing better to honor the memory of Senator Coverdell.

We also have our congressional delegation to reelect not to mention the President. The last thing in the world this country needs is another 1992. We must do our part to prevent that.

It can't help George Bush if we are in disarray. Experience is now crucial. From a political standpoint we are from the school of hard knocks. No one gave Georgia Republicans anything. We have fought long and hard for every single seat we've held.

And along those lines we can still set our sights on the Georgia State House. "Speaker Westmoreland" sounds really good to me. It can happen. We can make it happen.

During Ralph Reed's tenure many good things have happened. We should celebrate all the victories at our convention. It would be a grave dishonor to Ralph to do otherwise.

BJ Lopez
Clayton County, Georgia

PV Note: At no time did we indicate, or intend to indicate, that we disagreed with the idea of Alec Poitevint to resume the leadership helm of the State Republican Party.

In fact, we enthusiastically support Alec as the choice for state chairman because it was during his tenure that this state party previously made gains in winning elections during times of Democrat rule in this country and state.