Faces of 2009: Jeff Frederick

WHY YOU KNOW HIM: Frederick was ousted in April as chairman of the state GOP.

WHAT'S NEW: Frederick is sailing calmer seas these days.

The former chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia and a darling of the grass-roots conservatives promised to offer bold new leadership for the state party when he beat former Lt. Gov. John H. Hager for the post in 2008.

But his quest to shake things up didn't sit well with some party leaders who didn't like his style.

Frederick drew the national spotlight during the 2008 presidential campaign when he told a group of campaign volunteers preparing to knock on doors that then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden "both have friends that bombed the Pentagon. That is scary."

The 2008 Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, repudiated the comment, and Bob McDonnell, now governor-elect, called the remarks "highly inappropriate and wrong."

Frederick said he was repeating a joke that he heard on talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh's show.

While the national spotlight withered, the pressure continued to build at home. The chief fundraiser for the state Republican Party quit, branding the GOP "dysfunctional." And in 2008, Virginia Republicans lost a U.S. Senate race, Democrats took a majority in the state's U.S. House delegation and Obama became the first Democratic presidential nominee in 44 years to carry the state.

In April of this year, despite having support from grass roots conservatives, the state party ousted Frederick.

Frederick gave up his seat in the House of Delegates -- a pledge he made if elected RPV chairman. His district went to a Democrat this fall.

Reached between stops in St. Martin and St. Barts, Frederick said he's enjoying new-found free time.

Professionally, he said he is "exploring a number of adventures." He runs an IT and communications company, has dabbled in some advocacy and consulting work on the federal level and started some real estate ventures.

Personally, he and his wife, Amy, and their two young children, Gracie and Isabel, are moving into a new house, and he's relishing time to do things he missed -- such as sailing around the Caribbean.

-- Olympia Meola