The GOP pick's comments 'feed the image of extremism,' Bolling said. Bolling hits 'indefensible' remarks

Virginia Lt. Gov Bill Bolling, a Republican, said Monday that the surprise GOP pick to succeed him had made “simply indefensible” comments in the past that would only serve to reinforce negative perceptions about the party.

Almost immediately after E.W. Jackson, an African-American pastor, won a stunning, fourth-ballot victory at Saturday’s Virginia GOP convention, a number of inflammatory statements he’s made about gays, race and abortion surfaced, casting a cloud over gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli and the newly minted Republican ticket.


“These kinds of comments are simply not appropriate, especially not from someone who wants to be a standard bearer for our party and hold the second highest elected office in our state,” Bolling said in a statement to POLITICO. “They feed the image of extremism, and that’s not where the Republican Party needs to be.”

( PHOTOS: Ken Cuccinelli’s career)

Cuccinelli, meanwhile, declined Monday to stand up for his ticketmate’s past comments.

“We are not going to be defending our running mates’ statements, now or in the future. The people of Virginia need to get comfortable with each candidate individually, and that’s what this process is all about,” Cuccinelli said after an event with the GOP ticket in Southwest Virginia, according to the Associated Press.

Bolling, who is in the final year of his second term as lieutenant governor and did not seek re-election Saturday, said Jackson’s victory was such a shock that Republicans were unaware of his paper trail of incendiary remarks.

“I think most people were surprised that Bishop Jackson won the Lieutenant Governor’s nomination,” Bolling said. “As a result, I don’t think a lot of people were aware of some of the things he has said. Now these things are starting to come to light, and they are very troubling. Bishop Jackson is certainly entitled to his views, but you should be able to express your views without insulting people, and some of the things he has said are simply indefensible.”

( Also on POLITICO: E.W. Jackson bemoaned black voters' 'slavish devotion' to Democrats)

A Bolling spokeswoman did not say whether the lieutenant governor believes Jackson should remain on the ticket.

Bolling had planned to run for governor this year, but was outmaneuvered by Cuccinelli, whose allies changed the nominating process from a primary to what became a conservative-dominated convention of 8,000 Virginians. Since declaring late last year that he wouldn’t seek the governorship, Bolling has been critical of the GOP and his putative rival, Cuccinelli.

But Bolling is hardly the only senior Republican recoiling over Jackson’s comparison of Planned Parenthood to the KKK and description of gays as “very sick people” who share a “direct connection” to pedophiles.

Few Virginia Republicans will criticize Jackson as sharply as Bolling is. But privately they’re bracing for whatever else is in the lieutenant governor nominee’s past and hoping he doesn’t complicate Cuccinelli’s prospects by making further inflammatory remarks.

The Virginia GOP’s de facto leader, the term-limited Gov. Bob McDonnell, implicitly reproached Jackson through a spokesman.

“The Governor believes in a Virginia that provides opportunities and respect for all,” said McDonnell’s communications director, Tucker Martin. “There will always be political and policy disagreements, which should be expressed with civility. While, as expected, the Governor may have a different opinion on a few issues than some of our candidates, he knows that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will lead a strong ticket focused on jobs, schools, taxes, government efficiency and kitchen table issues.

“This talented Republican leadership team will run a spirited and victorious campaign focused on solving problems and getting results for the citizens, just as the Attorney General has done in his current office,” McDonnell added.

In past statewide elections, Virginia gubernatorial candidates received the vast majority of attention compared to the lieutenant governor and attorney general, the other two state positions individually decided by the voters. And there have been instances when the top of the ticket won while their controversial or more ideological ticket-mates lost.

But that was before significant changes in how news is consumed and with candidates who were somewhat more vetted than Jackson, who ran in the 2012 Virginia GOP Senate primary but received little attention.

Privately, senior Republicans believe that absent a disclosure of some sort of legal wrongdoing, it’s unlikely there would be a push to remove Jackson from the ticket. What’s more likely, say party veterans, is that Cuccinelli will keep his distance from Jackson during the course of the campaign.

For Bolling, though, it’s a moment to say “I-told-you-so” to Cuccinelli and the conservatives who sidelined him.

“The convention process did what it was intended to do, it nominated the most conservative and ideologically driven candidates who were running,” said the lieutenant governor. “That’s what the leadership of the Republican Party of Virginia wanted. That’s why they opted for a convention, as opposed to a primary.

“It’s a ticket that will certainly excite the base of the Republican Party,” Bolling added. “The question is, how will it be received by the more moderate independent voters whose support you have to have to win an election? I guess we’ll get an answer to that question in November.”