THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260318
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
James Quash Jr., new chairman of the Portsmouth Republican Party, is the first African American to hold that position in modern times.
``He may be the first black ever to chair a city committee in all of Virginia,'' State Republican Executive Director Dave Johnson said. ``We've been going back through the records we have and we haven't found any others.''
Quash was elected by acclamation to succeed Caroline Barnes at a mass meeting of the Portsmouth Republicans on Saturday in the City Council chambers.
``I am very pleased that he has taken the chair,'' Barnes said. ``I think he will be good for the party and good for Portsmouth.''
Quash, 43, is an import-export officer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Norfolk.
Formerly a somewhat liberal Independent, Quash said he became active in the Republican Party about two or three years ago.
``I'm a black conservative, and I make no apologies about it,'' he said Monday. ``A lot of people won't like what I have to say.''
Quash explained his reason for his political activity this way: ``I am of the opinion that the policies of the Democratic Party are emotionally driven and intellectually flawed.''
``My politics used to be emotional; now they're intellectual,'' he said. ``I tell people they can't win an emotional argument with me. I say show me in facts and figures.''
In an acceptance speech Saturday, he said he would ``lead and proclaim conservative issues in Portsmouth into the 21st century.''
``Look out, Portsmouth, the elephants are coming,'' he said.
Quash's humor may be explained best by the message on his home telephone: ``Sorry, we can't answer the telephone now because we are watching the Rush Limbaugh television show.''
He signs off on the recorded message: ``Have a ditto day.''
But, he said, he takes Limbaugh to heart ``when his humor stops and he starts being serious.''
The new Republican chairman here said people ``need to look at their communities.''
``The first thing we need to do is fall on our knees and return to our spirituality,'' he said. ``When we return to values, everything else falls into place.''
His agenda for the Republican Party, he said, would include ``return to family values, economics, good education and respect for the Constitution.''
Quash, son of an Army officer, grew up in Doswell and went to public schools in Richmond. He is proud of his name.
``My people came from Ghana, and Quash is an African name, which they were able to keep all through slavery,'' he said. ``Quash means born on Sunday.''
A resident of Portsmouth's Cavalier Manor since he was transferred to Hampton Roads from Charleston, S.C., in 1992, Quash has degrees in science from Fisk and Virginia State universities and once taught school. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
James Quash Jr.
by CNB