Chairman of state Republican Party resigns
Kirby Wilbur (Photo: Wikipedia.org)
BELLEVUE -- Kirby Wilbur resigned Monday as chairman of the state Republican Party to take a job with a conservative youth organization in Washington, D.C.
“I am resigning as the chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, effective today at 5 p.m," he said in a news release earlier Monday. "I have been offered a five-year contract with the Young America’s Foundation that I would be foolish not to accept.
"I will be moving to the 'other' Washington within the next couple of months to write this next chapter of my life.
“It has been an honor to serve as chairman of the WSRP since January 2011. We have had many successes and I have had some failures. The party has a good crop of up-and-coming leaders, and a strong staff, and it will continue to move forward no matter whose hand is on the helm.”
Young America’s Foundation, founded in 1969 at Vanderbilt University, is a conservative youth organization with a focus on sharing conservative ideas with students through conferences, campus lectures and activism initiatives.
Wilbur was elected state party chariman in January 2011. He was reelected to a second term in January 2013.
Luanne VanWerven, the vice chairwoman of the state Republican Party, will serve as interim chairwoman of the party. According to party's bylaws, the election of a permanent chair must take place within 90 days.