Four years ago, Valerie Gaydos was ubiquitous at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference (PLC) in Harrisburg as a supporter of John Kasich.
Now, Gaydos is a Republican state representative and very disappointed in her onetime hero's recent endorsement of Democrat Joe Biden over President Donald Trump.
"When politicians leave office and then change their stripes, you right away think it's for expediency and ask 'who are his clients?'" she told Newsmax at the 2020 PLC this weekend.
Angel investor Gaydos, a vigorous backer of start-up companies and the first woman president of the Pennsylvania Angel Network, contrasted her own attitude with that of her onetime political hero Kasich.
"My line of thinking is more that I choose to try to fix things rather than run away," she told us.
Gaydos added "the truth is, if we keep or elect good people doing good things and accomplishing them at lower levels of office like the state House or state senate, town council or school board, we will see better people higher up."
As for the problem Kasich and former Pennsylvania GOP Gov. Tom Ridge have with the top of ticket, Gaydos said "perhaps it makes more sense to vote the top of the ticket based on the bottom of the ticket, and not the other way around."
Regarding Kasich's support of Biden and appearance at the Democratic National Convention this year, she simply said: "I'm really not sure what Kasich thought he'd achieve by doing what he did."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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