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Interview: RedState CEO Erick-Woods Erickson

Last fall, Erick-Woods Erickson left his job as a lawyer in Georgia to become a full-time blogger for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association here in Washington. While commuting from Georgia, Erickson launched NRECA's blog, Amped Up, within a few weeks and kept it going until late last month.

Beltway Blogroll recently quizzed Erickson by e-mail about his brief tenure at NRECA, the future for the blog he created there, and the future he has planned for RedState. Here is a transcript of that interview:

BB: Tell me about your tenure at NRECA and its new blog, Amped Up. What is the mission of the blog, and how is it working out for the trade group, in light of your last post on June 28?

EE: NRECA was a great place to work and they're really blessed having a forward-thinking CEO. The people are committed to the mission of co-ops. Amped Up is designed as an outreach project to educate consumers about energy and the role cooperatives play in meeting America's energy needs.

BB: In that post, you mentioned "things that worked and things that did not work for us as an organization." Can you elaborate on the lessons you learned in that trial-and-error period?

EE: It was really fascinating, having come from the world of political blogging. Gaining trust and building bridges was essential to get posts moving rapidly. The need for speed in blogging is crucial, and learning who can deliver a credible, quick response to a question or sign off on a post is vital.

BB: Is there a timeline on when the new blog will be back? Will you be working on it as a consultant, or will NRECA have another full-time blogger?

EE: I don't know where NRECA will go with the blog, but I encouraged them to continue it. It is a worthwhile project, and I think the lessons we learned will help it go forward.

BB: Why did you decide to leave NRECA after such a short time working on the blog? Will you be staying in Washington?

EE:There were a couple of reasons. First, my training is as a lawyer, and I believe in giving honest, candid advice. My advice was that there were better people in the organization than me who knew more about the organization and industry who would be great at blogging. Combine that with my wife's reluctance to want to move full time to Washington and it was a natural decision.

I did not want to harm a worthy project. For the past eight months, I've been commuting from Georgia every week. To keep the project going, someone needs to be in Washington full time, and I wasn't going to subject my family to a move they had become reluctant to make.

BB: Tell me about the transition at RedState. What changes have been made in the leadership there? Who was the CEO, and why did the directors decide to make a change?

EE: Things have really fallen into place at RedState in a timely manner. Since we started RedState.com, Clayton Wagar served as CEO, and I served as [chief financial officer]. It has become apparent that RedState has strong growth potential, but we need someone to shepherd the site full time to realize our full potential.

When it became apparent that I'd be leaving NRECA, we decided it would be a good time to move forward with what we were thinking. Clayton and I reversed roles. He'll keep the books and manage the behind-the-scenes technology, and I'll shepherd the blogging and outreach.

BB: Tell me about your dual roles as CEO of RedState and managing editor of RedState.com. I'm the managing editor at Technology Daily, so I see that as a journalistic title. Are you going to be taking the site in that direction, trying to polish it as a more organized forum for citizen media?

EE: For liability purposes, RedState incorporated. Corporations have to have, at least in Georgia, a CEO, secretary and CFO. I'm the first two. Clayton is the latter.

For day-to-day purposes, it's being managing editor that will have the most impact. While at NRECA, I could not write politically. That meant that when I had free time to help out at RedState, when the front page was stagnant, I was not able to help. Now, in addition to providing posts, I'll be able to concentrate on the massive volume of e-mail we get, promoting diaries, etc.

I also want to get out into the country and cover the swing districts, the man on the street, etc. There is a lot of news out there I'd like to provide at RedState. Likewise, as we move closer to our redesign launch, growing the RedState community is vitally important. We offer a great product, and we have a great community. I want to get the readers more involved in what we do and how we do it.

BB: What are your plans for the site this election season and beyond? Are you aiming to make RedState part of a "GOProots" equivalent to the netroots?

EE: I think RedState is already positioned as the right's netroots equivalent. We've been in a state of transition between are we conservative or Republican. My personal rule is conservative first, then Republican.

I don't think we are out to pick fights against incumbents in primaries only to see ourselves shot in the foot like the left (see e.g., Joe Lieberman [D-Conn.]), but I do want to support conservatives in open primaries and Republicans in the general election. As a blog, we have a lot of flexibility.

BB: What are your thoughts on the restructuring to that end at Townhall.com? Will RedState and Townhall compete or perhaps coordinate their activities in some way?

EE: I think Townhall has a lot in common now with RedState. I think we could certainly be viewed as competitors, but blogs are collaberative and helpful to each other even when competing. I think the world of Hugh Hewitt and Mary Katharine Ham, and hope we can all work together to advance the conservative agenda.

At the end of the day, the ideas matter more that the people and the forum. For conservative activists, I think RedState is a natural home and growing community.

Posted by Danny | 08:43 AM

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