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Robert Hurt Denies Reality on Electricity Rates:

ApCo Has Successfully Raised Rates Seven Times Under 2007 Statute Supported by Hurt
 

September 1, 2010—Ivy, VA—Despite his clear vote for legislation that has authorized seven electricity rate hikes in the past three years, Senator Robert Hurt today falsely denied any responsibility for the raised rates.

Yesterday at a roundtable discussion in Campbell County, Congressman Tom Perriello made clear that Robert Hurt’s vote in 2007 for an electric utilities bill has hurt consumers in Central and Southside Virginia. Perriello met with a group of citizens who told stories of rising rates that have hurt their small businesses and their pocket books. But today, Senator Hurt made the patently false assertion that his vote had nothing to do with the raised rates.

“Robert Hurt knows full well electricity rates have been hiked seven times because of the legislation he supported, and that Virginia families are furious about their high electric bills. It’s no wonder he’s trying to distort the facts,” said Jessica Barba, spokeswoman for the Perriello campaign. “Like a typical politician, Robert Hurt did the bidding of his special interest donors when he voted for this bill written by the electric utilities in order to protect their profits and gouge consumers. Now Virginia seniors living on fixed income are paying the price—literally—by having to choose between putting food on the table or keeping the lights on.”

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Martinsville Women for Perriello Week of Action

The Martinsville Women for Perriello came out to show their support for Tom as they participated in phonebanks and tithing projects throughout the course of the week. Click here to get involved with the campaign in your area!

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Mark Warner Joins Tom Perriello at Albemarle Democratic BBQ

From: The Newsplex on August 29, 2010

Democrats gathered at Claudius Crozet Park in Crozet Saturday for chicken, pork and a side of politics.It's the 22nd annual Albemarle County Democratic Barbecue. Hundreds of Democrats gathered to rally for U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello.

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Bluegrass music welcomed hundreds of Democrats at the fundraiser, and many indulged in some homemade barbecue.

"We are confident, the food is great. Pork is falling off the bone," said Peter McIntosh, who handled the grill.

The event raised money for Perriello, who is facing Republican state Sen. Robert Hurt in November's midterm elections.

"They want someone who represents the people, and they know they've got that in me," Perriello said.

The grill is fired up with chicken, pork and brisket. Another who is fired up is Sen. Mark Warner, who gave the opening remarks.

"This is going to be a very tight election year in the 5th District for Congressman Tom Perriello's seat," Warner told CBS19. "I think he's been a strong voice in Congress, and I think these folks want to get out there and get charged up."

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Editorial: Optical illusion

by Tom McLaughlin in The News & Record

It’s a little more than a week before Labor Day, the traditional kickoff of the fall campaign season, and the two major party candidates for Congress, incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello and Republican Robert Hurt, are on the air already with TV commercials. No rest for the weary, it seems, in politics and in war.

The optics of this race are plain enough: Perriello, doing his James Brown-routine as the hardest working man in politics, is running around the district making the case for investments in education, clean energy and infrastructure, and defending the better parts of the stimulus bill passed by Congress in response to the worst economic downturn in the U.S. since the Great Depression. A sitting member of Congress during the Big Slide but in no way culpable for it, Perriello has the daunting, but not impossible, task of selling the public on the need for Washington to do more to set this awful economy straight.

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Robert Hurt’s False Ad: His History of Raising Taxes, Borrowing Money

August 24, 2010—Ivy, VA—The Robert Hurt of 2010 is once again contradicting the Robert Hurt of 2007 in his first television ad. The Robert Hurt of 2010 says in the ad, “I’ve pledged to fight any tax increase and make Washington stop spending money it doesn’t have and start creating jobs.” But the Robert Hurt of 2007 co-sponsored and voted twice in favor of a transportation plan that raised taxes, created unconstitutional taxing authorities, and ended up forcing the state of Virginia into debt to pay for it.

“We all know typical politicians say one thing and do another, but Robert Hurt has taken the about-face to a whole new level,” said Jessica Barba, spokeswoman for the Perriello campaign. “Senator Hurt’s record as a serial tax raiser won’t go away just because he now claims he’s against tax increases. The truth is: he voted twice for a transportation plan that not only raised taxes, but also created unconstitutional taxing authorities and forced Virginia further into debt. The more voters know about the chasm between Senator Hurt's record and his rhetoric on taxes, the more they realize he can't be trusted on this issue.”

The legislation that Hurt co-sponsored and voted for, HB 3202, among other things:

• Raised the taxation rate from 16.5 cents to 17.5 cents on diesel fuel,

• Imposed “abuser fees” for certain traffic offenses, otherwise known as the $3,000 speeding ticket,

• Required the Department of Motor Vehicles to impose an additional fee upon drivers whose record shows greater than eight demerit points of $100 plus $75 per point in excess of eight points, and

• Authorized local governments to declare their areas “regional transportation tax districts” and to raise commercial real estate property taxes at 0.25% of the “fair market value.”

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Hurt's "Free Markets" Will Hurt Southside Virginia

August 23, 2010--Martinsville, VA--Standing in the city that has suffered some of the worst job losses from free-trade agreements, Sen. Robert Hurt made clear that one of the key principles of his campaign is to continue supporting plans that outsource Southside Virginia jobs. The 5th district of Virginia, and Martinsville in particular, has been devastated by free trade agreements like NAFTA but Sen. Hurt has refused to oppose expanding NAFTA-style agreements to cover South Korea and other countries. Hurt also opposed a bill that would close the tax loophole that rewards corporations for shipping jobs overseas. Between 2001 and 2008, Virginia's 5th District lost an estimated 5,900 jobs due to the trade deficit with China. 

"Robert Hurt is a typical politician who remains so out of touch with the experience of working families that he doesn't even realize the devastating effects free-trade agreements have had on the 5th district. Now he's even pledging to continue supporting these bad trade deals and protecting corporations that ship good American jobs overseas," said Jessica Barba, spokeswoman for the Perriello campaign. "If Senator Hurt weren't so busy standing up for companies that outsource jobs, maybe he'd realize free-trade agreements are bad for Southside Virginia."  

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Editorial: The better vote for Virginia

By The Roanoke Times on August 19, 2010

Del. Bob Marshall took a jab last week at Gov. Bob McDonnell for accepting Virginia's share of a federal aid package to help recession-battered states and localities.

Because the commonwealth's Republican congressmen voted against the money bill, along with just about every other Republican, Marshall argued, "To spend this money is to tacitly accept that Reps. Cantor, Forbes, Goodlatte, Wittman and Wolf voted against Virginia's better public interest and that [Democrats] cast the better vote for Virginians."

Yes. Yes, they did.

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Perriello Releases New Campaign Ad, Takes Aim at Hurt

By Newsplex on August 18, 2010

A new Tom Perriello campaign ad is now hitting the airways in Charlottesville and Roanoke. However, unlike previous campaigns, this ad directly challenges his Republican opponent, State Senator Robert Hurt.

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A Stimulus for Schools and Localities

 By The Lynchburg News & Advance on August 18, 2010

Although school divisions in Central Virginia have cut their budgets for the coming school year to cope with lower state and local revenues, they are undoubtedly looking forward to a share of the state’s federal stimulus money to save jobs.
 
The persistently lagging economy has taught most school administrators that if they have to, they can operate with less money. The difficult lesson of the past year is that the schools have learned that money is not always the answer to what they see as problems facing them.
 
More efficient use of money for schools will help the taxpayers both now and in the years ahead.
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