Hurt dismisses Verga's challenge

State Sen. Robert Hurt will not be taking up fellow 5th District GOP primary candidate Laurence Verga on his challenge to debate Hurt directly, calling the request a “political stunt.”

In a news release Monday, Verga, a private real estate investor, called on Hurt — “and not his spokesman” — to discuss where Hurt stands on his record and issues facing the district. Most perceive Hurt to be the GOP frontrunner in the race.

“The people of the Fifth District deserve the opportunity to get a real sense of who their potential leaders are,” Verga said in the release. “…I hope Sen. Hurt would agree that transparency in government is crucial and as such will agree to a debate between the two of us anytime he wants in April.”

Hurt could not be reached directly, but released a statement through his campaign manager dismissing the challenge.

“Ignoring all the other candidates as Mr. Verga has done in this request is nothing more than a political stunt and is frankly insulting to the fine contributions each of the other candidates have brought to this campaign,” Hurt said in a statement.

The pool of seven Republican candidates running in the June 8 primary have participated in multiple forums, including three tea party-sponsored debates so far this year — although Hurt did not attend the first because it was on a Friday during the General Assembly session. Hurt noted that he had participated in “over a dozen debates and forums” with all the GOP candidates.

Verga said he wanted the chance to debate Hurt directly because the larger forums “didn’t really give us the room to debate the issues that are important to the people of the Fifth District.”

Verga also issued a release March 31 calling Hurt out on the fact that his spokesman, Republican strategist Chris LaCivita, often comments to reporters on Hurt’s behalf.

“If LaCivita wants to run for Congress,” Verga said in the March 31 release, “he certainly has the right to do so, but if Hurt wants to represent the Fifth Congressional District, he needs to start speaking for himself.”

Reached by phone, Verga said he felt Hurt has been misleading the public about his voting record — specifically his 2004 vote for the largest tax increase in state history. He said he “would be happy” to debate any of the six candidates individually, also targeting Albemarle County Supervisor Ken Boyd. But because Hurt is the “establishment frontrunner,” Verga said the other candidates feel they must challenge him specifically.

“Sen. Hurt has been telling crowds of people throughout the district that he has fought to reduce taxes and the size of government,” Verga said. “If you look over his record, both those claims are abundantly false.”

In his statement, Hurt fired back at Verga.

“Rather than falsely attack my conservative record,” he said, “Mr. Verga should explain to the citizens of the Fifth District what his positions on the issues are and why he has only voted a handful of times in his entire life.”

In addition to Verga, Hurt and Boyd, the GOP primary candidates include businessmen Ron Ferrin and Jim McKelvey, commercial airline pilot Michael McPadden and biology teacher Feda Kidd Morton.

Amos is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee.