Perriello agrees to three-way debate; Hurt says no

As the summer wears on, so does the debate about debates in the 5th District.

Freshman Democrat Rep. Tom Perriello’s campaign manager announced Wednesday that Perriello has agreed to a televised debate to which both Republican challenger Robert Hurt and independent candidate Jeff Clark have been invited. Roanoke’s WDBJ7 will produce the debate, which has not yet been scheduled.

Lise Clavel, Perriello’s campaign manager, urged both Clark and Hurt — who has said he would only face off against Perriello — to agree to the debate.

“There is no tradition more tried and true in our American democracy than the debate,” Clavel said in a statement. “Tom looks forward to informing the voters of his record of results, as well as to engaging with the other candidates about their ideas for how to improve competitive advantage in our local economy.”

Clark, a tea party member who aims to pull conservative votes from Hurt, applauded Perriello’s inclusion of all three candidates in a debate. Hurt, however, did not agree.

Hurt’s campaign manager, Sean Harrison, accused Perriello of being “afraid to debate Robert Hurt one on one” because of his votes in favor of health care reform, cap-and-trade and the federal stimulus package.

“We will only be participating in debates that provide voters with a chance to compare the campaign’s only two viable candidates side-by-side,” Harrison said. “Rep. Perriello’s attempt to distract from his job-killing record with cynical political stunts is a disservice to central and Southside Virginians.”

Harrison added that they have agreed to a debate hosted by NBC 29 in Charlottesville with all three candidates — if Clark obtains at least 10 percent of the vote in NBC 29 polling.

Both Clavel and Clark intensely criticized Hurt’s position.

“We all know typical politicians only believe things after they’ve polled the relevant issue,” Clavel said, “but Robert Hurt has gone one step further by saying he’ll only talk to you after he’s seen a poll.”

Clark said he had “every right” to be included in the debate after he gathered more than twice the 1,000 required signatures to get on the ballot in Virginia. He said that because of his limited financial resources, a televised debate is the only way he could reach voters across the district.

“Evidently the law is not good or sufficient enough for Sen. Hurt and his campaign,” Clark said. “The law does not say in order to participate in the electoral process that you have to gather 1,000 signatures, plus garner 10 percent of the polling vote. This is an attempt to stifle debate. This is an attempt to silence speech.

“This reinforces the fact that the only people that have access to our political system are those with money or resources.”

Newspaper editorials in the district have called for Clark to be included after Hurt said last month that he was misquoted when he said he would “absolutely” debate both Clark and Perriello.

Even Jim McKelvey, the second-place vote getter in the Republican primary — who has refused to endorse either Hurt or Clark — weighed in on the debate about debates. In a 12-second YouTube video posted July 5 titled “McKelvey — Bedford Tea Party Rally,” he briefly answers questions from an unidentified cameraman about the issue.

McKelvey said Clark should “absolutely” be allowed into the debates and said he thought Hurt was “making a mistake.”

McKelvey, who has formed a political action committee since losing the primary, could not be reached for further comment.