Hurt, Perriello duke it out in Danville

It was a verbal joust that was at times raucous.

Sen. Robert Hurt and Rep. Tom Perriello battled it out during an hour-long debate Thursday night sponsored by the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, the Danville Register & Bee and WSET-13 with questions coming from media panelists and audience members.   

About 500 people — about two-thirds were Hurt supporters — attended the event at the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research, where Hurt attacked Perriello on his votes for the federal stimulus package, cap-and-trade legislation and health care reform.

Perriello fought back, lambasting Hurt for supporting tax hikes in the commonwealth, the protection of companies that outsource jobs overseas and policies over the last 10 years that have resulted in a bad economy and high unemployment, especially in Southside Virginia.      

“He’s raised taxes in the state and I can cut taxes (for small businesses),” Perriello said.

“This is a time for bold vision and hope,” he added.

Perriello said America can outcompete China and Europe, with Southside Virginia the “high-tech capital of the East Coast.”

 Hurt said Perriello took $400,000 in contributions from the Service Employees International Union — several times stressing the word “international” — and that Perriello supports tax policies that send companies overseas. Perriello has ignored 5^th District constituents on health care reform and voted with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi 90 percent of the time, Hurt said.

“At the end of the day, Tom Perriello is not our congressman, he’s Nancy Pelosi’s congressman,” Hurt said.

He added that cap-and-trade will cost 50,000 Virginia jobs and the stimulus package has failed, resulting in 11,000 fewer jobs in the 5^th District. The private sector creates jobs, not the government, Hurt stressed.  

Hurt repeatedly reminded the crowd of the federal governments $1.3 trillion budget deficit and the $13 trillion national debt.

Perriello called Hurt’s position “the height of irresponsibility,” adding that economists have said the stimulus package prevented another Great Depression. Laid-off employees at Goodyear in Danville have recently been able to get their jobs back, Perriello said.

Hurt voted against extending unemployment benefits in Virginia, Perriello said, challenging Hurt over whether he supported the 40 percent of the federal stimulus package that included tax cuts. Hurt has not opposed policies that “got us into this mess in the first place,” Perriello said.

On bringing high-speed rail and passenger trains to Southside, Hurt said he has supported budgets that include transportation and roads, adding that high-speed and expanded rail service are important. However, the nation is $13 trillion in debt and the budget needs to be balanced, Hurt said.

“We’ve got to remember our responsibility to our children and grandchildren,” Hurt said.

Perriello said Hurt supported a transportation bill that was ruled unconstitutional by the Virginia Supreme Court. Also, construction of the new Robertson Bridge is an example of how the federal stimulus bill has helped Southside Virginia, Perriello said. It trumps the “slogans,” Perriello said, adding that the 5^th District needs “people who deliver and don’t take 10 years to do it.”

Regarding low rates of high-school and college graduation among Danville and Pittsylvania County residents, Perriello said it’s important to take early childhood education and career and technical training more seriously. About $20 million in education funding for the area has been protected under his watch, Perriello said.

Hurt launched another attack on Perriello on health-care reform, saying it includes $575 billion in cuts to Medicare. Hurt said that as a member of the General Assembly, he has supported K-12 and higher education and work force training, but “all of that’s been done by balancing the budget,” Hurt said, taking a swipe at Perriello.

Perriello said he has been endorsed by the Committee to Protect Social Security and Medicare.

As for their philosophies of government, Hurt pointed to his support for limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty.

“These are the kinds of principles I’ll take with me to Washington when I go,” Hurt said, adding that Perriello’s support of card check, which would make it easier for employees to unionize, would diminish Virginia’s status as a right-to-work state.

When asked about contributions from lobbyists and corporate political action committees, Perriello said he does not take money from either. Also, voters should know who supplies money for campaigns and pays for political attack ads, Perriello said.

“I think voters have a right to know where that money comes from,” Perriello said, referring to “folks who write checks to shadowy organizations.”

Hurt accused Perriello of taking $100,000 from the left-wing group, Moveon.org, and said he’ll take contributions from corporate PACs “all day long.”

“It’s those people that create the jobs in this country,” Hurt said.

However, Hurt has done nothing in the last 10 years as a state representative to prevent the economic situation the district is in, Perriello said.

“I’ll put my year and a half in Congress up against your 10 years any day,” Perriello said.

As for Hurt’s jabs at Perriello’s support of unions, Perriello said: “Why are you so scared of janitors and nurses?”