More challengers to Perriello emerge

Two more local Republicans have announced their intention to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, in next year’s mid-term congressional election.

Fluvanna County resident Feda Kidd Morton, a high school biology teacher and longtime GOP activist, said she decided to run after she was encouraged by former Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., a Republican who was unseated by Perriello after serving six terms in Congress.

“When Virgil decided not to run, we had a conversation and he told me that he thought a conservative woman could do well in the district,” said Morton, who has served on Fluvanna’s School Board and as chairwoman of the Fluvanna Republican Committee. “With Virgil’s encouragement, I decided to step into the ring.”

Laurence Verga, an Ivy resident and private real estate investor, said his dissatisfaction with the policies of President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress convinced him to seek the GOP nomination.

“Politics are a passion of mine,” Verga said. “I live a blessed life. Running for office wasn’t anything I felt I needed to pursue. But I’ve been very upset with the Obama administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress. I decided I don’t want to outsource this anymore.”

Morton and Verga are the latest Republicans to announce their campaigns after Goode decided in late July that he would not seek a re-match against the freshman Democrat. Bradley S. Rees, a factory worker and FairTax advocate from Bedford County, previously announced his candidacy in the GOP primary race.

Many other Republicans are expected to jump into the race in the coming weeks.

Last weekend, 5th District Republican Chairman Tucker Watkins and Albemarle Republican Chairman Chris Schoenewald held an information session for potential candidates at the Albemarle GOP headquarters at the Albemarle Square shopping center.

Attendees included Morton and Verga, as well as Albemarle County Supervisor Ken Boyd and Cordel Faulk, director of communications for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and the former commentary editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

In an interview, Boyd said he is “somewhat close” to making a decision about whether he’ll run. “I’m still considering it very seriously,” said Boyd, the owner of a financial services firm who has represented the Rivanna District on the Board of Supervisors since 2004.

At the GOP headquarters meeting, Boyd told senior party officials that he was leaning toward running, with the paperwork sitting on his desk waiting to be signed.

“He told us he was running,” Schoenewald said.

Boyd said his local government experience in the 5th District’s most populous jurisdiction would give him a strong base of support, should he decide to run.

“I bring some local government experience from the northern part of the district,” he said. “We need somebody in Washington who understands some of these local issues.”

Boyd added that he has ties to the southern part of the 5th District, which stretches from the Charlottesville region down to the North Carolina border. Boyd formerly lived in Martinsville and his wife is originally from that area.

Like all the other Republicans who are weighing a possible bid against Perriello, Boyd said his concerns about the direction of the country under Obama are compelling him to run.

Boyd said he dislikes the “government takeover of the financial industry,” the so-called cap-and-trade bill and the proposals to reform the nation’s health care system that are being considered in Congress. “This sort of stuff scares me,” Boyd said.

Faulk, for his part, has said that he has not yet decided if he will seek the nomination. At the closed-door GOP meeting Aug. 8, Faulk did not indicate if he’s leaning one way or the other, Schoenewald said.

State Sen. Robert Hurt, a Republican who represents the Danville area, has also said he is considering running.

Morton, who was chairwoman of the Fluvanna GOP from 1995 to 2005, said she is already picking up the endorsements of key Republican officials, including Kathy Terry, the national committeewoman who represents Virginia on the Republican National Committee, former state Republican Chairman Pat McSweeney, and several current and former local Republican unit chairmen.

Morton also said she is concerned with the cap-and-trade legislation, health care reform and other issues backed by Obama and the Democrats in Congress.

“I think they’re destroying the freedoms we enjoy as private citizens,” she said. “We need someone with the character, values and beliefs that Virgil Goode has.”

Perriello, Morton said, will be vulnerable in next year’s election.

“I don’t feel he’s representative of the people in his district,” she said. “He was elected because he rode on the coattails of a popular presidential candidate.”

In fact, Perriello significantly outperformed Obama in the 5th District. While Perriello narrowly defeated Goode by a margin of 727 votes, Republican John McCain bested Obama by a margin of 7,512 votes.

Morton also said she thought it was unusual that additional votes for Perriello were discovered during a post-election canvass.

“Votes showed up the day after the election,” she said. “You don’t usually see that happening.”

Morton clarified that she has no evidence that any sort of irregularities or voter fraud. “There was nothing proven,” she said. “I’m not saying that.”

Verga, who moved to Albemarle County from California five years ago, said he is worried about the federal deficit, rising unemployment and what he is afraid will be forthcoming tax increases.

“I fear for the future of my four children,” he said.

Verga said he believes Obama is preparing to increase payroll and capital gains taxes, as well as other measures that Verga views as an attempt to keep the economy struggling.

“Obama doesn’t want to improve the economy,” Verga said. “He wants to keep it like it is so he can expand the federal government.”

Obama, he said, is moving the United States toward, “at best, a socialist-type country.”

“I think universal health care would ruin the best medical care system in the world and probably take a lot of lives,” Verga said.

Obama has not backed the notion of universal health care as part of the ongoing health care reform debate in Congress. Obama has supported a more limited “public option” for health insurance coverage that would be sponsored by the government.

Verga promised to not attack any of his fellow Republicans in what will likely be a crowded field of candidates jockeying for the GOP nomination to challenge Perriello. As one of the first announced candidates, Verga is aiming to stake out his conservative credentials.

“I’m very, very conservative,” he said. “I’m not trying to be middle-of-the-road at all.”