State Sen. Robert Hurt to run for Congress
Danville Register & Bee
Published: October 7, 2009
Confirming what many political pundits have been assuming for months, state Senator Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, filed the paperwork Tuesday to run for Congress in 2010 against Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District.
Hurt, a lawyer and Pittsylvania County native, said he and his wife began seriously discussing the idea after former Rep. Virgil Goode opted against another run earlier this year. Hurt said he would wait to make a formal announcement of his candidacy until after the November election, but filed now “because there’s so much to get done.”
“It’s something that can be done in light of our primary commitment to being good parents,” Hurt said, “and we’re satisfied that it can be done. It won’t be easy. It needs to be done and that’s the main reason for doing it.”
As is common in Southside, Hurt said the biggest issue facing the 5th District — which stretches from Danville up to Charlottesville — is jobs. He does not support the current proposed health care or cap-and-trade legislation and pledged to “be a strong voice for our common sense conservative Virginia values.”
“We continue to struggle with an economy that has changed dramatically over the last 20 years,” he said. “…What concerns me are the polices that we’re seeing in Washington that I do not believe support the kind of job growth and prosperity that’s required in order for us to have the brighter future we deserve.”
Hurt, 40, lives in Pittsylvania County with his wife of 13 years, Kathy, and their three children, ages 10, 7 and 5. His political career began in 2000 when he was elected to the Chatham Town Council. He ran for the House of Delegates in 2001 and the state senate in 2007, where he currently represents the 19th District.
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Reader Reactions
I sincerely hope Senator Hurt will run and if he does I hope he wins. We need a representative for this district and unfortunately we do not have one. We had one and voted him out. We had one before him and he got tired and quit. Let’s elect Mr Hurt and send a representative to D.C.
The problem Mr. Hurt faces is that except for the small town of Chatham, he’s an unknown who chose to run against an incumbent in the largest, most spread out district in the state. Add to that the fact that he is a horrible speaker/communicator and you get what appears to be a “tilting at windmills” campaign.
Then look at Perriello’s background before he was elected - although he has a law degree from Yale and could be making a fortune for himself and his family, from graduation he chose public service and the betterment of mankind.
Read the following from his Wikipedia biography.
“From 2002-03, Perriello was Special Advisor to the international prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he worked with child soldiers, amputees, and local pro-democracy groups, and helped to prosecute warlords.[3] He later became the Court’s Spokesman and helped to indict Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, peacefully forcing him from power. He has worked as a consultant to the International Center for Transitional Justice in Kosovo (2003), Darfur (2005), and Afghanistan (2007) where he worked on justice-based security strategies. Perriello has also been a fellow at The Century Foundation and consultant to the National Council of Churches of Christ. He helped to launch FaithfulAmerica.org, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and is a co-founder of DarfurGenocide.org and Avaaz.org, an international on-line community of 3.3 million members, operating in 12 languages, dedicated to building a global response to “problems without borders” such as climate change. He has also worked with the Rev. James Forbes on prophetic justice principles.[4]
Perriello, a resident of Albemarle County, has spent much of his career working in West Africa and the Middle East to create strategies for sustainable peace, and he was involved in the peace processes that helped end the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.[5] As a public entrepreneur, he has helped to launch organizations and movements focused on social justice and human rights. He is a founding partner of Res Publica, which develops innovative solutions to global justice and security threats, and of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, which has worked since the 2004 election to help balance and expand the faith and values discourse in America.“
In the House, he has proven to even his worst critics what a hard worker is able to accomplish in a very short time. I sincerly feel that he will be reelected regardless of who trys to take him on.
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