Perriello for Congress

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: October 31, 2008

This newspaper hasn’t endorsed a Democrat for Congress since Virgil Goode was a Democrat. Since Goode’s first campaign for Congress in 1996, we have backed him in every election, defended him from what we thought was unfair criticism by challengers and wished for him a long career in Washington.

But today, the Danville Register & Bee endorses Tom Perriello for the 5th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

We haven’t left Virgil Goode. Virgil Goode has left us.

Over the past several years, we have seen a disturbing trend coming from our congressman, who appears to be either unwilling or unable to work with the growing Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

By Goode’s own admission, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a lock on power that won’t be broken. Goode says that if Congress had passed his bills on illegal immigration and energy, those problems would be well on their way to being solved.

The point is they didn’t pass, either because Goode is so far out of the American mainstream that his views are politically toxic — or because he doesn’t have the power and the pull to get anything done in Washington.

Several years ago, Goode did work on the tobacco quota buyout bill. But instead of that being the first of more legislation putting Goode’s stamp on the country, it appears to be an aberration. What we have seen from Goode are extreme views on Mexicans and Muslims, two groups of people held in low regard by many in the 5th District.

We strongly believe that unchecked illegal immigration must be stopped and radical Islamic terrorists must be defeated.

But Goode’s comments on the Mexican flag and one of his congressional colleagues, Keith Ellison, were at best stupid, and at worst, dangerous considering this region’s past treatment of minorities. Goode’s comments have nothing to do with the core issues of immigration and terrorism.

That leaves us with Perriello, a 34-year-old Charlottesville native. If he is elected, he would be the first congressman from the northern part of the district since L.F. Payne from Nelson County represented us in Congress.

Like Goode, Perriello has criticized his own political party on certain issues (energy, the financial crisis and federal spending). Like Goode, Perriello believes in constituent service. Like Goode, Perriello has said he will fight for earmarks for the 5th District.

Goode has a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, but congressmen who are not on that committee still manage to get earmarks for their districts. That’s true of Virginia’s Bobby Scott and Thelma Drake, who both got more earmarks than Goode despite not being on House Appropriations. Even Ellison got more earmarks than Goode.

Perriello promises to work hard in Washington, but he first needs to work smart for the 5th District. As a member of a growing Democratic caucus, he will have plenty of opportunities to get Congress to work for us. As a Democrat who has been willing to criticize his party’s past mistakes, we don’t think he will fall in behind Pelosi and the liberals.

“It’s not irrational for voters to be upset with the folks in Washington,” Perriello told us. “… I’ve become increasingly aware of how broken our system is … there’s a gap between our politicians and our people.”

In order to “lead with common sense,” as Perriello puts it, he will have to start in the 5th District.

We want him to place a high priority on constituent service — and do his utmost to ensure a smooth transition and continued service to the people.

We also want him to work hard to be accessible to the people of the 5th District, just like Payne was. We certainly don’t want to elect another Washington creature. There are enough of them already.

We expect him to work with North Carolina congressmen to get the Interstate 785 project moving, once and for all. The same goes for a U.S. 29 bypass around Charlottesville. While that’s a state project, Perriello should work to break the political logjam over that needed bypass.

We want Perriello to fight for earmarks and legislation that will bring federal financial assistance to the 5th District, and we share Perriello’s criticism of Goode’s thin legislative record.

“What we haven’t seen is the big projects … where the big dollars are,” Perriello said of Goode.

Finally, we want Perriello to seek out committee assignments that match the needs of this district. That means committees dealing with energy, rural economic development and transportation.

We expect to receive great criticism for endorsing Perriello over Goode.

But our decision was born out of frustration with a career politician who has already told us he expects to be ineffective as Democrats gain more power in Congress. Just this year, Goode has voted against the tax rebate checks that people throughout the 5th District received this year and he voted against a financial rescue plan that even his own Republicans believed was necessary to stave off more serious economic problems.

If we send Goode back to Washington, how many more times will he vote against our interests? We can’t take that chance.

On Tuesday, it’s time to elect a young man of integrity, energy, faith and hard work. It’s time to send Tom Perriello to Congress.