By Kurt Feigel
The final in a series of 3 debates was completed today. You had the same seven players at the debate with between 200 and 350 people in attendance.
Nigel Coleman, chairman of the DTP gave a hilarious introduction to the event. I hope to have that video loaded soon.
My Impressions mostly related to the introductions;
Ken Boyd is a guy I’d love to support. The problem is that he continues to mention Albemarle County and his work as a supervisor over the last 10 years. My big issues are the 2nd amendment and protecting the U.S. Constitution. Albemaryle County is the last thing on my mind.
Ron Ferrin made a good strong comparison between Argentina’s failed economy and where we are heading under Obama.
Robert Hurt made a better showing during his introduction than last time. He tied in the feelings of the tea party and the angst we are feeling at the current state of affairs and he got lots of applause from that. He is still using his hand too much while talking and needs to get a hand on that (pun intended)
Jim McKelvey used a Rope to illustrate comments made by Tom Perriello where he said ” If you don’t tie our hands we (D.C. Politicians) will keep stealing from you” he also pushed for the passage of the FairTax.
Mike McPadden was strong and passionate as usual. He continued to show his strength in his ability to understand the depth of the constitution.
Feda Morton quoted Reagan ” Government isn’t part of the problem, government is the problem ” and that seemed to resonate well with the crowd. She did a better job than in Lynchburg though not enough to change my view that she should get out of this race.
Laurence Verga still is struggling as a public speaker. He tried to walk out front and connect with people and it just didn’t work for me. He also made lots of references to what needed to be done to fix our economy including lots of the standard “tax cuts” which indicates to me that he really doesn’t understand the things that keep power in Washington. He didn’t mention the Fairtax and I don’t see anything in his words to indicate that he supports it. During the intermission he walked by me shook my hand and said “Kurt Feigel”? I nodded and he walked away. I thought that was very amusing. He must have read my last op-ed.
Regarding term limits Hurt and Morton seem to indicate that they were against an amendment to the constitution and they think that “The People” are enough to get rid of career politicians. I wish that were true.
Regarding support for the candidate that wins the primary only McKelvey and McPadden stated that they “would support a candidate that holds true to conservative principles” while the others will support anyone that can “beat” Periello.
Robert Hurt has an issue problem to overcome from a past regarding a vote to raise taxes. During his closing he still didn’t address this so I spoke to him after the debate.
Mr Hurt spoke candidly about his decision regarding that vote. He said in 2004 “the state was facing a $4 Billion dollar shortfall, unlike the federal government we can’t just print more money or borrow from China” At the time he was in the House and not the Senate as he is currently serving and Republicans had little power. Both sides had a no compromise attitude and ” faced with a total shutdown of the government in Virginia he decided to vote for a compromise measure that included a $1 Billion dollar increase”. I wasn’t in Virginia in 2004 and can’t say I agree with his decision, I’m not really that averse to government shutting down. But, it’s good to finally have that question answered.
It’s great to be finished with these debates.
How many excuses does Robert Hurt have for voting for the largest tax increase in Virginia History? Oh btw the 4 Billion number came from Mark Warner and it was dispelled as fiction within hours of the number being release. Then Mark Warner suggested that our bond rating would be impacted, Moody’s was called and that myth was dispelled too.
Cardinal: my delegate explained the past tax vote in this way: he (tommy wright) said that the state was in every bit of a financial mess as it is today. he said there were fights everywhere–the General Assembly did try to cut many unnecessary & bloated programs but didn’t want to get into the sacred cow of education (see what happened this year). Del. Wright said the decision was made to raise taxes. and he said that though he personally didn’t vote for it, he understood the argument for the tax hike.
BUT, Del Wright told me that the big problem came after the tax hike. Look what all the state programs did what all the tax money. did they put any money away for a rainy day? did they NOT explode their hiring?
Cardinal, if you don’t like Robert Hurt, that’s OK.
who do you think has the ability to beat Perriello?
also, I thought there was going to be another debate next month. will try to find out.
If the Republican Party cannot be cleaned up (eg: get rid of the RINOS{Socialists} then we all may as well go home and watch TV as our country is destroyed. The only party that can give the Scoialist/Communist party a fight is the Republican Party and if they are full of traitors the fight is over.
No matter what it takes get rid of the traitors first then the Conservatives can take back the country.
Vote for Conservatives only.
A small point of history. Years ago I went to a 5th Dist. Convention in Rustburg, VA. The Chairman would not allow a vote for who we wanted to represent the Rep. Party for president. I knew the person I backed would loose but could not abide not being allowed to vote. So the next 5th Dist. Convention, again in Rustburg I took as many of my family and friends as possible and helped fire that 5th Dist. chair by only a couple of votes. I then quit the Republican Party and haven’t been back since.
The present leaders of the 5th voted for a Primary vice a Convention. They should be summarily dismissed. They showed no concern for the tax payer and showed their contempt for Conservatives.
Again: VOTE ONLY CONSERVATIVE!!!!
I have come to enjoy your insight into local politics, if you were to stand behind one single candidate who would it be?
Thanks. As it stands today I 100% support Mike McPadden. Those that read this may say “see that proves this site just shills for him” however unlike other sites in the fifth this one is not just about one guys opinion. I and others on VFWD work extra hard to make sure all sides are heard. Even Today we posted an op-ed by Laurence Verga and I’ve called for him to drop out of the race, so if I was just shilling for McPadden I’d not have posted that. KF
I attended the Danville debate and left a little nervous. Tom Pelosiello needs to go. The quality of the candidates is high but the debate didn’t expose who gives the best chance to defeat him. A big Glenn Beck fan, I was hoping someone would grab some chalk and use all those chalkboards but it didn’t happen. I (and a few of those sitting next to me) thought Sarah Palin joke was a gift for Pelosiello in the fall, something to split the Tea Party from the GOP. Verga may not have connected with you but everybody, except Boyd, immediately followed his approach. Hurt didn’t stand out against term limits, which is fine. The questions didn’t separate the candidates; everyone wanted to drug test assistance recipients. Really? Even single mothers? I can see legislation addressing drug use and public assistance working but nobody offered any specific detail. Debate was time well spent although I would probably have felt better in DC Saturday.
We’ve been working to throw out all district unit chairs here in the fifth but for maybe 2. We are also working to get a new 5th district chair. There are posts here and all over blogs in the fifth with dates and times of the mass meetings. The trick is to find people that are willing to SHOW UP and boot out all the supporters of fifdom politics. There are DEADLINES to register as a delegate. There are DEADLINES to prefile as a candidate for unit chair.