There is nothing that I get more satisfaction about than knowing you are no longer going to be in Washington, misrepresenting us like always. I know I will applaud every success of Tom Perriello, Congressman-Elect from the 5th District.

It does show a remarkable amount of chutzpah to claim there is still a chance to win this.

Tom Perriello and Virgil Goode (photo courtesy of Matthew Rosenberg/CDP

In an exchange during last night’s debate in Danville, Congressman Goode claimed that Tom Perriello is all-powerful with his allies in the Democratic Party and all those people in New York and elsewhere.

Perriello, a national security consultant and faith-based initiative founder from Albemarle County, said that if he is elected his top priority would be bringing back jobs to the 5th District, which includes the Charlottesville area and stretches down to Danville. Over the past dozen years, he pointed out, the district has lost an estimated 10,000 jobs.

“I’m going to go up, roll up my shirt sleeves and work a double shift every day to bring jobs back to Southside Virginia,” Perriello said.

Perriello said he is opposed to the national sales tax — also known as the “fair tax” — because he believes it would unfairly shift the tax burden onto middle- and working-class families.

“Congressman Goode, who’s worth several million dollars, would get a big tax break,” Perriello said. “I’m concerned about the teachers in our community.”

Goode denied being wealthy and out of touch.

“Compared to [Perriello’s] backers and fellow Democrats, I am a peon,” Goode said.

A “fair tax,” Goode said, would cause the economy to boom, capital to flow into the United States and jobs to be created. It would allow individuals and businesses to keep more of their money, he said.

“I want the IRS basically ended,” Goode said. “And this would end it.”

I need to address this donors-from-out-of-state issue once and for all: People everywhere want you gone as a Congressman, Mr. Goode. Why does that surprise you, with your nineteenth century viewpoints and your rampant racism and bigotry? You claim to be a man of the people, but I know very few people as extreme as you are.

As for being a peon, I would say that it is a label that fits Mr. Goode well. He has always been a backbencher in the Hose, and he always would be, if we allow him to be re-hired.

Let’s not do that.

Where the ‘peon’ description does not fit is in Mr. Goode’s personal finances. He is a multi-millionaire, and has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from energy, banking and other interests. We can’t afford to allow this to go on. We need someone who will enrich this district, not himself.

From the Tom Perriello Campaign:

In Economic Crisis, Goode Proposes Raising Taxes on Middle Class Families with Children

October 28, 2008—Ivy, VA—In the middle of an economic crisis, Rep. Virgil Goode is proposing a tax plan that will raise taxes on middle class families, especially those with children. In a recent video of Goode speaking to UVA College Republicans, he reiterates his support for a national sales tax, but wants to amend the bill so children in “non-traditional” families will not get tax relief.

“Middle-class families need more tax relief, not less, especially during this time of crisis. First, Rep. Goode puts out false ads and mailers about my support for tax cuts, and then he cooks up a plan that would be devastating to middle class families. Goode has already voted twice this year against middle-class tax rebates I support, and now signs up for a proposal that would hurt everyone making less than $200,000 a year,” said Tom Perriello, his Democratic challenger. “And to target this punishment specifically against single moms or dads with children is completely out of touch. The fifth district needs a leader who will fight for real solutions to our economic meltdown and stand up for middle class families.”

The video can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5jei0k0TnM

An independent analysis of the national sales tax by the Treasury Department shows that people earning between $15,000 and $200,000 per year will pay more in taxes. The plan would most benefit those who make more than $200,000 a year. Under the national sales tax, the cost of nearly everything would rise by 23%, including groceries, gas, and doctor’s visits. Link

Here is the transcript of Rep. Goode’s comments about the national sales tax:

“I’ve got some caveats that I’ve talked to John Linder about. Like the prebate, which means a check in the mail every month for between $108 – $180 based on their calculations of what the person would need to file no sales tax to have food, heat, basic necessities. And, uh, they, they… I would want the prebate restricted to United States citizens.”

“I would also think that it would be better administratively to not have the prebate program for children. If you got 10 kids, you get, I think it’s $180, you get $1800. Ten times 180 you get $1,800 just for children. The administration of that… because a whole lot of families now… the child doesn’t…it’s not your traditional family staying with the mother and the father. I don’t know the statistics, but I suspect that probably half of the families or a third of the families are split families. The mother’s someplace, and the father’s some other place.”

The prebates opposed by Rep. Goode are meant to offset the highly regressive impact of the national sales tax on middle class and working class families.

“Congressman Goode took a bad tax plan and managed to make it even worse for families in our area. This is not the economic leadership we need in these dangerous times,” said Perriello.

This is why the Fifth District never gets anything done. For us, government is non-responsive and obviously worrying about Mexican flags outside Mexican restaurants, or making English the official language. Why have an ethanol plant in Southside? Because the brown people may benefit. No SCHIP? That’s because the totally human and totally unauthorized immigrants might benefit. AIDS help for Africa? Hell no. We don’t need no stinkin furrin aid. They all hate us anyway.

Goodbye Virgil Goode. I won’t miss you.

DebateGate Day 6 –

“Duck, Duck, Goode” Officially Blows Off Televised Debate

Perriello to Hold Press Conferences Outside NBC 29 and ABC 13 Studios

October 6, 2008—Ivy, VA—Rep. Virgil Goode has blown off NBC 29 and ABC 13, saying that he will not reschedule a televised debate that has been on the calendar for six months and that he unexpectedly pulled out from last week. NBC 29 confirms that Tucker Watkins, Goode’s campaign manager, had made a commitment to debate. The event that Rep. Goode has deemed more important is a fundraiser.

Tom Perriello will hold press conferences in front of both television studios to condemn Goode’s dishonorable and irresponsible action.

NBC 29 Studios

When: 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 7 – the original time of the scheduled debate

Where: 503 E. Market Street, Charlottesville, VA

ABC 13 Studios

When: 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 8

Where: 2320 Langhorne Road, Lynchburg, VA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The most damning part of this is not that he has confirmed he has gone back on his word to debate. It is the fact that NBC29 confirmed that Tucker Watkins made the arrangements for the debate, contrary to what both Goode and Watkins had claimed earlier.

I sense a growing feeling of panic in the Goode camp, as their recent actions have proven. Virgil Goode does not want to face the public, his constituents, or the press. He is afraid that he will be shown as being the intellectual lightweight and pandering career politician that he really is. One can hope.

He seems to be running scared. Maybe if he gets scared enough, he will actually agree to a debate with Tom Perriello, our fine Democratic candidate.

DebateGate Day 5 – Perriello Challenges Goode; Tucker Watkins Avoids Responsibility

October 5, 2008—Ivy, VA—Tom Perriello, Democratic candidate for the fifth district, released a web video today challenging Rep. Virgil Goode to show up to the televised debate on October 7 that has been on the calendar for over six months. The video was shot at Hampden-Sydney College, another institution that has been trying in vain for months to schedule a debate between the two candidates. The video can be viewed here.

Yesterday at Old Farm Day in Fluvanna County, Goode campaign manager Tucker Watkins was asked about the debate and replied that there was no “mix-up” on the schedule, but that “Virgil had a conflict,” which has now been reported to be a fundraiser. Watch Mr. Watkins avoid all responsibility here.

It remains to be seen when a debate will happen, but i would bet that Since Congressman Goode has said he would debate one more time, my money is on the Hampden-Sydney debate.

Goode pulled this same bait-and-switch in 2006, when he refused to show up at a debate, and Al Weed set up an empty chair for Mr. Goode. I am not sure why Goode doesn’t want to debate, but it could have something to do with his votes on various bills this year.

I hope there is at least one debate that can be seen over most of the district on television. The voters deserve it, Tom Perriello deserves to be heard, and most importantly, that’s his job to prove he should be re-hired.

DebateGate Day 2: Goode Puts Fundraising Ahead of Voters
Tucker Watkins Thrown Under Bus for Scheduling Error

October 2, 2008—Ivy, VA—Rep. Virgil Goode told WSLS10 that he is backing out of a televised debate because he is scheduled to be at a fundraiser that night.

“It’s just wrong that in a time of economic crisis, when voters most need to hear their representative’s plans for getting the economy back on track, Congressman Goode would prioritize fundraising from lobbyists ahead of the voters’ interests,” said Tom Perriello, his Democratic challenger. “We repeat our assertion that the debate scheduled for October 7 can and should go on. I keep my word, and I plan to be there.”

Rep. Goode told the Danville Register & Bee that he does not trust his staff (referring to campaign manager Tucker Watkins) to make decisions about debates. He also said that he will do one more debate but has not said when and where.

“We’d appreciate if Congressman Goode would clue us in as we have a schedule to manage, too,” said Jessica Barba, communications director for the Perriello campaign. “It’s unbelievable that he refuses to take responsibility for the actions of his campaign manager. Is he going to fire Tucker Watkins over this grave error? No, this is just another excuse for him to run scared from his disastrous record of voting for the banking lobbyists, Big Oil, and prescription drug companies who bankroll his campaigns.”

Not this Tucker Watkins, right?

Tucker Watkins, disrespecting veterans at the 2004 Republican Convention.

Goode Running Scared, Backs Out of Televised Debate

October 1, 2008—Charlottesville, VA—NBC 29 reported today that Rep. Virgil Goode will back out of the 5th District televised debate that has been on the calendar since April. He cited “a scheduling conflict.” The debate was deliberately scheduled on the same night as the presidential debate to increase viewership.

“There’s just no excuse for this. We’ve been working with NBC29 and WSET for over six months on scheduling and setting rules for the debate. I call on Congressman Goode to tell his constituents what other event would be more important than a televised debate for the benefit of the voters,” said Tom Perriello, his Democratic challenger. “The truth is: Congressman Goode is just running away from his terrible record on the economy, gas prices, and so many other problems facing middle class families. His constituents deserve the opportunity to hear him defend that record, and hear my vision for bringing jobs and economic relief back to Southside. This is cowardice, not leadership.”

This sort of thing seems to be catching; last week John McCain, this week, Virgil Goode. He had already been balking at the traditional, once-every-two-years debate at Hampden-Sydney College at the end of this month.

Does he think he has this wrapped up? Or is he thinking maybe it’s getting too hot in his kitchen?

Goodbye, Virgil; time to retire and be a lobbyist with all your friends up there across from the Capitol, you know, VSA.

Here, from Virgil Goode’s own Website, is a listing for mental health parity legislation, what his vote was, and what the result was: (from his legislative page)

Source: Congressman Virgil Goode

Description of Legislation

Votes in the Congress

Vote of Congressman Goode

Mental Disorders Mandates

Members voted, 268-148, the same benefits for mental and physical illness in group plans that cover mental illness. The bill exempts firms with fewer than 51 workers, covers substance abuse and mandates coverage for disorders such as incest, jet lag, gender identity disorder, necrophilia, transvestite fetishes, and pedophilia. A yes vote was to pass HR 1424

268-148

No

Mental Health Parity

Members defeated, 196-221, an alternative proposal to replace HR 1424 (above) with a milder Senate bill that did not contain the incest, jet lag, Transvestite fetishes, and other similar mandates. A yes vote supported a mental-health parity bill that provided discretion rather than mandates for determining mental conditions to be covered.

196-221

Yes

But wait! It gets better.

Recently, the House and Senate passed mental health parity legislation, with the primary change in it being that the law will expire in one year instead of two in the other bill from March. This is worth voting no over?

Virgil has proven over and over again the he loves to pander by using his votes in Congress. Now if we could just get him to actually do something for the majority of the residents of the Fifth District.

September 23, 2008 – Ivy, VA- In an interview with Media General News Service, Rep. Virgil Goode offered no solutions to the current economic crisis, and indicated that he was waiting on the bill as “lobbying intensified.” The American Bankers Association (ABA), the corporate lobbyists who are pushing for the generous bailout with little penalties, is Rep. Goode’s largest corporate contributor this year.

“This crisis is the direct result of Bush, Goode, and the gang in Washington taking money from lobbyists and then letting them off the hook of basic standards of accountability,” said Tom Perriello, Democratic candidate for the fifth district. “We need leaders who put consumers ahead of corporate CEOs and long-term stability ahead of lobbyists. There are plenty of people on Wall Street and in Washington who should be fired for this grave dereliction of duty.”

Goode has received $41,000 in PAC money from the ABA while in Congress. The ABA lobbies Congress on behalf of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, JP Morgan Chase, Merril Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and the Arab Bank. Rep. Goode has been virtually silent as this financial crisis has sent stocks plummeting and increased economic uncertainty across Virginia.

“Goode voted for the deregulation legislation that created this meltdown, took tons from the corporate interest groups that demanded it, and is now sitting on the sidelines as our hard-earned savings get crushed,” said Jessica Barba, Perriello’s communications director. “The same lobbyists that have given Goode tens of thousands of dollars are writing their own bailout bill and asking Main Street to pay for it. We say not one dollar of bailout unless it comes with the accountability and equity shifts that will correct our course.”

Who could have foreseen this? Virgil Goode, paragon of virtue, taking money to hasten the bank failures? Now he wants to just sit around and wait for the same lobbyists that fund his campaign and who gives him marching orders for the Appropriations Committee, he wants these money-stained sellers of everything to write the bill that helps us recover from a mess wholly not of our doing.

Nah. Not the guy who took almost $100,000 from Mitchell Wade, convicted con-man from MZM…

Is it any wonder this country has gone precipitously downhill ever since the Republicans got in the White House and ran Congress?

Anyone who knowingly votes for this bunch should be subject to an education course about who and how this country is being sold out from under us.

(click image to enlarge)

Call the number above and tell Virgil Goode’s campaign that we don’t like him collecting lobbyist money, and we like it even less when you throw a Lobbyist Party on an anniversary of tragedy.

What’s next, a fundraiser on December 7, 2008?