Perriello, Webb stump in Danville for middle class

With his dented, white pickup truck and giant blue campaign signs as a backdrop, Rep. Tom Perriello spoke to supporters at a rally in Danville on Monday afternoon about the need for more time in Washington to help the middle class.

Perriello welcomed Democrat Sen. Jim Webb to stump with him at the Community Market — Sen. Mark Warner recently campaigned with Perriello in Charlottesville — firing up the crowd of more than 175 people on jobs and economic issues in a city where the unemployment rate remains unchanged from July 2009.

Not cheering for the pair, however, were a handful of Republican protestors with signs warning that high taxes and big government send jobs overseas.

“We have tried to create a forward movement in our economy in the last year and a half,” Webb said.

Webb highlighted economic issues under President George W. Bush that President Barack Obama had to start with, such as entering a “strategically inadvisable war” and the $700 billion TARP bailout. The federal stimulus package has helped, he said, although he acknowledged that the Obama administration “has made mistakes” in handling health care reform.

“The way this health care reform was put forward was bad leadership,” he said. “We ended up with chaos and people got scared … it hurt the Democratic Party … But which party do you want to trust to take care of working people? We need leaders like Tom Perriello who aren’t afraid to think.”

Webb praised Perriello’s leadership — saying in an interview following the rally that Perriello has “demonstrated by his intellect” that he’s important to Congress — but in a surprising comment to the crowd that is already making its rounds on YouTube and blogs, Webb somewhat distanced himself from the freshman Democrat facing a tough reelection campaign.

“Tom and I don’t agree on a lot of issues,” said Webb, who is up for reelection in 2012.

“I’m not a fan of ‘cap and trade,’ by the way,” he said, pointing to a protestor’s sign, “… but what we need is … people who aren’t afraid to think and who will take care of the working people.”

Two SurveyUSA polls have Perriello behind his Republican opponent, Robert Hurt, by at least 20 points, although many have questioned the validity of those polls. Perriello said after the event that “the serious polls show this is a dead-heat race.”

Taking the microphone, Perriello told the crowd that “solutions don’t always fit on a bumper sticker,” and touted his work to close the tax loophole that allowed corporations to outsource American jobs and to rebuild a competitive advantage through infrastructure investments.

“This is not a time for games,” Perriello said. “This is not a time for politicians who are gonna hide … I have no fear … I didn’t go up there to be comfortable. We shouldn’t be comfortable.”

Perriello hit Hurt hard on a 2007 vote in the General Assembly that Perriello said raised electric rates. The legislation, SB 1416, allowed power companies to restructure their rates and raise fees and surcharges separate from base rate increases. His campaign cited a State Corporation Commission chart linking seven of Appalachian Power Company’s increases to the 2007 law.
“It’s nothing personal,” Perriello said. “It’s that Southern Virginia can’t afford a world of ‘Hurt.’”

Hurt’s campaign spokeswoman, Amanda Henneberg, said the rate increases were instead from a 1998 law that predated Hurt, an argument Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli recently
supported.

 “Congressman Perriello is the only candidate in this race who knowingly took an on the record vote that would raise electricity rates when he voted in favor of Cap and Trade,” Henneberg said in an e-mail, also hitting Perriello on his “failed job-killing” record of voting for health care reform.
“… In sharp contrast,” Henneberg said, “Robert Hurt believes that to create sustainable private sector jobs, we must lower taxes and support our small businesses.”

In regards to Danville’s unchanging unemployment rate, Perriello referenced news that former John McCain economic advisor Mark Zandi said unemployment would have been higher without the stimulus.

“We’ve done more (than Republicans),” Perriello said after the event. “We’ve passed five jobs bills. Republicans have been against every one of them. I’ve been out fighting for jobs here.”