FairTax advocate, political outsider takes aim at 5th
The Daily Progress/Matthew Rosenberg
Bradley S. Rees decided to run for Congress after Tom Perriello ran a campaign ad that Rees believes unfairly criticized then-Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr.’s support of the FairTax — which would essentially eliminate federal income taxes and replace them with a 23 percent national sales tax.
Published: August 3, 2009
LYNCHBURG — Bradley S. Rees, 31, isn’t exactly a typical GOP candidate for Congress.
Rees works in a Lynchburg manufacturing facility, where he assembles valve actuators for pipelines. His campaign theme song is called “Bulldozer” by thrash metal band Machine Head. He has tattoos across his fist. And he doesn’t much care about such social issues as gay marriage or abortion.
“I’m an unknown,” Rees acknowledges, sitting at a table at the Big Lick Tropical Grill in Lynchburg, after getting off work from the nearby Flowserve factory. “I’m from completely outside of politics.”
Rees is the first of a possible dozen Republican candidates vying for their party’s nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, in next year’s mid-term congressional election.
Last Monday, former congressman Virgil H. Goode Jr., a Republican from Rocky Mount, announced that he would not seek a re-match against Perriello.
Door wide open
Goode’s announcement opens the doors for Republicans throughout the 5th Congressional District — which stretches from the Charlottesville region to Danville and Martinsville — to take on Perriello in what is likely to be one of the nation’s closest-watched races in 2010.
Rees, who lives in Bedford County with his wife and two children, had never before considered running for office, but was a longtime advocate of the “FairTax,” which would essentially eliminate federal income taxes and replace them with a 23 percent national sales tax.
Rees decided to run for Congress late last year, he said, after Perriello ran a campaign ad that Rees believes unfairly criticized Goode’s support of the FairTax. In the ad, Perriello does not mention that the FairTax idea calls for eliminating federal income taxes, instead saying only that it would increase the sales tax. “His plan would add a 23 percent tax on almost everything you buy,” Perriello says in the ad. “That might work for a millionaire like Goode, but not for the middle class.”
Rees believes Goode ultimately lost to Perriello in part because the six-term incumbent Republican did not make the FairTax a signature issue during the campaign.
“He was all caught up with illegal immigration, gay marriage and abortion and things like that,” Rees said.
If Rees is elected, he said, he would be much more focused on getting the FairTax measure passed.
“One of the main problems the FairTax has in Congress right now is that there’s not enough salesmen for the issue,” he said.
Glenn Beck fan
Rees, who carries Glenn Beck’s “Common Sense” and a pocket-sized copy of the Constitution with him, is not just a single-issue candidate. His platform also aims to reduce the influence of lobbyists in Washington and calls for creation of a national commission of “economists, businessmen and experts on constitutional law and public policy to identify areas in which the federal government has run afoul of the 10th Amendment.”
Rees also believes it is important to reduce the number of lawyers serving in Congress. Point No. 6 of his platform is titled: The Lawyer vs. The Common Man. “What is a criminal lawyer? Redundant.
That is one of the many jokes about lawyers that we chuckle over on a regular basis in this country,” his platform says. “There can be no doubt that many of the problems this nation faces stem from our over-litigiousness as a society.”
Rees said he has nothing against lawyers, but believes “common” people like him are needed in office to implement tort reform and reduce government regulation.
“This is a common guy,” said Rees’ campaign manager, Michael Ernette. “That’s what we need. We need common sense.”
Winning the GOP nomination to challenge Perriello will almost certainly be an uphill battle for Rees’ campaign, Republican officials say. Rees lacks name recognition and, unlike some of the other possible candidates, he has not proven that he can win an election.
Yet Ernette thinks Rees might be able to tap into the coalition of conservatives who are attending Taxed Enough Already — or TEA — Parties in the 5th District. Rees has spoken at TEA Parties in Charlottesville and Danville.
“That’s where the coalition is going to come from,” Ernette said.
Ernette added that the Rees campaign echoes gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s famous (albeit unsuccessful) campaign to become sheriff of Aspen, Colo., in 1970.
‘Gonzo campaign’
“We are the gonzo campaign,” Ernette said. “Gonzo grassroots.”
As the campaign rolls on, Rees said, he intends to treat Perriello fairly.
One of the first actions of Rees’ campaign was to issue a statement praising Perriello’s decision to introduce legislation in support of the D-Day Memorial in Bedford.
And on a Wednesday appearance on “The Rob Schilling Show” on WINA-AM 1070, Rees defended Perriello somewhat after Schilling criticized Perriello for missing 49 out of 658 votes so far in Congress. Rees pointed out that Perriello’s father died and that was why his missed so many votes during a one-and-a-half-week period in the spring.
Schilling disagreed. “People deal with loss all the time,” the host said, “but they still have a responsibility.”
Schilling, a former Charlottesville city councilor, went on to praise Rees’ “common sense approach.”
Chris Schoenewald, chairman of the Albemarle County GOP, said he expects numerous Republicans will announce their intentions to run for the nomination in the coming weeks.
Schoenewald said he supports a convention to select his party’s nominee, possibly next May.
Schoenewald declined to comment on Rees’ shot at winning, but noted that the TEA Party supporters are a rising force in the district.
“The TEA Party movement is certainly a force to be reckoned with,” he said, adding that the movement is bringing together Republicans, some Democrats, members of the Constitution Party, Libertarians and many others.
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Reader Reactions
Look at fairtax at Fairtax.org or amazon.com
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_fairtax_four#regressive
The current tax system is not a joke. It’s scary. Think about it, many of President Obama’s picks for cabinet posts were not even sent before Congress due to failure of taxes. Were they good for the country? We’ll never know. Tim Guitner even got caught and he’s the frontman of the IRS.
The tax credits are even more confusing. Try to figure out Historic Tax credits with the City of Lynchburg and the people working there will refer you to an attorney who knows how to do the paperwork (for a REALLY HEFTY FEE)
The current tax system is not working for us.. and definitely helps those willing to sell out their neighbors for a higher profit margin.
I was just “trying to say” this:
——We already have an extremely progressive income tax, which is the only way all the government give-aways can be funded.
Right now, the top 2% Rich People pay almost 50% of the total income tax.
The top 50% of earners pay 95% of the income tax.
35% of workers pay NO federal income tax, and get ‘Earned Income Credits’ instead.
It’s already so top-heavy toward who the left like to call The Wealthy (in their class-warfare sort of way) that it’s ridiculous. You’d never cover all that with a “value-added tax”.——-
AND noting that people change their behavior depending on how they’re being taxed.
It’s sort of odd that people keep saying “The Wealthy Should Pay Their Fair Share” when they’re already carrying the country’s tax burden, and the poor are carrying none of it.
The Wealthy - “Anyone who has more money than I do”.
Except it will be very difficult for Obamas cabinet members to cheat on their taxes if they are paid at the point of sale.
What a bunch of boobs. By the time the congress gets done with the tax laws it will look just like the one we have now. Exclusions, exceptions and variances. Just another political ploy. Fair tax, what a joke.
The Fair Tax also eliminates our underground economy. Hookers, drug dealers and illegal immigrants currently don’t pay income taxes. But hookers buy panty hose, drug dealers buy Mercedes, and illegals buy soap and toilet paper.
Gordie, why do you want to protect our underground economy? Don’t you think illegals should pay taxes?
jouxster why didn’t you post the link where you got all those ideals?
Gordie, you LOVE the POOR yet don’t give a dam about them.
For example, the Fair Tax in it’s current written form subsidizes the poor with a check each month for the expected taxes the poor pay. As far as rich people they avoid the taxes now by buying luxury items offshore. Bring them here and little import tarriffs. The fair tax would charge a HEFTY tax on this skipping around US taxes.
Want to know what else the fair tax taxes. Cheap imports that do not pay social security, medicare, and FICA taxes. Look around and you’ll see these POOR layperson’s jobs have been shipped overseas for $8 a day non American workers. Congress doesn’t care, as a matter of fact both parties have done their best to smooth out the low tariffs on cheap imports while my neighbors have been strugling. Poor people need jobs not handouts. Our country’s technological advantage is finished everytime a company ships our tooling overseas to people willing to work for next to nothing.
As far as farmers, LEGAL migrants workers are regulated by the Department of labor and illegals are even cutting their brethren’s salaries. Check it out if a farmer needs information. http://www.doleta.gov/MSFW/
You know, I don’t understand your hatred of legal immigrants of Africans, Chinese, Russians, Poles, Czech and others. This country allows a certain number of legal immigrants and when illegals jump the fence and break in line this country is forced to limit the number of legal immigrants.
If it was me in charge I’d give each illegal a one time fine of $10,000 and let them stay. If not, you’re right off they go. Legal immigrants have to pay a lot to stay, so fair is fair. Jumping a fence and bringing God knows what with you is not helpng our country at ALL.
cosmo, so you think a “Fair Tax” will eliminate the IRS. Tell me who is going to run the program. From what I have read it is an agency like the IRS. Probably staffed with IRS agents. cosmo always has somehting to say, if only it was within rhime and reason and common sense.
Imprimis, just what are you trying to say? That you want this country run like the “Black Market” in Russia?
I don’t see how the Left would ever let a Fair Tax be put in place.
We already have an extremely progressive income tax, which is the only way all the government give-aways can be funded.
Right now, the top 2% Rich People pay almost 50% of the total income tax.
The top 50% of earners pay 95% of the income tax.
35% of workers pay NO federal income tax, and get ‘Earned Income Credits’ instead.
It’s already so top-heavy toward who the left like to call The Wealthy (in their class-warfare sort of way) that it’s ridiculous. You’d never cover all that with a “value-added tax”.
Besides, it would just drive us all (especially the poor) into a black-market barter economy, where they couldn’t get their hands on us ....!
I will vote for anyone other than Perriello. He votes so far to the left that it isn’t funny. I will also vote for anyone that supports the fair tax. A national sales tax and the elimination of of the IRS, combined with the prebate for lower income workers is the only hope for this nation.
Doing the same thing for years and expecting a different result is stupidity.
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