Perriello voted twice to delay stimulus plan

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WASHINGTON — Before voting with fellow Democrats to pass a stimulus bill, Reps. Tom Perriello and Glenn Nye both voted twice with Republicans Friday to delay action on the $787 billion plan.

Perriello, D-5th District, said he wanted more time for public input on the bill and Nye, D-2nd District, said he wanted more time and more tax cuts in the bill.

“Democracy works better when citizens have a chance to be involved,” said Perriello, who voted with Republicans to have the bill available online for at least 48 hours before a vote on final passage.

Their votes show how cautiously the two freshmen are behaving in their first months in office, observers say. Perriello won his 5th District seat by 727 votes after a recount.

“Both those districts have a strong Republican base,” said political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. “They have to try to accommodate that.”

President Barack Obama is expected to sign the stimulus plan into law Tuesday.

Nye and Perriello were among 18 Democrats who voted with Republicans Friday to continue debate.

Nye was unavailable for comment Monday, but his spokesman Clark Pettig said “Nye felt strongly there was not enough time to look at the bill.”

Nye was among 14 Democrats who voted to send the bill back to a conference committee with instructions to negotiate with the Senate a new compromise containing more tax cuts. Earlier, he and 20 Democrats joined Republicans in objecting to the House rules that limited debate on the bill.

Perriello and 18 other Democrats joined Republicans in a separate vote objecting to consideration of the stimulus plan Friday.

The procedural votes Nye and Perriello cast with House Republicans were designed to “cover yourself on both sides,” said Democratic consultant Dave “Mudcat” Saunders of Roanoke. “For Tom Perriello and the Fifth District, I think it was his only political move.”

Republicans pounced on the rookies, saying the Perriello and Nye, both aged 34, were “hedging” on a key vote.

“They realize a vote in favor of this pork-laden package could potentially come with some very serious consequences in their districts,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee.

The committee blasted swing-district Democrats, including freshman Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-11th, for supporting the stimulus Friday.

Perriello called it a “real turn-off” to “be playing political games” when people are in the middle of an economic crisis.

Republicans launched a week-long radio ad targeting Nye for his vote and imploring his constituents to call and “tell him he made a mistake by supporting wasteful spending.”

Pettig, Nye’s spokesman said, “He is going to continue voting the way he thinks is best for the district ... regardless of political attacks.”

Observers say it’s too early to know how the stimulus votes will play in the 2010 congressional race.

“There’s going to be a lot of things to talk about between now and November 2010, and this is just one,” Saunders said.

How constituents rate their congressman will depend more on the state of economy then than on votes cast now, Sabato said.

“(Perriello) and Nye and all the Democratic freshmen will rise and fall with the economy,” he said.

Simon writes from Media General’s Washington Bureau.