GOP hopefuls court conservatives in Tea Party debate

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Six of the seven Republicans running for the chance to take on U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, gathered Friday evening to tout their conservative credentials in the first debate of the GOP primary race.

More than 200 conservatives filled the Lane Auditorium at the Albemarle County Office Building to hear the candidates weigh in on health care reform, taxes, cutting government spending and more at the first of three planned debates sponsored by Tea Party groups.

"We've been very clear so far about what we're against," said moderator Robert Tracinski, a political commentator and Tea Party supporter from Louisa County. "This event allows us to define what we're for. It gives a chance that this November, we'll be able to vote for something better than the lesser of two evils."

The only candidate not in attendance was Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham. Hurt's campaign has said that the lawmaker declined to attend because the event was scheduled during the General Assembly session. In Hurt's place, a Tea Party member had erected a cardboard cutout of his face atop a coat and tie.

Hurt's campaign said Friday afternoon that it is looking forward to working with the Tea Party groups in Danville and Lynchburg, as well as GOP committees in scheduling future debates.

Among the candidates who showed up at Friday's debate, there was very little disagreement. Each spoke strongly against Perriello and the direction of the country under the administration of President Barack Obama and the Democratic-majority Congress. Each said that taxes are too high, government spending must be slashed, Virginia's status as a "right-to-work" state must be protected and that the proposal to reform the nation's health insurance system must be killed.

Each was asked what his or her top priority would be if elected to Congress with a GOP majority.

Ron Ferrin, a businessman from Campbell County, said he would try to erase everything passed so far during the Obama administration.

"I would propose the Liberty Recovery Act of 2011 that would repeal everything that Obama was going to induce in his first two years of office," he said.

Michael McPadden, a commercial pilot from North Garden, said he would seek to boost economic activity by cutting taxes and reducing government spending. "You want jobs in this country, then you cut taxes," he said. "Cut the size and scope of the federal government."

Laurence Verga, a private real estate investor from Ivy, said he would slash a long list of taxes, including corporate and small business taxes, as well as the estate and capital gains taxes.

Verga said the voters deserve better than the "devastation of Tom Perriello" when it comes to the economic problems facing the district. "We can and we will do better," he said.

Jim McKelvey, a Franklin County real estate developer, said he would reduce the size of the federal government by 20 percent and bring to the floor of Congress a bill that would implement the so-called FairTax that would eliminate federal income taxes and replace them with a retail sales tax.

The candidates were asked if they disagreed with any actions undertaken during the George W. Bush administration.

Verga said he objected to the Troubled Asset Relief Program bank bailout, the McCain-Feingold limits on campaign finance and the No Child Left Behind education reform.

Feda Kidd Morton, a Fluvanna County biology teacher and GOP activist, said she opposed the bank bailout and also the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was actually signed by Bill Clinton in 1994.

"I go back to NAFTA, definitely. NAFTA is draining our jobs overseas," Morton said. "I would take NAFTA off the table and bring our manufacturing jobs and businesses back into this country."

McPadden also looked to earlier administrations for his sources of criticism. "I'd go back to the Carter administration, get rid of the Education Department first," he said. "Go back to the Clinton administration, AmeriCorps has got to go. Go back to the Bush administration, TARP funding has got to go. And no funding for ACORN ever."

Albemarle County Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd told the crowd that he has a decade's worth of experience reducing government spending and balancing budgets.

"We need someone willing to step up, cut spending and balance the budget," he said. "That's something we've done here in Albemarle County."

Boyd said he, too, would take drastic steps to reduce the size of the federal government.

"The federal Department of Education should be done away with," Boyd said, saying it is unconstitutional.

The moderator noted that while Obama's clean energy bill called the American Clean Energy and Security Act appears to have stalled, the Environmental Protection Agency recently concluded that it has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions under the Clean Air Act of 1990. The finding, the moderator said, may lead to tougher regulations even if the clean energy bill fails to pass. He wondered if each candidate would support a bill to strip the EPA of that authority.

McKelvey said he would, as regulation of carbon dioxide emissions would be "an absolute detriment to our economy."

"Absolutely," McPadden agreed. "We'd just defund them. Congress holds the purse strings. Congress holds the power. We can stop the EPA by just defunding them. That's the simple solution right there. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant."

Morton agreed, as well.

"I'm a science teacher," she said. "Carbon is not a pollutant. It is part of our body and our makeup. It is the life chemical, the life element that keeps us alive. The EPA cannot do that. It's unconstitutional. They are subverting and going around the legal process of Congress making the laws. They need to be defunded. And we have to watch out for U.N. treaties that can come in around and try to legislate through U.N. treaties for the same purpose."

Boyd jumped in to say that he supports environmental protection, but not Obama's so-called cap-and-trade measure.

"We can be good stewards of the environment without going to such extremes that would ruin our economy," he said.

McNeill is a staff writer for The News & Advance in Lynchburg.