GOP candidate loans himself $500,000 for 5th District run

One of the Republicans running for the GOP nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, has loaned his campaign $500,000 of his own money, and he’s not ruling out an independent, third-party run for office.

Jim McKelvey, a real estate developer from Bedford County, said he believes so strongly that Perriello and other Democrats in Con-gress must be tossed out and replaced with strong conservatives that he was willing to put up half a million dollars out of his own pocket.

“These people swore an oath to uphold the Consti-tution and none of them are doing it,” McKelvey said. “These people in D.C. are destroying the country and I can’t take it anymore.”

According to McKelvey’s year-end campaign finance report filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission, McKelvey received two contributions between Oct. 1 and the end of 2009. One contribution was a $1,000 check from a Roanoke packaging sales-man. The other was McKelvey’s loan to himself, with a $1 million real es-tate property put up as collateral.

“This country’s treated me well,” McKelvey said. “It’s time for a little bit of payback.”

McKelvey is the second Republican running in the June 8 primary to be pri-marily self-funded, at least as of the end of the year. Laurence Verga, a private real estate investor from Ivy, raised a total of $287,604 as of Dec. 31, giving himself $226,579 in loans and donations.

McKelvey and Verga are among seven Republicans competing to win the GOP primary.

Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, is widely viewed as one of the race’s front-runners. Hurt, who has not yet filed his year-end cam-paign finance report, has said that his campaign received contributions from more than 450 people total-ing $293,408. Among Hurt’s supporters was U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Henrico, the second-ranking Republican in the House.

McKelvey added in an interview Wednesday that he would not rule out a possible run as an inde-pendent candidate, should it appear that Hurt — whom McKelvey said is too moderate — is likely to win the GOP nomination.

“My take on Robert Hurt is that he’s just the same old, same old. We can’t send him to Congress,” McKelvey said. “I will do whatever it takes from here until November to make sure that does not happen.”

If McKelvey were to run as third-party candidate, he would be particularly well funded thanks to his half-million campaign loan.

Chris LaCivita, Hurt’s campaign strategist, said money is but one factor in elections.

“Politics is more than money – it’s also people, organization and knowledge,” he said.

LaCivita added a dig at Verga, who moved to Albemarle County in 2004. “I guess folks who just moved here have to compensate somehow.”

Verga declined to comment on McKelvey’s latest fundraising report, but disputed LaCivita’s insinuation that he is a carpetbagger.

“Hurt was born in New York, so I guess LaCivita is also criticizing his own client,” Verga said. “Look, Perriello was born here, does that automatically make him a good congressman? You don’t get to choose where you’re born, but you do get to decide where to raise your family. When my wife and I started ours, we decided to move to Virginia because it is one of the best places to raise a family and grow a business.”

Another candidate in the race, Feda Kidd Morton, reported Tuesday that she received contributions from 18 donors, including her-self, for a total $25,109 raised between Sept. 1 and Dec. 31.

None of the other Republicans has yet filed a report with the FEC. The year-end reports are due Sunday.

Perriello, a freshman Democrat, has also not yet filed. As of Sept. 30, he had raised $724,991.

McNeill is a staff writer for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.