U.S. Representative Tom Perriello, a Democrat who was elected to Congress from Virginia’s Fifth District in 2008 by a narrow margin over then-incumbent Republican Virgil Goode, debated his challenger, Danville businessman Jeffrey Clark, at a forum sponsored by the Senior Statesmen of Virginia in Charlottesville on August 11. (A third candidate, Robert Hurt of Chatham, chose not to participate.)
After the debate, Perriello answered questions posed by the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner.
Earning Libertarian Votes
The first question was, given that some voters in the Fifth District identify as libertarian, how does he plan to earn their votes in the November 2 election?
Perriello replied that he has “taken a strong position in terms of regulation of farming, and manufacturing, and other issues from a libertarian perspective.”
He added that libertarian voters are “also very concerned about some of the overreach by the Republican Party” as it “promote[s] more of a police state mentality.”
Referring to his votes to support the comprehensive health-care overhaul bill pushed by President Barack Obama (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), Perriello suggested that his vote was motivated, in part, by libertarian concerns.
“Again,” he said, “I think there are ways to understand some things that have been pitched as government takeover as really being about individual rights and libertarian rights,” for example, for “people to not get screwed by your insurance company, the right to not have to pay for other peoples’ illnesses.”
“To me,” Perriello said, these “have a libertarian undercurrent.”
Same-Sex Marriage and DOMA
During the forum, Perriello was asked about same-sex marriage and whether he would vote to repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Because he did not directly answer that question, he was given another opportunity to do so. (See video below.)
He replied:
“Right now, we’re looking at this playing out at the state level. I think you’re seeing, as you did with welfare reform, different states take different approaches and districts take different approaches. I think we’ll continue to see how that plays out state to state.”
About the forum itself, Perriello said he enjoyed himself.
Mixing It Up
“I really enjoyed [debating] with Virgil Goode last time because he was a very opinionated guy, so we actually got into issues and mixed it up. And that’s more fun to me.”
He added, however, that “unfortunately, with Senator Hurt, we’ve mainly just got Republican Party talking points and not engaging with what’s going to solve the problem.”
As to Wednesday’s forum, the first major debate of the campaign season, Perriello said, “With Mr. Clark and myself, you have a conservative/populist vs. a progressive/populist, both thinking the system’s broken, having slightly different approaches to how we mix that up. That made it a good forum.”
Do you like this article? Do you want to see more like it? Be sure to click on the "subscribe" button at the top of the page.
If you would like to become an Examiner on Examiner.com, click on the "write for us" button on the upper right corner of this page.
Comments
The title of the article literally made me laugh for like 15 minutes strait.
Having been a libertarian for my adult life, and being involved with Libertarian groups in multiple states over years.. I have never met a libertarian that would give 2 second of consideration for voting for a man like Parriello.
Someone needs to read the libertarian section of wikipedia before naming their articles. If parriello actually said that.. he is living in a world of his own creation.
I'm heartened that even scared Democrats are jumping on the libertarian bandwagon. It's awesome to live in a time when libertarianism is what all the cool kids are doing.
However, Perriello doesn't offer much libertarianism. To be fair, libertarians might agree with him about the Republican police-state mentality.
On Obamacare, Perriello talks out of both sides of his mouth in claiming “the right to not have to pay for other peoples’ illnesses”. Forcing some people to pay for others' illnesses is exactly what Obamacare does to younger people. Younger people tend to need less health care than older people. For the first several decades of their lives, young people will pay more in premiums than they get back in medical services. In addition, everyone will see tax increases to support the monster program. For this and many other reasons, a libertarian would vote to repeal Obamacare (or, as a Representative, not vote to fund it). Will Perriello commit to the libertarian positio
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!