Should Conservatives Support Robert Hurt for Congress?

The dynamic in the race for the Republican nomination in the 5th District seems to be anybody but Hurt. His votes for the Warner tax increases, as well as the Northern Virginia Trasnsportation Authority are making many people raise their eyebrows (to say the least).

Robert Hurt is addressing this issue by saying it is a vote he regrets. His campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, argues that Sen. Hurt was misled, and if he knew there was really a surplus he wouldn't have voted for it. He is also arguing that people are just cherrypicking a couple votes out of over 5,000 votes Se. Hurt cast. Sen. Hurt has also signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge to not raise taxes that is sponsored by Grover Norquist.

To say that harking back to this vote is cherrypicking is to ignore the political situation surrounding the Warner tax increase vote. This was one of the bigget votes in the state senate in years. Activists, and the RPV chair Kate Obenshain were calling on the state senate to not pass the tax increases. A western style wanted posters were created with the faces of all the Republican state senators who voted for the tax increases, and an effort was made to primary many of those state senators in the 2007 election cycle. Some would also consider the vote a significant reason the Republicans lost the state senate in 2007.

To brush off a vote like this by saying you regret it and wouldn't have done it if you had all the information is like saying you wouldn't have voted for the first bailout if you had all the information. That is not the kind of person we want. We want someone who will get it right when it comes time to vote.

It is almost as inspiring as supporting someone for president who supported the Gang of 14 while in the U.S. Senate, and we all saw how well that worked out.

That said for Lawrence Verga and others to compare what is going on in the 5th district to NY-23 inaccurately represents both what happened in New York, and what is going on in Virginia. In New York the Republican leaders chose someone who was more liberal than the Democrat, and was endorsed by the SEIU and ACORN. In Virginia we have someone who has a long record of service in the state legislature, and besides those two very important votes it is a very good record. He is socially conservative, and he is pro gun. These things could not be said about the Republican nominee in NY-23.

Robert Hurt is someone who will very understandably have a difficult time energizing and inspiring the grassroots. Is he someone I would support in a primary? No. While he will not be a conservative leader in Congress, he will be much better than Tom Periello, and will do a good job, and therfore we can and must support him as conservatives if he wins the nomination. If our goal truly is to advance conservative values, then if we fail to defeat him in the primary, we must back Sen. Hurt in the general election, and make sure he wins. To support a third party in the 5th district guarantees we will lose the race, and hurts the conservative cause.

Ken Cuccinelli Successful During Special Session

Last month I described how Ken Cuccinelli called for a special session of the General Assembly to deal with a recent Supreme Court decision. After being accused of making political stunts, Tim Kaine eventually sided with Ken over Steve Shannon and called the special session. The session occurred yesterday, and in one day the solution bill that Ken introduced was passed through both houses of the general assembly.

Special Session

Successful;

Legislature Follows

Cuccinelli's Lead

RICHMOND - Today, Virginia's General Assembly passed legislation requested by Senator Ken Cuccinelli to address the problems created by the ruling of the United States Supreme Court in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.

Sen. Cuccinelli remarked, "I would like to thank my colleagues in the General Assembly and Governor Kaine for working together to solve this issue quickly." Sen. Cuccinelli added, "Across the Commonwealth, drunk drivers were getting off scott free - this was a public safety issue, and we were able to address it with today's legislation."

On June 25th, the Supreme Court ruled in Melendez that prosecutors could not require defendants to call lab technicians to testify in drug and DUI prosecutions, as this shifted the burden from the prosecution to the defense to produce witnesses in a criminal case. This decision resulted in an explosion of defense subpoenas for lab technicians - threatening to overwhelm the department of forensic sciences and prosecutors across Virginia, thereby causing the dismissal of drug and DUI cases. This decision forced prosecutors to suspend drug and drunk driver cases and caused a bottleneck in Virginia's criminal justice system.

Commonwealth's Attorneys from all over Virginia were severely concerned over the situation and were scrambling for a fix to the problem.

After consulting with Virginia prosecutors and law enforcement, Sen. Cuccinelli was the first to pose a solution to the Melendez problem, and in a letter to Governor Kaine, called for a Special Session on July 9th, just two weeks after the ruling. On July 22nd, Governor Kaine announced during a press conference that a legislative fix would be needed and called the legislature into session.

On July 10th, Democrat Candidate for Attorney General and House of Delegates Member, Steve Shannon called Sen. Cuccinelli's request for a legislative fix a "political stunt," and said an administrative fix was all that was needed. Shannon was rebuked by Commonwealth's Attorneys and even by the Governor.

Governor Kaine endorsed Cuccinelli's approach, noting that "legislative action" was necessary to solve the problems posed by Melendez.

Shannon voted for Cuccinelli's legislation, despite his early and loud opposition to resolving this issue through legislation.

"I'd like to thank Steve for voting for my 'legislative fix'," said Sen. Cuccinelli. "I'm glad Steve and others changed their mind and recognized that my urgent request over a month ago was indeed not a political stunt." Sen. Cuccinelli added, "I will continue working alongside law enforcement and Commonwealth's Attorneys to make sure that this fix has the intended effect - to stop drunk drivers, and drug offenders, from going free due to Melendez."

Sen. Cuccinelli also noted that he looked forward to addressing other approaches to alleviate the Melendez problem, such as live video transmissions from lab technicians. "I just hoping I'm doing it as Attorney General, not as a State Senator," Sen. Cuccinelli concluded.

Senator Cuccinelli was one of five members on the Courts of Justice Sub-Committee which crafted this legi

Cuccinelli Outriases Shannon with Historic Fundraising Period

In the last fundraising period Ken Cuccinelli ouraised his opponent, Steve Shannon, by $7,000.00. Ken Cuccinelli raised $291,704 and Steven Shannon raised $284,733. (Contrary to what the Richmond Times Dispatch may write this actually means Ken raised more money.) Not only did Ken outraise Steve, but he also had the most donations. He had 292 donations greater than $100.00 compared with Shannon's 238. On donations of $100.00 or less Cuccinelli had 487 more than eight times as much as Steve Shannon's 57. If donors are votes Ken Cuccinelli is in good shape.

Not only did Ken outraise Steve Shannon this quarter, he pulled in a historic haul. According to Chris Lacivita,

"This was more than the last two GOP candidates for attorney general, Bob McDonnell and Jerry W. Kilgore, raised in the same period, campaign consultant Chris LaCivita said. It also includes no national GOP money, he said."

This historic fundraising report follows only a week after Ken's polling lead was announced. Let's keep this moment going by volunteering, and continuing to donate. If we work hard we will see Ken Cuccinelli as our next Attorney General.

(Simultaneously posted by VASocialConservative and Cuccinelli4AG.)