Leaders
endorse Goode
Martinsville Bulletin
By Ginny Wray
October 24,
2008
Fifth
District U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode was
praised for having Southside values, looking out for his constituents and
putting his principles above politics as he was endorsed Thursday by the area’s
Republican legislators and others.
“Anyone who suggests that Virgil
Goode is not an effective representative must be here in Southside Virginia for the first time,” said state Sen. Robert Hurt,
a Republican who formerly represented parts of Henry County in the House of
Delegates.
Goode, Hurt said, has been involved
in numerous announcements of economic development successes in the area, which
he called the region’s top priority.
“If you just got here, you wouldn’t
know that,” Hurt added.
Goode has said his opponent in the
Nov. 4 election, Democrat Tom Perriello of Ivy in Albemarle County, is a “New York lawyer” who returned to the district
to run for office. Perriello has said that he passed the bar exam in New York
because that is where many international relations cases — his key focus — are
heard and that he has worked as a national security analyst, with foreign
relations and on community issues in West Africa, Darfur, Afghanistan and
elsewhere.
Hurt was one of seven people who
endorsed Goode’s bid for a seventh term in the House in a program at the old
Henry County courthouse in uptown Martinsville. Others
speaking were Republican Dels. Danny Marshall of Danville and Don Merricks of
Pittsylvania County; Mike Rogers, Martinsville’s police chief; Mark Stroud, a
Martinsville City Council member; and Brenda Campbell, president of the Virginia
Federation of Republican Women and a member of the Ridgeway Town Council. Stroud
also read an endorsement letter from Kathy Lawson, Martinsville’s
mayor.
Rogers, Stroud and
Lawson all stated that they were commenting as private citizens, not public
officials.
Marshall and others noted that Goode
has been criticized for voting against a bill on offshore drilling. But, they
said, he opposed the bill because it authorized drilling only more than 50 miles
off the coast, despite the fact that most gas and oil is found within 20 miles
of the coast, and because it would not have given Virginia royalties from
the drilling operations.
“It would have been very easy for
Virgil Goode to have pushed the green button and say yes, but he put principle
above politics” and voted against the bill, Marshall said. Goode “always puts principle
above politics.”
“It is an honor to vote for Virgil
Goode,” Marshall
said. He also quipped, “I voted for Virgil Goode as a Democrat; I voted for
Virgil Goode as an independent; I voted for Virgil Goode as a Republican. If he
ran as a communist, I would still vote for Virgil
Goode.”
Merricks said he
agrees that change is needed but “in a good way, not the wrong way. If everyone
in Congress voted the way Virgil Goode voted, we wouldn’t have any
problems.”
Rogers spoke the
longest, saying he was neither a Republican nor a Democrat. He said he votes for
a person’s character, representation, work ethic and service to constituents,
and he is supporting Goode.
Goode, Rogers said, has never
asked for or voted for a pay raise. Any money he gets as a raise is donated to
charities in the 5th District, Rogers said.
He noted that Goode has helped with
the Piedmont Dental Clinic, New College Institute, Workforce Development Board,
Patrick Henry Community
College and the NASA lab at Martinsville Middle
School. He also has helped area law enforcement
agencies with more than $200,000, much of which went to the New River Police Academy, and funds for in-car
cameras.
Lawson wrote the Goode “is dedicated
to residents of Southside Virginia” and has helped with economic
development issues. Stroud said Goode has the highest moral character. Campbell also praised
Goode for helping get funds to replace a bridge in
Ridgeway.
Goode explained some of his votes,
including the one on the drilling bill and one against the $700 billion bailout
of financial institutions. He also said he is concerned that if Democrat Barack
Obama is elected president, he will name a Supreme Court justice who will seek
to reverse the court’s ruling ending the gun ban in Washington, D.C.
“The Second Amendment (the right to
bear arms) is a key ingredient in preserving the other 10” amendments, Goode
said. “I will continue to fight hard for Second Amendment
rights.”
The crowd of about 100 people
applauded when Goode said he is “pro right to life” and has been endorsed by the
National Right to Life Association.
Perriello, he said, has been
endorsed by the Sierra Club, which he called the biggest opponent of drilling in
Alaska.
Goode said the election will be
“very hard fought,” and he noted that Virginia is a battleground state that has
drawn national candidates more than any other time he can remember. He urged his
supporters to talk to their friends and urge them to vote for conservatives “to
send Barack Obama back to Chicago and Tom Perriello back to New York.”
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