Daily Progress - Hurt's Opponents Speak at 5th District Forum

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By Nate Delesline III

Three of the four candidates for the 5th Congressional District visited Charlottesville on Wednesday night to promote and defend their party and personal political platforms.

Democratic candidate Lawrence Gaughan, Libertarian Paul F. Jones and Independent Green Party candidate Kenneth Hildebrandt attended a forum organized by the Charlottesville Area League of Women Voters.

Campaign staff for incumbent Republican Rep. Robert Hurt notified the organizers ahead of Wednesday's event that he would be unable to attend.

Seated on the dais in Charlottesville's City Council Chambers, the three challengers offered their strategies for economic improvement, immigration reform, health care reform, taming the influence of money in politics and about a half-dozen other familiar topics ahead of Tuesday's midterm election.

"There are a lot of problems in Washington and there are a lot of solutions that aren't being used," Hildebrandt said.

An "economic shot in the arm" would be to legalize industrial hemp and to revert the tax structure on the wealthiest Americans to where it stood through the 1970s to help balance the economy, he said.

"We need to stop electing puppets and have people in office," Hildebrandt said.
In his opening statement, Gaughan said the No. 1 problem in America is that "too much power is in the hands of too few people," adding that the trickle-down economic approach has not worked. Gaughan and the other two candidates present Wednesday night also criticized Hurt for not attending.

"It is an insult and a tremendous disservice to the people of our district that he does not show up," Gaughan said.

In a statement Wednesday, Hurt campaign spokesman Josh Puccio expressed gratitude for the invitation to participate.

"Our campaign has worked tirelessly over the past several months to take our pro-growth jobs message to every corner of our sprawling congressional district, the largest district in the commonwealth. In the final week leading up to the election, we face the unfortunate reality that we cannot be at every event we would like to be and will be meeting with voters in the southern part of our district," Puccio said.

Jones told the group that his platform is based on "the idea that adults should be allowed the freedom and the responsibility to make the important decisions in their lives without government interference."

The candidates' response to moderator Sue Friedman's second question of the evening -- their take on campaign spending -- highlighted not only political platforms but their personalities as well. All called for more transparency and accountability.
"I have no candidate expenditures so I don't really care," Hildebrandt said. "I don't accept any donations other than effort. I spent $303 on signs. … If I get elected to this job, it'll take me a couple terms to break even at making minimum wage."

Political spending "has to be more transparent than it is," Jones said. "All money should be above board, and they should be accountable to the people in their district or state that they're running in."

Gaughan said his fundraising has come from grassroots support.

"I have not taken or asked for any support from the party apparatus or the infrastructure other than the grassroots people who are working, dedicated tireless workers who are giving their hearts and their lives to help me win this campaign against an ideological turncoat incumbent Republican."

Hurt was elected to the House in 2010, unseating Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello and an independent challenger. Hurt retained his seat in 2012, defeating Hildebrandt and Democratic challenger John Douglass.

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