I am a Conservative and I support Robert Hurt

In the race for the Republican nomination for the 5th District Congressional seat the plan of the five challengers to State Sen. Robert Hurt (R-19) seems to be to attack Sen. Hurt for his vote on Mark Warner's 2004 tax increase and saying that he is not a conservative. People who attack Robert for this vote do not understand the circumstances surrounding nor to they know Robert personally or have any knowledge of his outstanding representation of his constituents as a Delegate and State Senator.

I first came to know of Robert Hurt in 2006 when I transferred to Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, VA before my junior year of high school. Robert is from Chatham and the town is part of his former House district and his current Senate district. I honestly can not think of a person in the town of Chatham who is more respected than Robert Hurt. It seemed that almost everyone of my teachers at Hargrave had a Hurt for Delegate or Hurt for Senate bumper sticker on their car regardless of their political affiliation. Some of them were staunch conservative Republicans like Robert but others were Independents and Democrats who supported Robert because no matter what they knew that Robert would always put the interests of his constituents first. Many remember that this time between 2006-2008 was not a friendly time around the country for many Republicans but Robert continued to have the support of many.

Much discussion has risen on the blogs in recent weeks about Sen. Hurt's vote for Mark Warner's 2004 tax increase. Virginia specific blogs like Bearing Drift and Virginia Tomorrow have discussed this and even national blogs like Red State have as well. People who attack Robert Hurt on this vote don't really know the circumstances surrounding this vote at all. Mark Warner flat out lied to the General Assembly telling them that if they did not vote for this bill that the government would essentially have to be shut down. Trust me, I don't like the government that much and I am sure Sen. Hurt doesn't either but we all realize that despite how big the government has grown that there are key services that the government does provide that are essential to our everyday life. Also, if you look at the actual votes on the bill you will realize that the bill would have passed with or without the vote of then Delegate Robert Hurt. Robert Hurt voted for what he thought at the time was in the best interest of his constituents. You can't fault a representative for that especially with the amount of elected officials who are doing the opposite these days. Looking back on the situation it wasn't the best vote as we ended up having a budget surplus, but there is no reason why a great and honorable man like Sen. Robert Hurt should have to suffer for the lies of Mark Warner.

If you are saying Robert Hurt isn't a conservative do you remember who he supported in the primary for Attorney General of Virginia this spring? Sen. Hurt along with his Senate colleagues Sen. Ralph Smith and Sen. Jill Vogel were some of the first elected officials to come out openly in support of then Sen. Ken Cuccinelli for Attorney General. Cuccinelli is without a doubt the most conservative candidate to run in Virginia since Mike Farris ran for Lt. Governor. If Sen. Hurt wasn't really a conservative he probably would have gone with the GOP establishment crowd and supported John Brownlee for the GOP nomination.

Out of all the other candidates who really knows the 5th district and its people well enough to represent them? Obviously not Lawrence Verga. In the Virginia Tomorrow post by Verga which is linked above Verga claims that there are 22 counties in the 5th District which is quite incorrect. There are actually 18 counties in the 5th district.

Robert Hurt is the best choice for Congress in the 5th District. He has represented his constituents well as a Delegate from 2001 to 2007 and since then as a State Senator despite one bad vote with many circumstances surrounding it. I am sure if you go through the records of Republican elected officials in Virginia the majority of them have at least one or two bad votes with hundreds of great conservative votes and the same is the case for Robert Hurt. No other candidate running for the 5th District has any experience representing more than one county in the district while Robert Hurt has represented a large portion of the district in the General Assembly since 2001.

I am a conservative and I am supporting Robert Hurt for Congress and I urge all others to do the same.