Hurt is failing his campaign promise of beating Perriello’s accessibility record.

Posted byWaldo Jaquith 15 Comments on Hurt is failing his campaign promise of beating Perriello’s accessibility record.

With last week’s news that Rep. Robert Hurt was a no-show at the Senior Statesmen of Virginia’s candidates forum in Charlottesville, I think it’s time to revisit Hurt’s claim of accessibility two years ago, when he was running to unseat Rep. Tom Perriello:

Hurt was also asked if voters should expect him, if he is elected, to hold a similar number of town hall meetings as Perriello has over the last two years. During the run-up to the health care reform debate, Perriello held more town hall meetings with constituents than any other congressman.

Hurt declined to commit to holding a specific number of town hall meetings, but promised to listen to constituents.

“I can promise you this, I will certainly be as accessible if not more accessible than Congressman Perriello has been,” Hurt said.

Note the use of the word “promise.”

When I noted this at the time, I assumed that if Hurt won, I’d need to count his appearances to demonstrate that he was less accessible than Perriello, as he unquestionably would be. But now it’s clear that there’s simply no point—Hurt isn’t even in the same ballpark as Perriello was on this front.

Maybe Politifact can do the math on this one. I’m hopeful that the Daily Progress‘ change in ownership—along with the rest of Media General’s papers—might lead to an editorial board that will make endorsements and write editorials that perhaps vaguely align with the interests of the area. Perhaps they’ll see fit to revisit this claim.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

15 replies on “Hurt is failing his campaign promise of beating Perriello’s accessibility record.”

  1. And yeeeeeah, I noted at the time as well that this wasn’t going to happen.

    And I’m a Hurt supporter!

    It was a silly statement (“promise”) to make.

  2. Pingback: Blue Virginia: Radioactive: Robert Hurt’s “Shocking Conflict of Interest” on Uranium | StoppingTheHurt.com

  4. Anyone catch Perriello behind Joe Biden during the “they gonna put y’all back in chains” comment?

    I’m not sure he knew what to do.

  5. Congressman Robert Hurt voted to end Medicare, and stop Federal funding for Virginia Medicaid. He’ll be laying low until the election.

  8. I don’t blame you for not spending the last two years counting appearances and doing the math, Waldo, but it would be kind of interesting to know precisely at what date he’d be required to host a different constituent event every hour of every day between then and election day just to catch up.

  9. Thank you Michael, that is correct, Congressman Hurt voted with Paul Ryan – Congress will give seniors a health insurance allowance and throw them into the insurance market where they MAY be able to find an insurer willing to insure old people, and cover their medical expenses (and still make a profit). Like I said, it is the end of Medicare. Too bad they paid all those medicare taxes for all those years!

  10. Congressman Hurt’s plan for Virginia Medicaid is to create an unfunded Federal mandate on Virginia taxpayers – pay for nursing homes, unemployed, and poor people’s health care currently funded by the Federal government. Congressman Hurt would leave Virginia on it’s own to negotiate health care savings with big insurers and providers.

  11. Bubby do you remember in 2010 how bad you felt after Obama handed victory to the Republicans ? 2012 is going to be much worse for you.

  12. The emo-driven chick euphoria of 2008 is gone. People know that
    Perriello was an empty suit, and that Obama is just another lying politician. Look for Hurt to be reelected by double digits, and Virginia to move back into the Red column.

  13. “emo-driven chick euphoria”? Oh yeah, that rightwing anti-woman perspective. Winning!

    Hey, good news “old, fat, white guys”! Governor McDonnell successfully crafted the 2012 Republican Party platform to include a Constitutional ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape and incest.

    …just after he scolded Missouri Republican Senate candidate, Todd Akin for talking about Republican “legitimate rape” theory. Good ol’ Governor Ultrasound and his ladyparts leadership!

  14. Bubby how are you going to handle it when Obama,Kaine,and Douglass are defeated ? You must have forgotten the 2009,2010,and 2011 elections here in Virginia.Son you are in for a bad election day here in Red Va.

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