The frontrunner for the Republican nomination in Virginia’s fifth congressional district is shoring up his conservative credentials – criticizing tax increases and making sure his Web site includes no mention of his vote for the biggest tax hike the state has ever had.
During the legislative session this month State Sen. Robert Hurt will be carrying legislation for the state’s new Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell and Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and his bills are likely to earn plaudits from conservatives.
As his six opponents attack him for voting to raise nearly $1.4 billion in taxes during the 2004 legislative session under then-Gov. Mark Warner (D), Hurt’s new Web site portrays the candidate as a champion of tax cuts.
“He has one vote out of 8,000 that people will use to try to paint him as something that he’s not,” Republican consultant and Hurt campaign aide Chris LaCivita told TPMDC today.
Hurt says he regrets voting for the tax increase, especially since the state yielded an unexpected surplus the next year.
GOP primary candidate Laurence Verga’s campaign wanted to refresh Hurt’s memory, and sent reporters five other tax increases he supported on soft drinks, hunting permits and diesel.
Hurt has a 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association and the National Right to Life campaign, and a 95 percent rating from Virginia’s uber-conservative Family Foundation. As we reported while this race heats up in central Virginia, Hurt signed Grover Norquist’s anti-tax pledge even though Norquist once vowed to unseat Hurt for the tax vote.
Carrying the legislation for the new Republican governor and attorney general – bills that are likely to pass and become law under a Republican House and narrowly divided Democratic Senate – is a way Hurt can earn positive political headlines. It also was one of McDonnell’s successful strategies as he plotted his own statewide races from the Virginia House.
But the tax increase issue has haunted Hurt nearly six years, and he seems to want to forget about it.
“As a member of the House of Delegates and the Virginia State Senate, I have consistently opposed tax increases and spending proposals that did not put the people first,” Hurt says under the “issues” section of his Web site.
The site also says that if he’d been in Congress last year Hurt would have opposed the federal banks bailout and the stimulus bill. He says he would support a line-item veto and balanced budget amendment, along with ending the practice of spending earmarks.
“Robert Hurt was consistently opposed to taxes? Consistently?!” He’s trying to lie to people,” Feda Kidd Morton told the Charlottesville Daily Progress, one of several candidates to go after Hurt’s new site.
His site also details his conservative stance on the standard Republican issues of “Reducing the size and cost of Government,” “Life and Marriage,” “Individual Liberty, Private Property and the 2nd Amendment” and “Promoting Free Markets and Job Creation.”
The winner of the summer GOP primary will face freshman Rep. Tom Perriello and earn a flood of national attention as the seat is a top target for the Republicans.
Hurt aides say attempts to suggest the race is anything like the Republican civil war that happened last fall in New York’s 23rd Congressional district are a joke.
The Hurt campaign tries to paint their opponents as small-time cranks without a following, but Verga has attracted support from conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham and Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher.
One catch, though: Wurzelbacher’s attendance at Verga campaign rallies and endorsements came with a price.
The Verga campaign declined to comment, but a source close to the campaign said Wurzelbacher’s expenses such as air travel and hotel were compensated as is standard practice.
