From: The Danville Register & Bee on August 4, 2010

State Sen. Robert Hurt, the Republican candidate for Congress, will be a guest of the Lynchburg Tea Party tomorrow night. But unless you’re a member of that group or a regular — whatever that means — you won’t be able to attend.

The meeting is also off-limits to the public and the news media.

"At the request of several of our members, they would like to have a personal conversation with the candidates," Mark Lloyd, chairman of the Lynchburg Tea Party, told The News & Advance of Lynchburg. "It will be a more personal, one-on-one type of setting without the lights and microphones."

The Lynchburg Tea Party is certainly welcome to hold any type of gathering it wants to, but this kind of event — closed off from the public and the press — is a huge mistake for Hurt.

From: The Lynchburg News & Advance on August 4, 2010

So does the Lynchburg Tea Party really have a hidden agenda, as some have suggested?

That’s the inevitable conclusion one reaches after reading last week’s story that tea party members will meet Thursday behind closed doors with two Republican candidates running for Congress. The media, with all its clumsy recording devices such as notebooks and a pen, have been excluded from the monthly meeting.

August 2, 2010--Ivy, VA--Again changing his position on debates, State Senator Robert Hurt has backed out of a pair of televised debates that include the 10% polling standard he himself had demanded for independent candidate Jeffrey Clark to participate. Sen. Hurt has suffered recent criticism for supporting massive free trade plans that ship jobs overseas and opposing an extension of unemployment benefits. Hurt faces continuing opposition from conservatives within his own party for changing his position on 28 different tax or fee increases totaling over $2 billion.

Hurt initially said he was willing to debate Perriello and independent candidate Jeffrey Clark but quickly flipped his position to oppose such debates. His campaign then demanded that Clark show at least 10% in public polling in order to be included and now, he has changed his position yet again and refuses such a debate.

Two Perriello co-sponsored bills pass as part of "Make it in America" initiative

Washington, D.C.—The U.S. House of Representatives today passed three more bills to create jobs and support American manufacturing as part of House Democrats’ new “Make it in America” initiative. The House passed the National Manufacturing Strategy Act and the End the Trade Deficit Act, both co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Perriello, as well as the Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and Export Assistance Act. These bills will promote the competitiveness of the American manufacturing sector and support the millions of American jobs in manufacturing. All three bills passed with wide bipartisan support.

“After more than a year of fighting for a plan to boost American manufacturing and construction, I am glad to see the House pass the first major pieces of the ‘Make it in America’ agenda. We must start making, building, and growing things in America, so I’m glad to see progress towards a National Manufacturing Strategy and the End the Trade Deficit Act,” said Rep. Perriello. “A strong manufacturing sector puts Americans back to work, and if we level the playing field with China, Americans will win. I never expected there would be so much resistance in Washington to supporting the American worker, but we are overcoming that to produce a path to progress for American jobs.”

July 28, 2010--Ivy, VA--Lise Clavel, campaign manager for the Perriello campaign, released the following statement:

"After reversing his position on debating all candidates, Sen. Hurt has said no to debates that include independent conservative candidate Jeff Clark, even though Mr. Clark has met the Virginia standard to qualify as a candidate. In these brutal economic times when the stakes are so high, Tom wants to give voters every chance to hear from all candidates, so he will commit to two televised debates that include all the candidates and two head-to-head debates with Sen. Hurt. While Tom believes voters should have the opportunity to hear every candidate on the ballot every time, this compromise seems like the only way Sen. Hurt will allow the process to move forward without being too scared to have a real debate that respects independents."