While I am certain that Rep. Perriello is a decent man, as was Mr. Goode before him, there are serious differences in how we define accountability and transparency in government. On January 28, 2009, the Honorable Mr. Perriello voted “Yea” for HR 1, also known to most people as the Stimulus package. In a coup of sorts by the President, representatives including Mr. Perriello did not have an opportunity to read the bill and examine it closely. Rep. Perriello counts the passage of this bill as one of his great achievements on his Congressional web page.

How can one seriously vote in favor of an unread bill that allocates almost a trillion dollars in deficit spending ~ hedging our children’s futures and fortunes on the hope that this will work ~ and then claim the mantle of “government transparency”? I understand that Congress was strong armed by the White House, but Mr. Perriello supported the legislation, and he should have done his constituents the justice of reading the bill.

As we’re beginning to see with the failure of this “Stimulus” package, we cannot spend our way out of problems created by massive spending, which serves only to increase the strength and reach of federal bureaucracy. This is especially true when those bills are passed without our supposed eyes and ears, embodied in the legislative branch, even perusing the documents.

It is my pledge and, indeed, my duty as your Representative and employee to read and examine these bills to ensure that your money is being spent wisely. If a bill, such as the stimulus package, comes to the floor for a vote without the necessary time for honest and thorough review, it is my duty to you, as your voice, to vote against it. Our government needs to become at least as accountable as you are in your own family when spending your money.

A return to 10th Amendment restrictions, one of the cornerstones of my campaign, will create more government efficiency, transparency, accountability, and responsibility, both in fiscal and civic arenas. We will accomplish this by moving unnecessary and overly bureaucratic functions that have been absorbed by the federal government back to the “states and to the people,” as the 10th Amendment requires.