From Danville Register Bee

Tom Perriello’s political obituary was written before most people ever heard his name. Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District was drawn by the General Assembly for a Republican to win, not a Democrat like Perriello.

Television attack ads started airing almost immediately after Perriello took office a year ago. During his first few months in office, a newspaper in South Boston refused to publish his name. After casting his most controversial vote — in favor of health care reform — Perriello subjected himself to the full fury of the opposition by holding an unprecedented 21 town hall meetings around the Fifth District last summer.

We can’t recall former Rep. Virgil Goode ever being yelled at in public like Perriello was at those town hall meetings. For that matter, we can’t recall Goode ever going out of his way to meet with his political opponents.
Perriello is sometimes called “one-term Tom,” one of the few nicknames the opposition has given him that can be printed in a family newspaper.

Grants to improve Internet access

From Martinsville Bulletin by Eliza Winston

A total of $21.5 million in stimulus funds will be used to expand broadband Internet infrastructure in Southside and Southwest Virginia, the area’s lawmakers announced Monday.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb joined U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello and White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra on a conference call Monday to announce the two grants.

Together, the grants will add more than 575 miles of high-speed Internet infrastructure in the regions, according to a news release. The funds are designed to “bridge the technological divide,” boost economic growth and create jobs in rural areas, the release added.

The grants were awarded through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and are funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

A total of $21.5 million in stimulus funds will be used to expand broadband Internet infrastructure in Southside and Southwest Virginia, the area’s lawmakers announced Monday.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb joined U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello and White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra on a conference call Monday to announce the two grants.

From Danville Register Bee by Catherine Amos

In an effort to ensure passage of key components of the U.S. House of Representatives’ health care reform legislation, Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District introduced a bill Friday to repeal the antitrust exemption on health insurance companies.

Freshmen legislators Perriello and Colorado Rep. Betsy Markey, D-4th District, co-authored the bill to end health insurance companies’ monopoly of the market, which Perriello said would force competition and lower health care costs for families and businesses. Perriello voted in favor of the House’s health care reform bill last year; Markey voted against it.

Perriello called their bill “a very important step for fiscal responsibility.”

“I believe this is an opportunity for us to come together hopefully across party lines, across ideological lines to put common sense and pragmatism at the forefront of bringing down cost for consumers in the health care market,” Perriello said at a news conference in Washington on Friday morning.

“When I was out doing the 21 town hall meetings that I did in the month of August,” he said, “I heard from people on the left, from Tea Party folks, from folks in the middle. And almost everyone agreed on this same principle — insurance companies should have to compete like everyone else.”

Campaign Attracts Support from 2,118 Individual Donors, 77% of Whom are Small Donors

January 29, 2010—Ivy, VA—The Perriello campaign announced today its year-end FEC filing will reflect $1,140,470 raised for the 2010 election cycle, with $874,128 cash on hand for the election year. The campaign starts this election year in this strong position by running an aggressive, grassroots donor program, raising money from 2,118 individual donors this cycle, 77% of whom are small donors (under $200). That is nearly five times as many individual donors as have given to all the Republican candidates in the field combined.

"Our strategy of grassroots, people-powered politics continues to excite and inspire people, with nearly five times the number of individual donors as all the Republican candidates combined and zero dollars from lobbyists," said Anna Scholl, finance director for the Perriello campaign. "Virginians know that Congressman Perriello is looking out for their interests, not the special interests of lobbyists, big banks, and oil companies."

The campaign will report $308,725 raised in the fourth quarter of 2009, the strongest quarter of this cycle, with the majority of donors coming from the 5th district.

Congressman Perriello will face the winner of one of the most divisive Republican primaries in the nation and, possibly, a conservative independent candidate.