Editor, The Herald:

In Congressman Perriello's radio ads he names many issues on which he is independent of his party. How many of these issues can you recall? Pick the three most important ones to you and answer these four questions:

What was the house bill (number or common name)?

How close was the vote?

Was there even a bill on this issue?

Did you or your neighbor call the congressman to express you concerns on this issue?

Now let me tax your memory (bad choice of words) one more time. In the last congress what three issues (bills) will have the greatest impact on our lives and our children's lives over the next few decades? Would it be the:

Stimulus Bill

Cap and Trade Bill

Health Care Bill?

The votes on these three issues were close and each time Perriello voted, with his party on the winning side. Yet, today he is not celebrating his victories, defending or justifying his votes, but instead he is running away from his party and pretending theses votes never happened.

To vote for Perriello because he is an independent voice in Washington, is like voting Hank Aaron into the Baseball Hall of Fame because of his low number of strikeouts instead of his home runs.

At the end of the day, who is more independent of the Democratic Party Tom Perriello or Robert Hurt? Lets help Perriello run away from his party, his votes and Washington by voting for Robert Hurt.

William P. Flippen

Columbia