Editor, The Herald:

I support and I hope all of you will vote for Robert Hurt for Congress on November 2nd. As State Senator, Robert Hurt has an outstanding record of supporting the core values of smaller government, individual liberties, and the free market system. These are the same principles that this great nation was established upon by the likes of other famous Virginians such as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and James Madison.

Tom Perriello has gone negative with his advertising, distorting Robert Hurt's record and lying when he says Robert Hurt will not debate him. For the record, there are five scheduled debates between Hurt and Perriello.

I believe Tom Perriello has gone negative because he knows he cannot stand on his own voting record in Congress. Despite a majority of his constituents pleading with him to not support ObamaCare, Perriello voted with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for a bill he had not read and that amounts to a hostile government takeover of 15% of our economy. He voted for Cap and Trade on carbon dioxide emissions that would significantly raise your heating and cooling bills and the cost of gasoline, kill jobs in America, and do nothing for the environment. And, he voted for the $862,000,000,000 stimulus bill and he has altogether voted to add $3,000,000,000,000 to the National Debt in less than two years in Congress!

Tom Perriello has gone negative because he knows his voting record more closely matches the values of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi than the voters from Virginia's 5th Congressional District. As for me and my vote, I am voting for Robert Hurt because Robert Hurt will represent 5th District values and two years of Tom Perriello is enough.

Paul D. Hoffman

Prospect