With debates raging over how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is funding political ads promoting Republican congressional candidates (and Democrats who voted against the health care reform bill), a small group of organizers met yesterday to bring the debates to Virginia’s Fifth District. Whether the message was delivered depends on how close you got to the microphone.
One day before the first televised debate between Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello and Republican challenger Robert Hurt, local organizers for MoveOn.org arranged a noon press conference at the Albemarle GOP headquarters to release a report titled "Buying Democracy." The report outlines arguments against groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, on the receiving end of criticism for not disclosing sources of funds for political ads.
The noon press conference, however, was joined by a quickly coordinated counter-event, promoted via a 10:30am e-mail by the Albemarle County Republican Committee. From a distance of 10′, MoveOn organizer Phil Justice was inaudible over shouts of "Hurt! Hurt!" as he read from the report. A scene from the event below:
Phil Justice (center) shares information from MoveOn.org’s "Buying Democracy" report amidst a sea of protestors and Hurt supporters.
MoveOn organizers maintained the event was not a Perriello campaign event, while crowd members with "Hurt" signs shouted that they were unable to protest on the grounds of Perriello’s local office per the request of Glass Building landlord Lisa Murphy.
"We can’t do this at Tom’s office!" one man shouted.
For those of you who missed the event (or simply couldn’t hear) the Washington Post’s Campaign Cash chart, available here, lists a total of more than $900,000 in independent campaign funds spent in VA-5 this year. According to the Post, $696,517 of the total—77 percent—benefitted the Republican party. Of that total, $197,002 is attributable to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
