Hot on the heels of the Veterans of Foreign Wars moving to dissolve the affiliated VFW-PAC that endorsed him, there is another endorsement-related embarrassment surrounding Tom Perriello’s crumbling political career: the Virginia Association of Realtor’s Political Action Committee (RPAC) uniquely has shunned the embattled Democrat in their 2010 Congressional endorsement process.
In ten of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts, RPAC has endorsed the incumbent (five Democrats and five Republicans). The endorsees represent a broad swath of the political spectrum, from liberal to conservative and all points in-between.
Conspicuously absent from RPAC’s congressional candidate “A” list is incumbent Congressman Tom Perriello. In fact, Virginia’s 5th District is not even referenced in the RPAC media release.
An inquiry as to the nature of the curious omission yielded the following response from the Virginia Association of Realtors:
In Congressional races, our statewide association gives much deference to local associations of Realtors, and that was the case for associations within the Fifth Congressional District. While both candidates have received Realtor support separately, Congressman Perriello for his primary race, and Senator Hurt for General Assembly races, there was not a clear consensus for the General Election. Accordingly, our RPAC (Realtors Political Action Committee) Trustees declined to forward a recommendation for that race.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Best regards,
Jay DeBoer • Vice President of Law and Policy
Virginia Association of REALTORS®
Note that in every other Virginia Congressional District, local Realtor Associations had no problem obtaining consensus: incumbents were supported, period. Unanimous backing of incumbents was the case in RPAC’s 2008 endorsements, as well.
On what basis were these endorsements made?
According to RPAC, on one consideration: the candidates’ voting record on real estate and property issues.
So, what does it say about Democrat Congressman Tom Perriello that local Realtor Associations would not support his bid for reelection while corresponding regional groups supported every other incumbent Virginia Representative?
Everything you need to know. Tom Perriello, for all of his artful pandering and feline duplicity, was unable to hoodwink the astute Realtors of Virginia’s 5th District.
The Schilling Show endorses the collective 5th District Realtor Associations for standing up and refusing to finance a fraud.
See the print version of RPAC’s selective endorsement release:
As CEO of the Virginia Association of REALTORS, I have to take exception to the partisan spin you managed to put on our organization’s recent Congressional endorsement. As our statement said, we’ve supported BOTH candidates in previous races, and in fact contributed in Congressman Periello’s primary race this past spring. The reasons for our not making a general election endorsement in this race is simple: We have two candidates, both of whom have strongly supported us on real estate and property rights issues. Tom Periello has been a leader on our issues in Congress; Robert Hurt has been a longtime supporter in the General Assembly. In this situation, REALTORS and property owners have two champions running for the same office. Therefore, we chose not to choose.
R. Scott Brunner
Chief Executive Officer
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R. Scott Brunner, CAE
Chief Executive Officer
Virginia Association of REALTORS
Spin? I’ll tell you what spin is: The VA Assoc of Realtors trying to have it both ways in this race in the Fifth. You totally dissed the Congressman. If you were so brave to have contributed to him in the primary (where he ran unopposed!!), why didn’t you endorse him now? He’s toast, so you lost your nerve. Not endorsing Perriello while endorsing a candidate in every other district is quiet “spin” in and of itself. But nice try backing off this one.
If the old axiom still holds true, the one that states that when you can not find something good to say about someone, say nothing at all, then in this instance, the silence is deafening.
Rob, I am still puzzled why the local realtors endorsed
Mayor David Norris in the last local election cycle.
Do you think they want to part of the “affordable
housing” government program in the City of Charlottesville?
Randolph Byrd and A Patriot have hit the nail on the head. This is precisely why an ever-increasing number of people do believe that endorsements are now based not upon a candidate’s record but upon the hopes of future lobbying receptions for the endorsers. Perriello’s term certainly did not see a boon in home sales so it must be his vote for mortgage stimulus money. It’s nice to know that another special interest group has been bought.