Perriello sets new standard for cynicism

By now everyone has heard that Democratic Party operatives in New Jersey placed a candidate on the ballot in New Jersey’s 3^rd congressional district, as incumbent Rep. John Adler desperately tries to hold on to his seat against former Philadelphia Eagle Jon Runyan.

The uproar has been loud and pronounced against this dirty trick designed to split the vote of independent and Tea Party voters away from his Republican opponent. Of course, the impact of third-party candidates on elections is well documented.

Many people still credit Bill Clinton’s victory over George Herbert Walker Bush to Ross Perot’s campaign, which touched on many of the same themes as the current Tea Party, and Al Gore can blame his loss in 2000 on Ralph Nader’s Green Party candidacy, and stop with the hanging-chad nightmares that got his supporters so worked up that they thought the whole globe became a hotter place.

However, it is truly rare that political chicanery, like placing someone on the ballot to draw votes from your opponent, is acknowledged and admitted.

What is even more rare is the cynical trick being pulled by Virginia 5^th district Rep. Tom Perriello (D), who has actually gone so far as to send targeted mail out that urges conservative and Tea Party voters to support a third-party candidate as the “true conservative.”

This may be the first time in history that a candidate has engaged in an independent expenditure activity on behalf of one of his opponents, in order to split the vote against him and win in spite of losing a majority of the vote.

Perriello’s “independent” has claimed affiliation with a variety of local Tea Party groups. Yet even though he is acknowledged by local Tea Party leaders as being on their mailing lists, they don’t claim him as part of their team, let alone call him a leader. In spite of this disavowal, Perriello and this “independent” persist in their campaign to bring down the candidacy of Republican nominee Rob Hurt.

The irony of Perriello making a conservative pitch cannot be lost. This is the same congressman who participated as a panelist (over Skype) at the far-left NetRootsNation conference in Las Vegas earlier this year teaching progressives how to more effectively engage Congress. Of course, Perriello’s conservative pitch is not technically for himself, but instead for a third-party candidate to draw votes from his opponent.

While the “independent” candidate may indeed be independent, the cynicism of the Perriello effort hits new heights.

Just a few years back, a common complaint was that a member of Congress did one thing in D.C. and said something else in the district. Perriello appears to be taking this to a whole new level, saying one thing to one set of voters and another thing to another. It will be interesting to see if, in this new age when any voter can access voting records, statements and policy positions of politicians, Perriello’s dubious tactics succeed.


Rick Manning is the communications director of Americans for Limited Government. His opinions are his own, and don’t necessarily reflect those of ALG.