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Tom Perriello

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Tom Perriello
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2009
Preceded byVirgil Goode
Personal details
Political partyDemocratic
Parent(s)Dr. and Mrs. Vito Perriello, Jr.
ResidenceIvy, Virginia
Alma materYale Law School (J.D.)
Yale University (B.A.)
ProfessionAttorney[1]
WebsiteCampaign website
House website

Thomas Stuart Price "Tom" Perriello (Template:Pron-en; born October 9, 1974) is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 5th congressional district, serving since 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

The district includes much of Southside Virginia and stretches north to Charlottesville.

Early life and education

Perriello is a lifelong resident of Ivy, a small unincorporated community west of Charlottesville. However, he is listed in the House roll as "D-Charlottesville." He attended Murray Elementary School, Meriwether Lewis Elementary School, Henley Middle School and Western Albemarle High School in the county school system, and then graduated from St. Anne's-Belfield School, a private school. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout in Boy Scout Troop 114 in Ivy, and was a legislative page in the Virginia House of Delegates.[2]

Career

From 2002-03, Perriello was Special Advisor to the international prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he worked with child soldiers, amputees, and local pro-democracy groups, and helped to prosecute warlords.[3] He later became the Court's Spokesman and helped to indict Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, peacefully forcing him from power. He has worked as a consultant to the International Center for Transitional Justice in Kosovo (2003), Darfur (2005), and Afghanistan (2007) where he worked on justice-based security strategies.[1] Perriello has also been a fellow at The Century Foundation and consultant to the National Council of Churches of Christ. He helped to launch FaithfulAmerica.org, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and is a co-founder of DarfurGenocide.org and Avaaz.org, an international on-line community of 3.3 million members, operating in 12 languages, dedicated to building a global response to "problems without borders" such as climate change. He has also worked with the Rev. James Forbes on prophetic justice principles.[4]

Perriello, a resident of Albemarle County, has spent much of his career working in West Africa and the Middle East to create strategies for sustainable peace, and he was involved in the peace processes that helped end the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia.[5]

U.S. Congress

Committee assignments

Political positions

During the 2009 legislative session, Perriello's first term in Congress, Periello voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,[6] the American Clean Energy and Security Act,[7] and the health care reform bill in March 2010.[8] In addition, he voted against the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009,[9] because the bill extended unemployment benefits for only some states and excluded Virginia.[10]

Perriello is a supporter of the War on Terror.[11] Although he has cast votes for the continuation of US military action in Afghanistan,[12][13] he has also cosponsored legislation requiring U.S. President Barack Obama to submit an exit strategy for the end of combat operations in Afghanistan [14][15] Perriello has also opposed removing the United States Armed Forces from Pakistan.[15]

In 2010, Congressman Perriello voted in support of the defense bill, 2010 military appropriations and spending for combat operations.[16][17][18]

Political campaigns

2008

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2008 § District 5

In the 2008 election, Perriello launched a campaign based on conviction politics, achieving a surprise win over Republican incumbent Virgil Goode, a longtime figure in Virginia politics, after having trailed Goode in the polls by 32% only three months earlier. Goode had represented a large portion of the district for 38 years, including representing much of the southwest portion of the district in the Senate of Virginia prior to serving in Congress.[19]

The traditionally Democratic urban areas of the district gave Perriello significant margins over Goode. While Goode won 13 of the 20 county-level jurisdictions in the district, Perriello won all but one independent city, Bedford which went for Goode by only 16 votes. Ultimately, Perriello prevailed largely on the strength of a more than 25,000 vote margin in Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle County. Perriello's performance showed the most dramatic improvements over past Democratic voting in the more conservative areas of the district hardest hit by decades of job loss and economic slowdown. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama also improved on past Democratic performance, but he ultimately lost this district by around 7,500 votes (2.5 percentage points). For example, Perriello significantly outperformed Obama in the strongly conservative southwestern portion of the district (ironically, where Goode is from). Perriello may also have been helped by coattails from atop the ticket, as Mark Warner won the district in a landslide with 65 percent of the vote.[20]

2010

Main article: Virginia's 5th congressional district election, 2010
See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2010 § District 5

Perriello lost to Republican nominee State Senator Robert Hurt in a race between the two and Independent candidate Jeffrey Clark.

2010 Tea Party incident

The FBI investigated a March 2010 incident in which Perriello's brother's address was listed on a Tea Party movement website, mistakenly believed to be the congressman's address. Mike Troxel, an organizer for the Lynchburg Tea Party, posted the address on his blog, encouraging tea party activists to "drop by." A gas line to an outdoor barbecue grill was cut at the brother's house and is being treated as a threat to Perriello over his vote on healthcare reform during the 111th Congress.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b Goldsmith, Will (October 7, 2008). "Can he go the distance?". Charlottesville News & Arts. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  2. ^ He earned B.A. (1996) and J.D. (2001) degrees at Yale University, where he also became a member of Scroll and Key {{citation}}: Empty citation (help). Perriello, Vito Jr. (October 5, 2008). "Letter: Dr. and Mrs. Vito Perriello Jr. - Perriellos tell of son's roots". Martinsville Bulletin. Martinsville, Virginia. Retrieved 2009-03-19. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Gibson, Bob (2007-10-06). "Perriello enters race for 5th seat". The Daily Progress. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  4. ^ Baker, Bernard (2008-02-05). "Pastor: Poverty 'weapon of mass destruction'". Danville Register & Bee. (via WSLS-TV). Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  5. ^ Hopkins, Shawn (2008-01-23). "Perriello wants to bring changes". Martinsville Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  6. ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 46". Clerk of the House. January 28, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
  7. ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 477". Clerk of the House. June 26, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
  8. ^ Roll Call {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |web= ignored (help)
  9. ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 722". Clerk of the House. September 22, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
  10. ^ "Perriello Fights to Extend Unemployment Benefits in Virginia". Tom Perriello. September 30, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
  11. ^ "Personal Statement re:Foreign Policy".
  12. ^ "Voting History: Rep. Thomas Perriello D, VA-5] - U.S. Congress". OpenCongress. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  13. ^ "HR 4899". The New York Times.
  14. ^ ""H.R. 2404"".
  15. ^ a b "H.Con.Res.301 - Directing the President, pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution, to remove the United States Armed Forces from Pakistan". OpenCongress.
  16. ^ "HR 5136". The New York Times.
  17. ^ "HR 3326". The New York Times.
  18. ^ "HR 4899". The New York Times.
  19. ^ Burns, Alexander (December 29, 2008). "Top 10 political upsets of 2008". The Politico. Washington, D.C. Retrieved 2009-03-19. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  20. ^ Virginia State Board of Elections, November 4, 2008 General Election Results
  21. ^ Barr, Andy (March 24, 2010). "FBI investigates Virginia incident". Politico. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tom Perriello.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 5th congressional district
2009–Present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States Representatives by seniority
415th 		Succeeded by

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