Perkins Focuses on Numbers While Speaking at Greenspring
On Tuesday, Chris Perkins will face fellow Republican Ken Vaughn in the June 12 Republican primary. The winner will face incumbent Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th) and independent candidate Mark Gibson in November for 11th Congressional district seat.
Just one week before the primary, Perkins visited with residents of Greenspring retirement community at the invitation of the Greenspring Republican Club. Perkins, who retired from the U.S. Army in 2006 as a Colonel, said he's focusing his campaign on numbers. “We need to cut spending,” he said. “Both parties need to get together and find solutions.”
Perkins said he believes in zero-based budgeting, where all budget items must be reviewed. “Only 34 percent of the budget is focused on and 66 percent is on auto-pilot,” he said.
Perkins said the proposed budget plan for next year seeks to borrow 26 cents of every dollar spent, adding to the national debt. "Six cents out of every dollar will go toward paying interest on the debt," he said. "After that 27 cents will go toward national security, and 48 cents will go to entitlement programs, leaving 19 cents."
After providing these figures, Perkins said there is a critical need for tax reform, pro-growth reform and entitlement reform. “If you don’t go after entitlement reform in a bipartisan manner, it’s all for naught,” he said.
Perkins said that he and his campaign staff have knocked on 8,000 doors and made 48,000 phone calls. The number one concern of voters heard by the campaign is getting a hold of federal spending. These concerns are followed by concerns over jobs and the economy. “We are talking to citizens who have jobs, but their kids don’t have jobs,” said Perkins.
Perkins answered additional questions from the Greenspring residents and Republican Club members on hand regarding his plans for entitlement reform, his opinions on healthcare spending, and how he believes he differs from his primary opponent Ken Vaughn. “He (Vaughn) believes in a 35 percent cut to national defense spending,” said Perkins, “and a 10 percent cut to veteran’s benefits.” Perkins, who doesn’t support those cuts, said “for perspective, Obama proposed a 9 percent cut to national defense spending.”
In May, Tom Davis, who held the 11th district Congressional seat from 1995 - 2008, endorsed Chris Perkins’ campaign. Perkins said the district is now a “D+6” district, meaning that Democrats are supposed to win by six points; however, he believes incumbent Gerry Connolly can be beaten. “If this election is about the numbers, we win,” said Perkins.
“I’m not a polished politician, just an old soldier who can get things done," he said.
Jeani
8:19 am on Saturday, June 9, 2012
Republicans, please get out and vote for Perkins on Tuesday. He's a good man. Don't rationalize and think your vote doesn't count because it does. Don't say your too busy - just make the time. Combine it with and errand. Please do it for the sake of the party and ultimately your country.
David D
6:13 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2012
Perkins is being dishonest about Vaughn's plan. Vaughn wants to cut overall federal spending; he's never said he wants to cut the military by 35%, and he never said a peep about benefits, which is pure fabrication from Perkins. I've lost a lot of respect for Perkins over this.
Perkins talks about wanting a balanced budget, but most of the time when talking about specific issues he favors status quo policies and economic gimmicks that make things worse. He sent out a mail piece saying that if Vaughn is elected and cuts spending, thousands will lose their jobs. That's a Gerry Connolly talking point, NOT a Republican one!
The greatest threat to national security is the debt; there is bipartisan consensus about this. Ken Vaughn is far more knowledgable and far more serious about the debt than Chris Perkins, AND he will be exponentially more effective on stage against Connolly.
Republicans, you do have a choice on Tuesday. Make that choice Ken Vaughn.
David D
3:23 pm on Sunday, June 10, 2012
I figured out where Perkins got his numbers. Vaughn produced a hypothetical balanced budget. Its purpose is a sort of back-of-the-envelope way of showing how it might be done, rather than being the budget Vaughn would produce if he had full control. It's Ken's attempt to be realistic, rather than about his beliefs. He wants to start a conversation about what our priorities should be; he believes everyone should look at the numbers and find a way to make things balance.
Unfortunately, because Vaughn is trying to *lead* in this issue, he's vulnerable to attacks from people like Perkins who don't take the issue seriously. For instance, just winding down in Iraq and Afghanistan will be a 25% cut in military spending. An additional 10% can easily be achieved by further reducing overseas military spending and making our wealthy allies pay their fair share. But Perkins refuses to provide any context, and make it sound like Ken wants to gut our core national defense. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Perkins is playing fast-and-loose with the facts. 11th District voters are more intelligent and knowledgable than possibly any other place in the country; they expect more from their politicians. Perkins won't be able to get away with sloppy arguments against Connolly, and he shouldn't be rewarded for them in the primary!
Ryan O'Connor
8:54 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2012
Chris Perkins is certainly a common-sense candidate with great leadership and legislative experience. He would make a wonderful congressman for our community. Unfortunately for him, he chose to run in the 11th district, which was redrawn specifically to make the seat of Gerry Connolly safe. That's why Rep Connolly can campaign on the "Republicans are scary" and "I support Obama/Kaine" themes instead of his record. My personal preference is to support new challengers, regardless of party, as the best solution to our nation's challenges.
David D
1:48 am on Sunday, June 10, 2012
The seat was made so safe for Connolly by Republicans by shifting things around for the sake of making the 10th redder. Wolf has it comfortably, but when he's gone everything changes. It wasn't done for Gerry's benefit, but benefit he does.
Even now I think he's well to the left of the district.
Mary Ryder
10:58 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2012
Perkins is running for Congress because he HASN'T been able to lead anything post retirement. He said that he was running outside his own 10th District, picking the 11th, because if "that right wing extremist Fimian only lost by 900 votes, I can certainly beat Connolly as a moderate." Check public records. Perkins didn't cast one of those 900 needed votes because he was in Mississippi campaigning for a DEMOCRAT! That DEMOCRAT was one of Perkin's first contributors! A wolf in "Republican" clothing is what you're getting. Perkins is an opportunist looking for a well-paying job because he can't cut it in the private sector.
Nicki Fellenzer
5:48 am on Sunday, June 10, 2012
It's amazing to me that Perkins continues to spout the "Vaughn wants to cut defense by 35 percent line." It's such a ridiculous misconstruction of what Vaughn has said, that it makes me wonder about his actual reading abilities!
http://www.vaughnforcongress.com/issues/Vaughn-Perkins-Comparison
"My opponent has repeatedly attacked me for suggesting that we may need to cut defense spending and/or veterans benefits. The truth is that I have merely called for a balanced budget and have posted my best guess as to what a balanced budget might look like. ...If we are ever going to balance the budget, every program over $100 billion must be closely scrutinized. We will never balance the budget unless we admit that. My sample budget estimates that we can achieve a 10% cut by eliminating waste and fraud in these programs, coupled with ending the wars and conflicts in the Middle East. These cuts are modest and reflect our nation's commitment to honor those who have served. By comparison, the overall budget must be cut by 35% to achieve deficit neutrality."
Look folks. The "Vote for me, because I was in the military" ploy is getting old. Col. Perkins may have been a great officer, but it doesn't qualify him to be a legislator. And judging by his continued attempts to mislead the voters about his opponent, I have to wonder about his integrity as well.
Josh DiPietro
6:20 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
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Josh DiPietro
6:41 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
I really have no idea how you republicans can get snookered in so completely. I am a Democrat. Let me put that out there. I am however a realist. My father was a Democrat. My father's father was a Democrat. Granted my party is no longer the party of Kennedy but as least we fight for what we believe in. One of my sparring partners lost the fight when I told him Gerry believes in prochoice and fights for prochoice. Your Perkins said early on in the race that he is not prolife and he is not prochoice. Huh? He explains he believes in prolife but will not stand in the way of a womens right to choose, it's between her, her family, her God, her doctor, as long as taxpayer funds aren't used. What? That's pro-choice. Don't believe it. My college classmate works in Connolly's camp and they have the tape of him saying exactly the above a couple of times. This integrity campaign as a military officer is garbage. I can't wait til that hits the airwaves if Perkins wins. November will be in the bag for us. And what I also hate are arrogant military officers who think the only people who should have guns are the military and the police. He claims he supports the Constitution which does say no gun control. Now I think the Constitution is out dated but your Perkins is supportive of limitations at the state and local level. Again, integrity. He wins tomorrow, you guys got snookered but good.
Nicki Fellenzer
8:29 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
Integrity is exactly why we need someone like Vaughn!
When a Democrat says Perkins should have run as a Democrat, you really have to wonder...
Thanks, Josh!
Josh DiPietro
6:43 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
Oh and BTW, several of my friends AND I believe Perkins should have run in the 10th, as a Democrat. We always need guys in uniform who are soft social liberals. Wolf will eventually retire and we're going to take 10th with guys like Perkins. I can't wait to see what happens. At least give us Vaughn so that this race to November can at least be a challenge.