Verga kicks off campaign to unseat Perriello

Laurence Verga has formally launched his campaign for the GOP nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, in next year’s mid-term congressional race.

Verga, a real estate investor from Albemarle County, announced Thursday afternoon that he has filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

Verga is one of three Republicans who have announced their intention to take on Perriello in 2010.

Also in the running are Feda Kidd Morton, a biology teacher and Republican activist from Fluvanna County, and Bradley Rees, an assembly line worker and FairTax advocate from Bedford County.

Verga told a small crowd outside Albemarle County’s courthouse that he decided to run after growing increasingly worried about the country’s future.

“I am running because I am concerned about the direction President Obama and the Democratic Congress is taking us,” he said. “I am worried about our generation and our children’s generation.”

Verga decried “runaway” government spending that has left the country with “very, very irresponsible debt.”

On health care, Verga said he believes the government ought to extend the same tax relief to families and individuals that it offers to companies that pay for health insurance. He also wants to implement “comprehensive tort reform” for medical malpractice suits.

Regarding energy, Verga said he wants to achieve energy independence through traditional sources rather than alternative energy sources.

“We need to drill now and we need to drill here,” he said. “We need to reduce taxes so that private enterprise can continue to develop coal technology. We need to use nuclear energy and re-write the laws that prohibit us from recycling and re-using our nuclear energy.”

The cornerstone of Verga’s platform is lower taxes, which he sees as the key to making the country safer and more prosperous.

“Growing the economy, creating jobs, health care payment reform, national defense and energy independence are all achieved through lowering taxes and limited government,” he said.

Verga added that he will “defend your Second Amendment right to bear arms” and will “defend life, which I believe begins at conception.”

Prior to his career in commercial real estate, Verga worked in sales and management at ABC/Disney, AT&T, National Cable Communications and other firms. He moved to the area five years ago and has never run for elected office before.

His bio lists him as the founder of the Verga Project at the University of Virginia Health System that funds research toward a cure for polycystic kidney disease. Verga suffers from the disease, his bio says, and he is awaiting a kidney transplant.

At his kickoff, Verga was introduced by his friend Sandy Teu of Keswick. “We have a beautiful day for a beautiful announcement from a beautiful man,” Teu said.

Verga, he said, is a concerned citizen with a business background who feels compelled to enter public service.

“He is a conservative and he is honest,” he said.