This is beautiful Jessica!

Just got back from Wintergreen, Virginia.  Driving through Nelson County, we saw at least as many Obama signs as McCain's signs.  Very encouraging.  

Virgil Goode has shown time and again that he neither possesses the judgement or the willingness to act in the best interests of the good people of his district.  Mr. Goode is a shameless deregulator cut from the same cloth as John McCain and his banking lobbyist/campaign staffer Phil Gramm.  An examination of his voting record shows this to be true.  In July 1999, Rep. Goode voted FOR the Financial Services Act (Gramm-Leach-Bailey Act H.R. 10, Vote 276) which repealed regulations put into place during the Great Depression to keep banks from taking risks that would lead to another financial meltdown.  In December 2000, Rep. Goode voted FOR the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (H.R. 4577, Vote 603), another Phil Gramm bill, that created the Enron loophole that allowed for the deregulation of the commodity markets, and also banned regulation of credit default swaps, which ultimately led to the downfall of companies like AIG.  In November 2007, Rep. Goode voted AGAINST the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act (H.R. 3915, Vote 1118), which would crack down on mortgage lenders by forcing them to get licences, making them responsible for discovering whether borrowers can really repay, and fining them for steering people toward risky subprime loans.  When it comes to the economy, our current Representative is clearly NO GOODE.

Well, some will say those votes were years ago.  How could Mr. Goode have know the magnitude of the financial disaster that his votes would help precipitate?  And anyway surely he has done SOME GOODE recently.  Again, lets examine his voting record FROM THE LAST TWO WEEKS.  On September 26, 2008 Rep. Goode voted AGAINST the Job Creation and Unemployment Relief Act (H.R. 7110, Vote 660), which passed with bipartisan support as it stimulated job creation and economic growth and extended unemployment benefits for the growing number of Americans looking for work.  Apparently Mr. Goode believes that his district does not need any help with job creation.  An extention of unemployment benefits?  Our Representative said 'no thanks, I don't guess my constituents need that either'.  Mr. Goode is either ignorant of the fact that parts of his District have the highest unemployment in the Commonwealth or he simply doesn't care.  Three days later on September 29th, 2008 Rep. Goode was one of only six members of Congress to vote AGAINST the Small Business Financing Improvements Act of 2008 (H.R. 7175, Vote 675).  This Act reauthorized small business assistance programs through the Small Business Administration and made it easier for entrepreneurs to start their own businesses.  When it comes to stimulating jobs and caring for the unemployed, our current Representative is absolutely NO GOODE.

There can be no excuse for Mr. Goode's actively working against the welfare of his own constituency.  When a Representative willfully ignores the best interests of his or her District it becomes incumbent upon the people to act on their own behalf.  We live here.  We know what we need from our Representatives.  Please join me on November 4th in making our voices heard as we demand true representation and reject what we know to be NO GOODE.

Mark Warner
Martinsville