The Washington lobbying firm that sent forged letters to U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and at least two other congressmen was working on behalf of a coal industry advocacy group. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity said its longtime grass-roots contractor, the Hawthorn Group, hired Bonner & Associates to do “limited outreach” in opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also known as the cap-and-trade bill.

Former Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. will not run for the 5th District congressional seat that he lost last year. In a news release, Goode gave no reason for why he chose not to run in 2010 but said he hopes Republicans will nominate a conservative to run for the seat. Democrat Tom Perriello of Albemarle County upset Goode last year in a tight contest. Perriello won by 727 votes out of more than 300,000 cast.

If the public is clamoring for health-care reform, it wasn’t evident at a rally yesterday across from St. John’s Church in Richmond. About 50 people attended the rally to urge three on-the-fence members of the Virginia congressional delegation to get behind a health-care bill that has been adopted by a House of Representatives committee.

An effort to combat climate change and its effects on the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet has attracted support from an unusual coalition of religious and retired military leaders. While they view the issue from different perspectives, be it protecting God’s creation or bolstering national security, they all want climate-change legislation being negotiated on Capitol Hill to provide protections for the less fortunate.

Two Democrats recently elected to Congress in Virginia did not support the budget plan that endorses President Barack Obama’s goals. Rep. Glenn Nye, D-2nd, was one of 17 House Democrats who voted against the budget blueprint yesterday. Nye, who defeated Republican Thelma Drake in November, last month became one of two new members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog coalition of 51 moderate and conservative Democrats.

Rep. Tom Perriello made his first stop during Congress’ Easter break yesterday at Gladys Elementary School, which faced the possibility of being closed until federal stimulus money eased Campbell County’s fiscal crunch. The 210 pupils were ready for his visit. Fourth-graders said “Tom Perriello” in unison when Lacy Webb, the school’s principal, ushered the congressman into their classroom.

University of Virginia employees were among the top contributors to freshman Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. U.Va. employees gave Perriello $26,679 for his campaign to unseat Republican Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. in the 5th District, according to data compiled by the center. Perriello, who was a lecturer for one seminar at U.Va.‘s law school in 2007, had a victory margin of 727 votes after a recount.

Mark R. Warner took the oath of office as Virginia’s new U.S. senator yesterday, saying he hopes to help steer the country through even tougher economic challenges than Virginia faced when he became governor in 2002. Warner succeeds Republican John W. Warner, who retired after 30 years in the Senate. John Warner and Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., walked Mark Warner down the aisle of the Senate chamber to be sworn in by Vice President Dick Cheney.

The end of a political era is coming Friday to Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. That’s the day U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. will step down after 14 years on Capitol Hill and Rep.-elect Tom Perriello of Albemarle County will take his place. Goode, who lives in Rocky Mount, has represented his part of Virginia on the state and federal levels. He was an independent then a Democrat in the state Senate, before shifting back to an independent and finally becoming a member of the Republican Party during his time in Congress.

Attorneys for Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-5th, filed a petition yesterday to recount the 316,862 votes cast in the Nov. 4 election between Goode and Democrat Tom S.P. Perriello. Goode, a six-term incumbent, filed the petition in Albemarle County Circuit Court. The recount, which was announced Monday, is expected to wrap up sometime next month.

Times-Dispatch Staff Writers Virginia’s congressional majority hangs in the balance in the 5th District, where Republican incumbent Virgil H. Goode Jr. will seek a recount of results showing him trailing Democratic challenger Tom S.P. Perriello by 745 votes. The State Board of Elections yesterday certified that Perriello won by 0.24 of a percentage point out of nearly 317,000 votes cast.

When he burst on the political scene about 15 months ago, Tom Perriello appeared to be the same kind of run-to-lose candidate whom Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. easily dispatched before. Perriello, a 33-year-old security adviser with an Ivy League education, had no real retail political experience and was virtually unknown in the larger portion of the 5th Congressional District. And Perriello hailed from the Charlottesville area, considered the most liberal bastion of the largely conservative and rural district. He seemed to be the perfect fit for Goode to successfully portray as a “New York lawyer,“ one of the predominant themes Goode pushed during the campaign.