By Laurel J. Sweet
Wednesday, October 3, 2012

GOP congressional candidate Richard Tisei says if elected, he will not be a “rubber stamp” for his party, but instead will follow the lead of fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown.

“I think both Scott and I have been successful in the past because we’ve both been independent-minded legislators,” the former an openly gay, pro-choice fiscal conservative said. “We have records of deciding on the issues as opposed to deciding strictly based on party. I think people are sick of that right now. They’re tired of Democratic and Republican. They want people who are problem-solvers, who can really start tackling some of the issues facing our country right now,” the Wakefield moderate told the Herald when asked if he was in unison with U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s apparent efforts to politically distance himself from Republicans and their presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Tisei, a former Wakefield state senator running against long-entrenched Democrat U.S. Rep. John Tierney of Salem, spoke this morning to more than 200 business executives from the North Shore Chamber of Commerce in Danvers.

The former state Senate minority leader later told the Herald that while he voted with former Gov. Romney “54 percent of the time” during his stint on Beacon Hill, “that doesn’t mean you become a rubber stamp,” and a move for both to Washington, D.C., won’t change that.

Read More

Republicans may have their best chance of winning a Massachusetts congressional seat in nearly two decades with Richard R. Tisei pulling six percentage points ahead of Representative John F. Tierney in a new Boston Globe poll.

Tisei, a former state senator from Wakefield, leads Tierney, a Salem Democrat, 37 percent to 31 percent among likely voters, with 30 percent undecided.

The high percentage of undecided voters reflects the electorate’s lack of knowledge of Tisei as well as Tierney’s relative unpopularity, even among members of his own party, said Andrew E. Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, which conducted the poll.

“Tierney is vulnerable, very vulnerable,” Smith said. “He’s in really rough shape to pull this out, by historical standards.”

The findings suggest that unflattering attention from the illegal gambling ring that was run by Tierney’s brothers-in-law has taken a serious toll on the congressman’s reelection campaign, Smith said.

Tierney’s vulnerabilities, combined with Tisei’s relatively moderate stances on many issues, have made the Sixth Congressional District race one of the most competitive in Massachusetts and the most closely watched nationally. If elected, Tisei would be the first openly gay Republican congressman to disclose his sexual orientation before being elected.

Read More

(Lynnfield, MA) – The loudest library in the North Shore on Saturday morning was the Peabody Institute Library where congressional candidate Richard Tisei held a Town Hall Meeting with close to fifty people. This, and his Town Hall Meeting in Bedford, at the Bedford Town Hall Building, was the latest installment Tisei’s New Direction Town Hall series. Complete with a tracker from the Tierney campaign, voters young and old came out to the events to learn more about Richard and how he plans to bring a fresh kind of leadership to Washington, D.C.

“I was inspired to see so many people join me today. Saturdays are tough–between soccer games and afternoon family activities–I understand that people have busy lives. The fact that so many people put their Saturday schedules on ‘pause’ to come talk policy shows what kind of commitment the Sixth District has toward putting our country back on the right path,” Tisei said.

The principal concern at both Town Halls was how to get America’s economy back on track. Many attendees wanted to know what Richard would do to help small businesses and manufacturers thrive in a struggling economic climate. One small business owner in Danvers, who said he employed roughly 200 people, was concerned about all of the federal hoops he had to jump through just to keep compliant.

“Burdensome federal regulations are killing jobs and ultimately warping the foundation of America: our small businesses and entrepreneurs,” Tisei said.

Tisei continued, “I am committed to unleashing Massachusetts’ small businesses from these regulatory burdens. As a small business owner myself, I understand from firsthand experience how much time and money are siphoned away from a business due to federal regulation–time and money that could have gone toward growing business and creating jobs.”

Tisei also addressed the 2.3% excise tax on medical device companies set to take effect in 2013 under the ObamaCare law–a tax Tisei’s opponent, Congressman John Tierney, supports.

“Why aren’t companies hiring right now? It’s because they not only can’t afford to, but there is so much unpredictability. Take a look at the medical device industry. There is a giant tax hanging over their heads now and they have no clue what will ultimately happen to their company because of it. If we want to get our economy going, there has to be predictability,” Tisei said.

Tisei discussed the unwelcome possibility of a double-dip recession.

“People watch what is going on in Washington right now, and they simply cannot believe the gridlock that’s happening while the rest of America suffers. We are standing on the brink of a double-dip recession–no thanks to the partisan logjam in Washington. It’s time to move forward and work across the aisle toward viable solutions for this country.”

Bipartisanship came up multiple times at both events.

“Legislating isn’t about party and politics–it’s about principle. Send me to Washington, I’ll vote on the side of principle every time,” Tisei said.

Tisei’s next Town Halls will be Saturday, October 6, in Salem and Newburyport. Final locations and times to be announced.