Tierney ICYMI
Tierney ICYMI
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NOTE: “U.S. Rep. John Tierney must be feeling the heat. Or at least he’s come to realize his 6th Congressional District race against Republican Richard Tisei has become a battle of equals.”
Tierney’s super PAC ‘pledge’ says plenty
The Lowell Sun
Editorial
May 9, 2012
http://www.lowellsun.com/editorials/ci_20581742/tierneys-super-pac-pledge-says-plenty#ixzz1uUVThGMx
U.S. Rep. John Tierney must be feeling the heat. Or at least he’s come to realize his 6th Congressional District race against Republican Richard Tisei has become a battle of equals.
Tierney’s recent attempt to have Tisei join him in signing a "People’s Pledge" to discourage outside interest groups from influencing their heated, competitive campaign shows how close Tierney believes this race has become.
Tierney wanted both campaigns to sign a pledge to prevent outside groups from airing independent television, radio or Internet ads supporting or attacking either candidate. If they did, the candidate who benefited from the ad would have had to pay 50 percent of the ad’s cost to a charity chosen by their opponent.
Tierney’s bid to limit contributions only applied to super PACs, which must function independently of a specific campaign. Unlike traditional political action committees, super PACs can raise unlimited amounts money from corporations, unions and individuals, while PACs’ contributions to candidates are limited to $5,000 from individuals — half in the primary, and half in the general election — and must be publicly disclosed.
We’re sure it’s simply a coincidence that Tierney has raised 43 percent of his money in this election cycle from PACs, compared to just 5 percent for Tisei.
And despite that discrepancy, Tisei, a former state senator from Wakefield, has raised $354,467 in the first quarter of 2012 compared to Tierney’s $325,125.
Obviously, the incumbent Salem Democrat understands how important — and rare — the national Republican Party views this opportunity to snatch a U.S. rep seat from away from the all-Democrat Bay State delegation.
Thus Tierney’s desire to keep the flow of Republican super PAC cash out of this race.
Of course, when he was offered a chance by Tisei to stem the tide of PAC money, Tierney demurred, for obvious reasons.
Tisei had asked Tierney to agree to one of four options: End all PAC contributions; end all PAC contributions from outside Massachusetts; limit PAC contributions to 20 percent of all contributions; or limit all donations to those coming from Massachusetts.
Having declined, both attempts to limit PAC money from either entity seems unlikely.
Which gets us back to the battle at hand.
The redrawing of Tierney’s district, which now includes Billerica and Tewksbury, as well as parts of Andover, gives the Tisei camp a realistic chance to snare a GOP victory.
Attempting to have Tisei sign a Brown-Warren type of super PAC oath only indicates that Tierney believes he’s involved in a similarly neck-and-neck race.