Congressman John Tierney, D-Salem, locked in tight race to hold on to his 6th District seat for a ninth term, is calling on Wakefield Republican Richard Tisei, the former state Senate Minority Leader who is challenging him, to return nearly $1 million in campaign help from a national Republican Super PAC.
Tierney’s campaign has been trying to link Tisei, who has been campaigning as a moderate Republican, to Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who last week accepted the Republican nomination for vice president, and a group of conservative Congressional Republicans.
Tierney said a Super PAC called “Young Guns,” which funds promising Republican candidates around the country, will “begin airing $900,000 in negative ads attacking Congressman Tierney.”
Tierney said he is still willing to sign the so-called “People’s Pledge,” the agreement that bars outside money in this campaign and was the signed by Republican Sen. Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren, his Democratic challenger. So far, their agreement has held.
“Now is Richard Tisei’s chance to show that his claims of independence are more than just a slogan. Unless he signs the People’s Pledge to disavow Super PAC money, or will agree to keep shady undisclosed special interest money out of this race, he is confirming his allegiance to the Young Gun agenda of cutting even more taxes for wealthy individuals and corporations, ending Medicare, slashing education, and marching backwards on women’s health issues,” said Tierney spokesperson Grant Herring.
Tierney’s campaign is calling on Tisei to refuse $900,000 in support from the Young Guns Super PAC, pointing to a statement Tisei made to the media earlier this year that he would only take PAC support from groups with which he ideologically agrees with.
“This therefore represents his last chance to reject Ryan’s right-wing ideology,” Tierney’s campaign said in a statement.. “Earlier this year, clearly in anticipation of getting this kind of right-wing support, Tisei rejected an offer to ban all outside groups from the 6th District race,”
Tierney’s campaign called Ryan an “ideological leader” who “reaffirmed his commitment to end Medicare and outlaw abortion” when he accepted the vice presidential nomination in Tampa last week.
“It is simply not believable that Mr. Tisei would push back on their extreme agenda if elected since he can’t even separate from them in this campaign,” Herring said. “Instead, he is essentially dependent on their support for money and for policy direction.
“People in the Sixth District do not want a congressman bought and paid for by the most extreme elements of the Republican Party — the most conservative collection in over 100 years,” Herring added, “and they certainly do not want their representative to empower the Tea Party agenda.
“National Republicans have made it clear they want Richard Tisei as their foot soldier in their ideological march and because they know he could be counted on as a loyal vote to position them to drive their agenda, and that he would support it, as well.”
The Young Gun ad buy is set to begin this Friday, the campaign said.
