By: Tom Duggan – December, 2011
Wakefield – Former State Senator and candidate for Lt. Governor Richard Tisei announced last month that he will seek the republican nomination for congress in the hopes of unseating democrat John Tierney.
Flanked by supporters and members of the media, Tisei said that he was going to make jobs and taxes the main focus of his congressional campaign. The Valley Patriot caught up to him after his announcement. Our interview is below.
VP: Knowing how Massachusetts residents generally go “D” (for Democrat) down the ticket on election day, and especially with somebody so strong like Obama at the top, how do you plan on breaking through that running as a Republican?
Richard Tisei: I think that there are enough people who recognize that the country is heading in the wrong direction and that they are willing to take a look at all of the candidates who are running and make a change. By re-electing what we have right now, you know, you are not going to end up with any change right now and people are hurting and I think that they are looking for hope.
VP: How do you break through that? How do you get it through to them, those who are going to be voting for Obama at the top to vote for you on the next line?
Richard Tisei: I think it’s going to be getting out and meeting people on a one-on-one basis and having a good message.
I am running, because I want to re-store the American dream, I want more jobs. I want spending to be put under control. And I want fewer regulations to allow small business to create jobs. Everybody is concerned about job creation right now. That is the number one issue. I think if you are able to articulate how you’re going to create more jobs and what the Federal Government should be doing and shouldn’t be doing. People are going to listen.
VP: What, specifically, about your opponent has he not tackled, has he not handled that makes you want to go out there and represent the people?
Richard Tisei: The big issues of the day right now, taxes, spending, excessive government regulations and bigger government John Tierney voted for all of those things and he’s in favor of all of those things. They have a different philosophy. I think that small businesses should be allowed to innovate and create jobs without government interference. I support lower taxes. Raising taxes during a recession, any economist will tell you, is a bad idea. The Federal Government borrows… for every dollar they spend; they are borrowing forty-cents on the dollar. How long can a business or a family survive taking on that much debt? I mean, we are in a lot of danger as a country right now and this is our opportunity to put things on the right track.
VP: John Tierney has abandoned Israel, where do you stand on Israel s and as a congressman; how are you going to be voting on a lot of those appropriations?
Richard Tisei: Well, I’ve been to Israel. I was there for 2 weeks in the 90’s. I learned a lot about the country. One thing I did learn is that they are a fast and our most trusted ally. Israel is the only place in the Middle East where they respect freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom to think and act as independent individuals. It’s really imperative that America supports Israel, because Israel supports us. They are closer to us than any other nation in the world.
VP: The last campaign between John Tierney and Bill Hudak seemed to get very nasty, very dirty. How are you going to handle that if it happens and it’s you?
Richard Tisei: I just announced and I try to be very positive. This is going to be a positive campaign and I think that if I go out and I talk to people about the issues that are really affecting them, they are going to respond positively to me and I’ve never run a dirty campaign and I am not going to do that right now. That’s how they do things in Washington, they pin America against America and I am not going to do that during this campaign.
I know there are a ton of people out there right now who have a genuine desire to change things, change the rhetoric, change what’s going on in Washington. I am trying to do this differently and I am going to try to let people know what I am all about and hopefully they are going to end up responding to me.
AUDIO OF Tom Duggan’s Radio Program on WCAP 980AM in Lowell interviewing Richard Tisei