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Efforts by Democratic incumbent John Tierney to link him with GOP effort to limit women’s access to birth control drew a quick rebuke from Republican challenger Richard Tisei today.
Here’s the text of Tisei’s comments regarding an item that appeared in my Friday political column (read column at http://preview.tinyurl.com/7ubxzze):

Congressional candidate Richard Tisei today challenged his opponent, John Tierney, to lead a civil and truthful campaign in the coming months.  Tierney’s official spokesperson, Kathryn Prael, began the misrepresentations and poisonous rhetoric in a statement yesterday to the Salem News.
‘The voters in the middle have been unrepresented by both parties for far too long.  The voters are sick to death of the name calling and poisonous rhetoric,’ said Tisei.  ‘They want an end to the name calling and invective from the political class.  John Tierney ought to use his official office in better ways than to have his taxpayer-funded spokesperson calling me names and misrepresenting my record and his own.’
On Thursday, the Salem News quoted Tierney’s official spokesperson,  Kathryn Prael, as saying that Tisei was a “foot soldier of the far right wing of the Republican Party” who favored an “extremist” agenda to restrict access to contraceptives. 
‘Long before John Tierney ever ran for Congress, I was standing up for women’s rights and access to health care in the legislature and I’ve got the record to prove it.  I’ve led the charge on the rights of gay men and women and take a back seat to no one in standing for equal rights for every American,’ said Tisei.  ‘I also question the propriety of John Tierney paying an official staff person to be directly engaged in the kind of reprehensible talk his spokesperson is now using.  If she’s talking like that and remains on the official payroll, it’s well beneath the role of a Congressman’s official staff.’
‘As a matter of fact, in 1997, John Tierney was a co-sponsor of H.R. 820 (Health Insurance Bill of Rights Act of 1997),’ noted Tisei.  ‘That bill did include an exemption for businesses and religious entities based on moral or religious convictions.  John Tierney didn’t just support that bill:  he sponsored it.1
As recently as 2002, Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift signed into law S.B. 2139, which mandated that employers offering insurance ‘must’ include contraceptive services.  Richard Tisei was among the supporters of the senate measure, which became law. 
‘John Tierney may want to check out his own record – and mine – before he starts throwing stones in glass houses and using his spokesperson to distort the record and call names,’ said Tisei.  “The voters deserve a real discussion of the issues and of our records.  Distortion and smears are things that I’d hope John Tierney would oppose.  Regrettably, it’s becoming obvious that he’ll use any means to try to save his job.’

Republican congressional candidate Richard Tisei’s campaign committee issued the following statement shortly before 9 Tuesday night:

(Lynnfield, MA) – Responding to reports carried by news media this evening that his sister, Donna McHale, age 48 of North Reading, had been arrested for possession of cocaine, Republican Congressional candidate Richard Tisei issued the following statement:
 “Until today, I had no idea that my sister had been arrested for cocaine possession last August.  It was very upsetting news to both my mother and me, to put it mildly.  I’m not familiar with the circumstances, but spoke with Donna and urged her to be honest and forthcoming and to resolve this situation.  If she needs help, I want her to get it.  I haven’t lived with my sister since 1981, but want the best for her and for her family.”
 Campaign Manager Paul Moore commented that “like anyone, Richard loves and supports his mother and sisters.  He was devastated to hear this sad news today from a reporter,” said Moore, a former federal prosecutor.  “Richard last lived with his sister 30 years ago and he has strongly urged her to honestly and forthrightly deal with this matter and he’s done it as a loving brother.  I think that’s pretty admirable.”

Though somewhat taken aback by the breaking news that Florida legislators are thinking of moving the Sunshine State primary to Jan. 31, and acknowledging Obama has, at least statistically, a 50-50 chance of being reelected, Mitt Romney sounded plenty confident as he met with this reporter and colleagues from the Eagle-Tribune in Derry, N.H. this morning.

“When’s New Hampshire going to vote, Christmas?” Romney wondered when told about the latest developments in Florida.
The Granite State, where polls show him with a comfortable lead now, is extremely important to Romney, though he claims to have good support in other regions of the country as well.
Indeed, with tea party favorites like Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann starting to fade, Romney’s chances of capturing the GOP nomination are looking better every day. Which may be why he focused most of his attention during the one-hour interview on President Obama.
“He’s been a disappointment,” both in terms of economic policy and foreign affairs, Romney said.
Regarding the latter, the former Massachusetts governor said Obama’s “leading from behind” strategy has been a disaster, making Israel more vulnerable than ever as the Arab Spring “is looking more like the Arab wildfire.”
But Romney’s convinced the 2012 election will be decided by how voters answers that single question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” If that’s true and things don’t turn around fast, Obama may indeed find himself out of a job.

U.S. Rep. John Tierney has introduced legislation to impose tighter controls on wartime contractors who, according to a recent report, have wasted tens of billions of dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Here’s a copy of the release announcing Tierney’s bill:

Washington D.C. – Today, Congressman John Tierney, Ranking Member of the National Security, Homeland Defense, and Foreign Operations Oversight Subcommittee, introduced legislation to create a permanent inspector general for contingency operations. A permanent inspector general is one of fifteen key recommendations by the Commission on Wartime Contracting, which Congressman Tierney helped establish in 2008 to investigate wasteful government spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Commission’s final report concludes that at least $30 billion of U.S. spending for contracts and grants in those two countries over the past decade has been wasted.
“The legislation I introduced today fills an important void in the oversight of American taxpayer dollars. We need to enhance our resources and capabilities to transcend the silos in which many agencies all too often operate. Our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan make clear that we need to have such systems in place on day one in future operations. The kind of waste we have witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan should not be tolerated. Additionally, efforts to audit and monitor where taxpayer dollars are being spent will improve the safety of our troops and help prevent critical funds from getting into the hands of our enemies,” Congressman Tierney said.
In 2005, Congressman John Tierney co-authored legislation, with then-Congressman Jim Leach (R-IA), to establish a select committee to conduct oversight on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. This legislation is credited for leading the way to the Senate version of the bill and the creation of the Commission of Wartime Contracting. Congressman Tierney announced this new legislation to create a permanent inspector general for contingency operations last week.

September’s special election for Nevada’s 2nd House district will provide a good early gauge of tea-party support in the current debate over raising the debt ceiling.
Republican Mark Amodei is firmly in the tea-party camp, stating that deficit reduction must be done through spending cuts alone, while Democrat Kate Marshall, the state treasurer, is advocating for a combination of revenue cuts and revenue-raising measures.
The district has always gone Republican, so a Democratic upset like the one that occurred recently in upstate New York would be a very bad omen for conservatives heading into the 2012 general election.