Sixth District candidates discuss transparency in family matters

Though the race for the Sixth District congressional seat isn’t even close to next fall’s primary stage, it has already become mired in family matters. All three candidates involved so far in the race have said that, when it comes to personal issues overshadowing issues of public interest, it’s not they who suffer, but the district’s constituents.”Whether it’s a sister or a brother-in-law, their problems and personal struggles should not overshadow the issues facing Massachusetts families,” said Congressman John Tierney, D-Salem, the Sixth District incumbent, in a statement to the Item. He added that he believed the constituents would judge each candidate on his or her own merits as opposed to the actions of their relatives.Tierney’s wife Patrice Tierney was convicted of tax fraud last year for reportedly aiding and abetting her brother in an off-shore gambling scheme he ran.Wakefield resident Richard Tisei declared his candidacy for the congressional seat in early November, and now is already facing a scandal of his own: his 48-year-old sister, Donna McHale of North Reading, was arrested and charged with cocaine possession in August.Tisei’s campaign manager, Paul Moore, spoke on his behalf, saying it is unfortunate that family matters are fair game in a political campaign, but what matters most is the ideas candidates have.”That should be what the campaign focuses on,” he said.Tisei has denied any knowledge of his sister’s arrest, saying in a statement released to the press that he hasn’t lived with McHale since 1981, and encouraged her to do “what’s best for her and her family.”Tisei’s Republican primary opponent, William Hudak of Boxford, said how a candidate reacts when potentially detrimental news breaks can say a lot about his character. Both he and Tisei’s camp seem to agree Tierney let voters down in regard to his wife’s conviction.”I think Tierney has failed on every measure of honesty, transparency and integrity,” Hudak said in a phone interview with the Item.Likewise, Moore said, there is a contrast between how Tisei responded to the news of his sister’s arrest and how Tierney responded throughout his wife’s legal troubles.”I guess we would have hoped Tierney would say, ‘I’ve got nothing to hide,’ but he didn’t, and that’s the kind of arrogance people are tired of,” Moore said. “People want to know who they’re voting for and they get a window into that in cases like this.”Hudak said the amount of privacy a candidate’s family receives is directly related to the situation befalling the relative and the more a crime affects the candidate’s ability to serve or his campaign, the more the public should hear about it. McHale’s arrest, he said, is tangential and distant compared to the crimes for which Patrice Tierney was charged.Moore said Tisei did not regret the comments he made about Tierney’s situation in light of his sister’s arrest because of the disparity of the two legal situations. He cited the facts that Patrice Tierney is a “federal convict” who has served time in prison and McHale had no criminal record prior to her August arrest.McHale has a court hearing on Feb. 15 at the Woburn Superior Court, Moore said, and the family hopes the situation will be resolved then.Hudak said airing out a family’s dirty laundry in the midst of a political campaign is never a black-and-white issue, and always depends on the nature of the crime first and how the candidate responds second.”Every person stands on his or her own merits in life,” Hudak said. “We are all human and we all make mistakes, and I think it is important for families to stick together and work out personal issues. But I think they cross the line when they can affect a candidate’ or elected official personally.”In his 2010 re-election bid, Tierney defeated Hudak with 57 percent of the vote. Tisei was the running mate for Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker of Swampscott in the 2010 election, which they lost.