National GOP group launches website opposing Tierney

The National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee launched a website Thursday aimed at reminding voters about the gambling scandal surrounding U.S. Rep. John Tierney, D-Salem, following his wife’s and brother-in-law’s criminal convictions.The website, www.howcouldtierneynotknow.com, features a picture of Tierney and his wife, Patrice Tierney, along with playing cards and a stack of casino chips, plus a history of Tierney’s relatives involved in the gambling scandal.”If we accept the premise that he knew nothing about any of these things going on under his watch, what else is he clueless about?” Nathaniel Sillin, Northeast Regional Press Secretary for the NRCCC, told The Daily Item Thursday morning.Patrice Tierney pleaded guilty to four counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns related to her fugitive brother Robert Eremian. Prosecutors said she controlled a bank account for him that held more than $7 million in illegal gambling profits. Tierney has always denied knowing about the money.The NRCCC is making Tierney’s race against Republican candidate Richard Tisei one of its top targeted races in the Northeast, according to Sillin, who said it will be supporting Tisei but has not yet made a decision how much, if anything, it will invest in the race.”We think Richard Tisei is a strong candidate and the environment is right, particularly given John Tierney’s vulnerability and his insistence that he didn’t know what was going on around him,” Sillin said.A federal jury in December convicted Daniel Eremian, another Tierney brother-in-law, of several charges, including racketeering in connection with the illegal gambling operation, according to an Associated Press story.Tierney did not make himself available for an interview Thursday, but his spokesperson, Kathryn Prael, issued a statement.”It is no surprise the National Republican Campaign Committee is supporting Richard Tisei,” Prael said in the statement. “This is a candidate in lock step with right-wing Republicans who want to repeal patient health care protections, subsidize Big Oil companies, cut taxes for millionaires, restrict women’s access to health care and end Medicare. He is so desperate to hide his positions that he is going after the Congressman’s wife who took responsibility for her actions and paid a terrible price.”But Tisei, in a telephone interview with The Daily Item Thursday, called Tierney’s assertions “laughable.””I’m openly gay, I’m pro-choice ? to try to paint me as a right-wing Republican is pretty laughable,” Tisei said Thursday. “It just shows how desperate the congressman and his camp are.”Tisei says he did not know the NRCCC would be launching the website and maintains the reason why the issue is still relevant to so many voters in the Sixth District is because Tierney “was never forthright and open about answering questions about this in the first place.””When I’m going around the district I hear from people who still have questions about what happened,” Tisei said.He also noted Tierney’s wife invoked spousal privilege when she was called to testify at the trial of her brother (who is also Tierney’s brother-in-law), where Daniel Eremian was ultimately convicted.”What he should have told his wife is there’s no need to invoke spousal privilege, tell them everything you know and we can put this behind us,” Tisei said. “This is his problem, not mine. I have enough to run on based on his record of increasing taxes, supporting over-regulation, supporting a huge spending increase and sitting in Congress while the country is going down the drain and not doing anything about it.”But Kevin Franck, communications director for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, echoed the Tierney statement, saying the NRCCC is supporting Tisei because he is in “lock step with their extreme agenda.”He also lashed out at Tisei for what he suggests is the Republican candidate’s decision to abandon his pledge to focus on the issues.”The fact that Richard Tis