Tierney, Lynners discuss issues at museum

LYNN – U.S. Rep. John Tierney appeared at the Lynn Museum and Historical Society Monday night, touching on his past and current work in Congress, including extending the Blue Line, bolstering job retraining and maintaining veterans services.The Salem Democrat, who represents the Sixth Congressional district, spoke before a crowd of around 35 people, which included Councilor at large Hong Net, Ward 5 Councilor Brendan Crighton, Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano and School Committee members Maria Carrasco and Charlie Gallo.The event was the fourth in a series of roundtable discussions with government officials in the state that aim to give an inside look into their positions. Past sessions included a panel of Lynn judges and former city mayors.?You don?t often get inside people?s heads or see what goes on behind the scenes,” said moderator James Carrigan, a Lynn attorney.When Carrigan asked Tierney about how his government philosophy would work for the city, the congressman first mentioned his support for an extension of the Blue Line into Lynn for those without cars who want to go into Boston or get to the airport.?The city of Lynn has always been in the situation of needing, I think, more mass transit to get there,” Tierney said.However, Tierney said that although the project would be a “good public expenditure” and he has worked in the past to allocate $50 million to proceed, the project is currently not financially feasible.?There?s no corporation out there, no individuals, that are going to write a check for it,” he said.Carrigan also had Tierney elaborate on his work with increasing job retraining, in the light of the fact that some Lynn residents have seen their jobs go overseas. Tierney said that he has been working with colleagues on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to draft legislation building upon the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.?What we need to do is modernize the system. What we did in 1998 was a good step in the right direction and improved on what we did before, but unemployment was less than 5 percent at that point in time, and a lot of the jobs in technology and things like that didn?t exist then,” he said.In the almost hour-long forum, Tierney also covered bipartisanship, opposition to proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and his efforts to set up the Commission on Wartime Contracting to monitor military contracts for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflict.In an interview about the November election after the discussion, Tierney said he does not think it will be particularly difficult campaigning against Richard Tisei, the Republican congressional candidate for the Sixth District.?We always run like we?re in last place, and we always know that we have to go out and make a connection with the voters and talk about what we?ve accomplished,” he said. “I think that we have a good record to run on, so we?re fortunate for that.”Sarah Mupo can be reached at [email protected].