6th District rivals stage 2nd debate

DANVERS – Though the audience asked no questions, the 600 or so partisans at the Sixth District Congressional debate made their presence known, with frequent booing and cheering, groaning and shouting, all directed at the candidates on stage.Salem News Editor and moderator David Olson asked the crowd to “keep cheering to a minimum” Wednesday night, but that request was largely ignored as U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-Salem), Republican challenger Richard Tisei of Wakefield and Libertarian challenger Daniel Fishman of Beverly made their case.At times, the candidates reacted to the crowd at Danvers High School: Fishman lost his train of thought while talking about character, enough so that he asked the audience to stop cheering while he was speaking and Tisei rolled his eyes toward the audience when Tierney referred to himself as a bi-partisan candidate.The ability of a candidate to cross the aisle in Congress was a much-discussed issue. Tisei said Tierney voted “with the leadership” 99 percent of the time, whereas he was proud of having left-wing supporters. “I?m the only person ? running for office right now who is for gay marriage and pro-choice ? and I?m being attacked for being a right-wing party extremist,” said Tisei.Tierney shot back that Tisei?s campaign was one of the “sleaziest” and claimed he was “misleading the public” because Tisei said “the tea party was a Godsend.”?You attacked my wife and my family as a way to get to me,” said Tierney as he was heavily booed by Tisei supporters.Tierney said Tisei would only support the “radical majority on the Republican side” in an “uncompromising” government that is “not interested in getting anything done.”Tisei said Tierney?s “misleading” claims that he voted against women?s health rights “is exactly what the problem in this country is.”Fishman said the reason that the country was so divided into red and blue states is because “we are meant to be 50 states,” a sentiment Tisei echoed when speaking about health care. Tisei said the Affordable Care Act should be modified so each state could “devise its own plan ? rather than forcing a system on every state in the country.” Tisei said Tierney “voted against every opportunity to improve the bill.”Tierney called Tisei a Mitt Romney “mini-me” who was “all about appeal, not offering an alternative” in terms of health care.All three candidates found agreement in saying that Israel should be a U.S. ally and that it had the right to protect itself as a country, although Tierney differed from Tisei and Fishman when he said he would be in support of sending aid overseas.When the candidates were asked what they were proud of, Tisei said he was proud of seeing his real estate business come through the recession, a statement Tierney said was hypocritical because Tisei had a “resort home” in Martha?s Vineyard.The mud-slinging continued during the two-minute closing remarks, where Tierney said Tisei accepted $3 million from tea party, “called the Ryan budget ?a good start,?” and would “keep this right-wing Congress in power.”Tisei followed by saying “Tierney is Exhibit A of what?s wrong in government” because he didn?t pay taxes on $240,000 that he took home last year. “The district deserves better,” said Tisei.Fishman closed by advising the audience to “vote for who you like – if you don?t vote for me because you think I can?t win ? the only message you are sending is that these ideas appeal to no one.”The debate was sponsored by The Salem News and The Jewish Journal, with panelists Lisa Kosan, director of editorial and design at Peabody Essex Museum, Helen Gifford, managing editor of The Salem News, and Susan Jacobs, editor of the Jewish Journal.For coverage of the past debate, visit our election page.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].