John Tierney | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives from Massachusetts's 6th district | |
In office January 3, 1997 –January 3, 2015 | |
Preceded by | Peter G. Torkildsen |
Succeeded by | Seth Moulton |
Personal details | |
Born | Salem,Massachusetts,U.S. | September 18,1951
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Patrice Tierney |
Residence(s) | Salem,Massachusetts,U.S. |
Education | Salem State College (BA) Suffolk University (JD) |
Occupation | Attorney |
John F. Tierney (born September 18,1951) is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 1997 to 2015. He is a Democrat who represented the state's 6th district ,which includes the state's North Shore and Cape Ann.
Born and raised in Salem,Massachusetts,Tierney graduated from Salem State College and Suffolk University Law School. He worked in private law and served on the Salem Chamber of Commerce from 1976 to 1997. Tierney first ran for the House of Representatives in 1994 against Republican incumbent Peter G. Torkildsen,losing by a small margin. He defeated Torkildsen in a rematch in 1996.
A liberal member of Congress,Tierney voted along with other Democratic Representatives from Massachusetts. He sat on the House Committee on Education and Labor,where his priorities included green energy and increased college access. He co-authored several pieces of legislation,including the Green Jobs Act of 2007 and the College Affordability and Accountability Act of 2008. He is the former chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs,where he helped establish the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. From 1998 to 2010,Tierney comfortably won re-election in each cycle. He faced tougher challenges after his wife Patrice was convicted of felony tax fraud in 2010,narrowly defeating his Republican opponent in 2012. In the 2014 election,he lost the Democratic primary to Seth Moulton,who went on to hold the seat in the general election. [1] In February 2016,Tierney was appointed the executive director of the Council for a Livable World and the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, [2] the council's affiliated education and research organization.
John F. Tierney was born September 18, 1951, in Salem, Massachusetts. His mother, Doris H. (née Gelineau) Tierney, was a Salem native who worked a split shift at the New England Telephone Company, where she remained for 42 years. His father, Albert R. Tierney, was a bookkeeper for Nabisco and a local fuel company. [3] [4] Tierney was one of three children, along with his brother Michael A. and sister Catherine. [4] His father was of Irish descent and his mother was of half French-Canadian and half Irish ancestry. [5] He moved with his family to his grandmother's home when he was five years old. He began working at the Kernwood Country Club in Salem as a caddie when he was 8 and soon adopted a paper route. [6] He later attended Salem High School. When he was young, Tierney campaigned for his uncle, a Peabody ward councilor, and he ascribes his political interest in part to this experience. [7] [8]
Tierney attended Salem State College, majoring in political science. While in college he performed work study, while also stocking shelves at a grocery store, working in sales at a clothing store, and performing deliveries. For three years he was president of his class, and in his final year he served as President of the Salem State Student Government Association (SGA). As SGA president Tierney responded to racial incidents on campus by organizing a school-wide meeting leading to several days of discussion. He graduated in 1973, and returned in 2009 to give a commencement address, receiving an honorary degree. [6]
While working as a law office clerk and a State House janitor, Tierney attended Suffolk University Law School. [6] Tierney graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1976, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar. Tierney worked as a solo practitioner until 1981, when he became a partner at the North Shore community law firm Tierney, Kalis, & Lucas. Tierney remained at the firm until taking office in 1997. Tierney served on the Salem Chamber of Commerce from 1976 to 1997, becoming the organization's president in 1995. [9]
Tierney first ran for Congress in 1994 against one-term Republican incumbent Peter G. Torkildsen, having won a competitive Democratic primary with a plurality of 33.8 percent. [10] He ran on a platform promoting a stronger federal focus on drug abuse, federal aid to promote after-school programs, consideration of means testing for Social Security, and single-payer health care. [7] [11] A primary issue in the campaign was crime: Tierney criticized Torkildsen for his vote against a 1994 crime bill, and advocated stronger gun control, while Torkildsen criticized Tierney's positions on gun control and drug legalization. Tierney was defeated in the general election by 4%. [8] [12] Tierney successfully ran for Congress in 1996, defeating Torkildsen by a narrow margin and increasing his margin in a 1998 rematch. [13] [14] Over the next five elections, Tierney won with over 68% of the vote. [13] [14] In 2010, he faced a stronger challenge from Republican candidate Bill Hudak, after his wife Patrice was convicted of felony tax fraud; he won with 57% of the vote. [15] [ dead link ]
In his 2012 race for re-election, Tierney faced former State Senator and 2010 nominee for Lieutenant Governor Richard Tisei. Tisei, who is openly gay, [16] was endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans. He was also endorsed by The Rainbow Times, a Boston-based LGBT newspaper. [17] Gay Democratic Congressman Barney Frank endorsed Tierney, likening gay Republicans to Uncle Tom. [18] Tierney narrowly won re-election on November 6, 2012, with 48% of the vote to Tisei's 47%. [19]
Tierney ran for re-election against four challengers for the Democratic nomination in 2014. With 27 percent of precincts reporting, Tierney trailed Seth Moulton 51 percent to 40 percent and conceded. [1]
Committee assignments |
---|
113th Congress (2013–15) [20] |
Tierney, described as "an unwavering liberal" by CQ's Politics in America , has consistently high approval ratings from Democratic and liberal interest groups such as Americans for Democratic Action, and low approval ratings from conservative groups such as the American Conservative Union. His votes have been closely aligned with the other Democratic representatives from his state. [21] Described as "a favorite of the House Democratic leadership," [22] he maintains a close relationship with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; her daughter Christine Pelosi served as his chief of staff from 2001 to 2005. [21] Tierney was speculated as a candidate to succeed United States Senator Ted Kennedy in a special election after Kennedy's death in 2009, but he decided not to run. [22] In 2010 Washington paper The Hill published a speculation that Tierney, with a $1.3 million war chest, was a likely candidate to run against Kennedy's successor Scott Brown in the 2012 election. [23] Tierney later stated that he would not contest the Senate seat and would instead seek a ninth term as Congressman.
Tierney and Rep. Hilda Solis coauthored the Green Jobs Act of 2007, which allocated $125 million to green jobs training. The bill was incorporated into the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and signed into law. [21] [24] Tierney was initially opposed to the Troubled Asset Relief Program proposal of 2008, although he ultimately voted for the bill, saying, "The state of panic in the markets compels Congress to act." [21]
The House included several of his proposals in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, one which prevented states from cutting education funding as federal aid increased, and one which forgave federal loans for students who went into some public service professions. [21] Throughout his career, Tierney has repeatedly introduced a bill called "Clean Money, Clean Elections", which would create a national, publicly financed clean elections system. With little support in Congress, the proposal has been unsuccessful. [21]
Tierney is a supporter of universal health care. [21] In early 2010, Tierney came under fire from some in his district for his support of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [25]
On March 6, 2013 Tierney and several House Democrats walked out on a Committee on Education and the Workforce vote, accusing Republican counterparts on the committee of not negotiating "in a bipartisan manner." Tierney has introduced a version of Elizabeth Warren's "Bank on Student Loans Fairness Act" into the House, which would reduce federally subsidized education loans to 0.75%, the rate paid by banks. [26]
A February 2012 Washington Post report revealed that 33 members of Congress helped direct more than $300 million in earmarks to public projects in close proximity to commercial and residential real estate owned by the lawmakers or their family members. [27] According to the investigation, Tierney has helped direct about $3.5 million toward a 950-space parking garage and commuter rail station in Salem, Mass. The facility will be located roughly 1/4 mile from a commercial building Tierney co-owns. [28]
Tierney was a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs during the 110th and 111th Congresses. Tierney introduced the 2007 House legislation that created the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan to study government contracting related to the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. [21] [29] The same year Tierney chaired a congressional hearing over conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The center had been criticized in the press for its dilapidated conditions and inadequate care, as well as for prioritizing a "VIP ward" for non-soldiers. [30] [31] The House approved Tierney's amendment to direct $75,000,000 to secular school construction in Pakistan to compete against Islamic madrassas. [21] [32]
Tierney is a critic of U.S. investment in missile defense, and has called for large budget cuts to the Missile Defense Agency. [33] He introduced an amendment to redirect $966 million in funding from missile defense systems to other military initiatives. The proposal, opposed by Armed Services Committee leaders as "going too far", was rejected in a House vote. [21] [34]
Tierney dated Patrice M. (Eremian) Chew of Marblehead throughout his 1996 campaign. [35] They married in a small ceremony in April 1997 [36] and now live in Salem, where Patrice works as a jewelry designer. [37] Tierney has three stepchildren from his wife's first marriage. [35] In June 2000, Tierney's stepson John Chew was arrested when about 25 grams (0.9 oz) of cocaine and $1,000 in cash were found in his Marblehead apartment. [36] [38]
In August 2010, Tierney's wife Patrice's brothers Robert and Daniel Eremian were indicted in federal court for operating an illegal internet gambling business. [35] [39] Robert had allegedly, with Daniel's help, operated the business out of St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda, and funneled a portion of the profits into a Bank of America account in Massachusetts. In October 2010, Patrice was charged in U.S. District Court with four counts of "aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns" by Robert. [35] John Tierney issued a statement announcing his wife's intention to plead guilty, stating that Patrice accepted "full responsibility for being 'willfully blind' to what her brother was doing." [35] Patrice pleaded guilty on October 6, 2010, [40] and on January 13, 2011, was sentenced to 30 days in prison followed by five months of house arrest. [41] The conviction bolstered the campaign of Bill Hudak, Tierney's Republican opponent in the November 2010 election, but Tierney was re-elected. [42] [43] [44] In June 2012, a federal judge ordered Daniel Eremian to forfeit $7.7 million in assets for his role in the illegal offshore sports betting scheme. [45] Following his sentencing, Daniel Eremian told reporters that the congressman "knew everything that was going on", a charge which Tierney rebutted. [46] [47]
John Walter Olver was an American politician and chemist who was the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 1st congressional district from 1991 to 2013. Raised on a farm in Pennsylvania, Olver graduated from college at the age of 18 and went on to earn a PhD in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later taught chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for eight years.
Richard Edmund Neal is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 1st congressional district since 1989. The district, numbered as the 2nd district from 1989 to 2013, includes Springfield, West Springfield, Pittsfield, Holyoke, Agawam, Chicopee and Westfield, and is much more rural than the rest of the state. A member of the Democratic Party, Neal has been the dean of Massachusetts's delegation to the United States House of Representatives since 2013, and he is also the dean of the New England House delegations.
Michael Everett Capuano is an American politician and attorney who served as a U.S. Representative of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2019. A Democrat, his district included the northern three-fourths of Boston, as well as parts of Cambridge, his hometown of Somerville, and other communities immediately north and south of Boston. Prior to being elected to Congress, he served as an Alderman and Mayor of Somerville.
Stephen Francis Lynch is an American businessman, attorney and politician who has served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts since 2001. A Democrat, he represents Massachusetts's 8th congressional district, which includes the southern fourth of Boston and many of its southern suburbs. Lynch was previously an ironworker and lawyer, and served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court.
Nicholas James Mavroules was an American Democratic Party politician from Massachusetts. He served as Mayor of Peabody, Massachusetts for a decade, then represented Peabody and much of the surrounding North Shore region in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 until 1993. In 1993, he pleaded guilty to 15 counts of racketeering and extortion and later served 15 months in prison.
Peter Gerard Torkildsen is an American Republican Party politician from Massachusetts. He represented the 13th Essex district, including his hometown of Danvers, in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991 and represented Massachusetts's 6th congressional district, covering much of Essex County, for two terms in the U.S. House from 1993 to 1997. Torkildsen also served as chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party from 2007 to 2009.
The Massachusetts congressional elections of 2006 were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006. The terms of all ten representatives to the United States House of Representatives were to expire on January 3, 2007, and therefore all were put up for contest. The winners of the elections served in the 110th United States Congress from January 3, 2007, to January 3, 2009.
Richard R. Tisei is an American politician and real estate agent from Massachusetts. A Republican, he served in both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court for a combined 26 years, eventually becoming Minority Leader in the Massachusetts Senate. He was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 2010 and the nominee for Congress from Massachusetts's 6th district in 2012 and 2014.
Massachusetts held a special election to fill a vacancy in Massachusetts's 5th congressional district on October 16, 2007. Democrat Niki Tsongas won election to Congress, defeating Republican Jim Ogonowski in an election that was closer than expected.
Nicola Dickson "Niki" Tsongas is an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts from 2007 to 2019. She held the seat formerly held by her husband, the late Paul Tsongas, for the district numbered as Massachusetts's 5th congressional district from 2007 to 2013 and as Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district from 2013 to 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In August 2017 Tsongas announced that she would not seek another term in the November 2018 election.
The Massachusetts general election, 2008 were held on November 4, 2008 throughout Massachusetts. Among the elections which took place were those for the office of President of the United States, John Kerry's seat in the Senate, all ten seats in the Massachusetts delegation to the House of Representatives, all eight seats in the Massachusetts Governor's Council, and all of the seats of the Massachusetts Senate and Massachusetts House of Representatives. There were also three ballot questions: to eliminate the commonwealth's income tax; to decriminalize possession of a small amount of marijuana; and to prohibit greyhound racing. Numerous local elections also took place throughout the state.
The 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on November 2, 2010, to determine who would represent the state of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives. Massachusetts has ten seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 112th Congress from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. All current representatives are member of the Democratic Party and none of the ten faced major party opposition in 2008.
The 2004 congressional elections in Massachusetts was held on November 2, 2004, to determine who would represent the state of Massachusetts in the United States House of Representatives. Massachusetts had ten seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected were served in the 109th Congress from January 3, 2005 until January 3, 2007.
Katherine Marlea Clark is an American lawyer and politician who has served as House Minority Whip since 2023 and the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 2013. She previously served as Assistant Speaker from 2021 to 2023 and Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus from 2019 to 2021. Clark was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011 and the Massachusetts Senate from 2011 to 2013.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the nine U.S. representatives from the state of Massachusetts, a loss of one seat following the 2010 census, for service in the 113th Congress from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election. The candidate elected in each of the state's congressional districts was a member the Democratic Party.
James J. Lyons Jr. is an American politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 18th Essex district from 2011 to 2019, and as chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party from 2019 to 2023.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy III is an American politician and diplomat who has been the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland since 2022. Prior to this, Kennedy served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district from 2013 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district that extends from Boston's western suburbs to the state's South Coast. He worked as an assistant district attorney in the Cape and Islands and Middlesex County, Massachusetts, offices before his election to Congress. In January 2021, he became a CNN commentator.
The 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014, to elect the nine U.S. representatives from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one from each of the state's nine congressional districts. The elections coincided with the election of Massachusetts' class II U.S. senator and other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections, including the governor of Massachusetts.
Seth Wilbur Moulton is an American politician who has been the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 6th congressional district since 2015. A former Marine Corps officer, he is a member of the Democratic Party.
The 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts were held on November 3, 2020, to elect the nine U.S. representatives from the state of Massachusetts, one from each of the state's nine congressional districts. The elections coincided with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. Primary elections were held on September 1.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Salem Statement (Salem State College): pp. 24–25. Retrieved July 3, 2010.