The fact is no one knows the true details of this unseemly affair in Tierney's family and perhaps we never will. However we are in a time that calls for an improved tax policy, improved health care, rational foreign policy, and careful scrutiny of what makes sense on the budget and how we pay for it. To tell the truth neither of these candidates is a leading star in proposing a new direction. So we have to look at what they vote for and where will they come down on the issues. If I had my druthers I would have preferred the Democratic Party asked Mr. Tierney to sit this one out. There are plenty of other well known potential candidates in the 6th district that would have done a bang up job and have the record to prove it. But they didn't. Mr. Tisei has his own dicey family baggage but not as fresh in the mind as Mr. Tierney's. However his tax policy resembles Mitt Romney's and has the same propensity towards military solutions over other non violent methods. Mr. Tisei also is in line with drastic unwelcome changes to Medicare and Medicaid. So we are left with a choice, neither of them very pretty. Mr Tisei may be the more morally acceptable candidate, not entirely deserved, but will vote for failed and backward policies. Mr. Tierney will more reliably vote for needed reform and be a check on war path inclinations of Republicans. What a crummy selection. No matter which way it goes I hope the candidates showing up in two years will be more appealing. Thanks for listening.

I frequently see sighing references to the Democratic Party's domination of Massachusetts polics. I seldom see any acknowledgement that maybe the Massachusetts Republican Party bares some responsibility for this unhealthy situation. How often do they win elections here when the Democrat actually tries?

We taxpayers paid big money to federal and state prosecutors to learn whether Tierney is bad; if so, he should go. Two camps seem eager to hang Tierney: Tisei, eager for votes, and those tough federal prosecutors eager for a headline, a conviction, a notch in their belts. Listen to the same federal prosecutors who recently nailed House Speakers Finneran and DiMasi. As zealots, these experienced cops salivated (no pun to DiMasi) over nailing Tierney, too. They searched and searched, issued subpoena after subpoena, interviewed witness after witness but found nothing from which to hang even a headline, leave alone a conviction. Noting nothing notch-worthy, they moved on. Tisei lingers where zealot prosecutors left, because, as Eleanor Roosevelt taught, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Tisei’s mind lingers on Tierney the person too long, because Tisei lacks original ideas. Our times demand the greater mind.

I've got five brothers-in-law, FIVE of them. One lives in a foreign country. Am I their nanny? No. Is it my responsibility to conduct yearly audits of their finances? No. Because I fell in love with their sister and married her, does that mean that I am responsible for their every action? No. If a federal judge with the approval of the prosecutor and probation department signed off on one of them going to Antigua to manufacture widgets, does that mean that I should be in charge of their widget quality control? No. The point is that Tierney's slimeball brother-in-law was allowed by the court to go to Antigua to work in sports gambling...because it was legal to do so. That guy then broke US law by taking bets here. Judge Tauro, a Republican appointed judge, sent the guy off to be a gambler in Antigua. Should the Judge have known that he was such a slimeball that he could not be trusted? Hmm... It is clear that Tierney's wife was drawn into a situation by her brother where she was to manage a trust for their mother as well as the care of her brother's kids, and his ex-wife. Did she fumble that task? Yes. And she paid a price. It's hard to know exactly where to draw lines within a family. But every competent investigator has said that John Tierney is NOT culpable for his wife's brother's business dealings. That's good for Tierney and for the rest of us who have brothers-in-law. I'm sure that Mary McGrory read Tolstoy but I'm not sure that Brian has. Tolstoy famously notes that, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Tolstoy took no joy in the tragedy of others. He would not have made it in public life in America. Not at the Globe, either.

Well put, Brian, but this is Massachusetts. Tierney could still win because he's got that precious D after his name.

user_440549 thinks we should support Mr. Tisei because the Republicans will control Washington for the next decade. He probably thinks of himself as a "realist" but I think he is overly optimistic. It is not at all clear that Republicans will control Washington over the next decade. No single Party will dominate. But think about this. Since 1980, because of "voodoo economics" middle income families have seen their share of American wealth decline. Except for George H.W Bush's heroic acceptance of the need for a tax increase because the Reagan policies were failing and for the prudent deal making of Bill Clinton, our situation would be even worse than it is today. G.W. Bush pushed taxes down even further, put two wars and a drug program on the credit card, and, only at the end, with the economy crashing, did he sign off on TARP to prevent total collapse. The crazies, ideologues, political evangelicals and the flat earthers have gained unseemly power and influence in the Republican Party. It is far better to vote for the flawed Democratic grownups than the Republican chestpuffers, ready to go to war again in the Middle East. That's not fair, though. They are not ready to go to war again. They are going to send YOUR kids and grandkids to war. If history is any guide, Mitt will be in France, Cheney will have other priorities, and GW Bush will be patrolling the Mexican boarder from 10,000 feet if war breaks out. Mr. McConnell had bad eyes and Mr. Boehner had a bad back, so they were unable to serve in the military. But ALL of these guy are cheerleaders for war. We had better pray that they do not control Washington for the next decade.

Great Article!

http://gbclc.com/elizabeth-warren-and-congressman-john-tierney

Whatever happens is up to the people of the district. I don't think it's proper for me to tell them how to vote.

I don't know why people from outside the district should get tied up in knots about it, but it's apparent that some do.

Ike warned of the military indutrial complex and the dangers of its influence on our economy and country.  What is even more dangerous is this "Political Industrial Complex" that has grown to be a monster.  Tierney is an example of those that lurk in it.

Well said!!!!!!!!!!!

Because the Republican majority has proven itself too reckless to control congress, I will hold my nose and vote for Tierney

I am not voting for any candidate of any party whose main compaign message is to attack his opponent while saying next to nothing about his/her own positions.  Nor will I vote for any candidate who uses robocalls to unload a long message on my answer machine forcing me to let it run so that I can delete it.   Got something to say about your program Mr. Tisei?  Do you have a plan or will you just rubber stamp the Republicans in  the House?  As much as I dislike Tierney - a weak congressman - I will hold my nose and vote for him.

My wife and I share a home office . Over the years we have each known what business we are transacting there. That Rep. Tierney had no idea what bususiness his wife Patrice was engaged in for her brother stretches the imagination. Paired with family "gift" exempted from taxes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, this doesn't pass the smell test. Tierney has been anadequate congressman. But voters should give this a second look before marking their ballots. Where is SGT Schultz? He also knows nothing. And according to her sentencing, Mrs. Tierney was "willfully blind" to her brother's unlawful acts. That is an odd turn of phrase to say the least.