Libertarian in 2012 race backs Tisei vs. Tierney

The Libertarian Party candidate whose third-party run drew more than 16,000 votes in the tight, heated congressional race between incumbent John Tierney and challenger Richard Tisei two years ago has thrown his support to Tisei this time around.

In a letter sent Monday to the Times and to several other 6th Congressional District media outlets, Daniel Fishman of Beverly said he was backing Tisei, who came within a single percentage point of ousting Tierney in 2012, as a moderate candidate and a fiscal conservative who has been consistently socially tolerant.

Decrying criticism of Tisei from the 2012 Tierney campaign and from other Democrats, who have tried to paint Tisei as having ties to the conservative tea party, Fishman wrote, I would ask people on the North Shore to evaluate him based on who he says he is, calling Tisei the most tolerant and, thus, the most liberty-minded candidate.

The endorsement from Fishman comes less than two years after the Beverly man had rung up 16,668 or 4 percent of the votes cast in the bitter, rough-and-tumble 2012 run, which Tierney won by a margin of 3,550.

Tierney, widely viewed by pollsters as trailing right up to the day before the election, pulled out his re-election to a ninth term by capturing 179,603 votes to Tiseis 175,953 or winning by 48.4 to 47.2 percent of the vote.

But Fishman, who was active throughout the campaign and participated in some of the debates including one hosted by the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce at Cruiseport Gloucester just 10 days prior to the election drew 16,668 votes, or 4 percent of the total, far more than Tierneys margin of victory. Tierneys final margin also virtually matched the 3,000-vote margin by which he carried the city of Gloucester.

In his endorsement letter, which can be read in full on Page 4 the Opinion page of todays Times, Fishman begins with a basic pronouncement.

Im supporting Richard Tisei for Congress in 2014, he writes, before going on to note the need for all sides to hear out and be tolerant of each others views.

Richard has said that its easier to be gay in Massachusetts than it is to be a Republican, wrote Fishman. Thats not a happy jest, its a sad truth.

If you live in Massachusetts youve heard hate speech directed towards Republicans, and that shouldnt be OK, he adds in backing Tisei, who is gay, pro-gay marriage and pro-choice, despite the stands of many in his own party.