ENDORSEMENT BY THE LOWELL SUN
The Lowell Sun | September 2, 2014
Marisa DeFranco is considered an outsider in the Democrats’ 6th Congressional District primary race and for good reason: She doesn’t play political games when answering questions or offering solutions to what’s wrong in Washington, D.C.
Just like it isn’t fair to give Democrats credit for everything that’s right, it isn’t fair to blame Republicans for everything that’s wrong, she says.
DeFranco believes U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney, an 18-year incumbent, is part of Washington’s problem and for the good of the people it is time for a change.
She says “pie-in-the-sky” Democrat lawmakers have left political compromise behind for a partisan path that delivers few collaborative and enduring solutions.
DeFranco’s frank talk is jarring to Democrats who etch the party’s business-as-usual platform in stone. She offers a refreshing perspective and a strong woman’s voice to issues that affect all people, especially the middle class.
An immigration lawyer and businesswoman, DeFranco says she’s been impacted by rising healthcare costs and government’s expanding regulatory role.
At a recent candidates’ debate, she said, “My office is literally on Main Street, and the truth is that Congress has been crushing the life out of small businesses for the past two years and the past 20 years.”
Naturally, the best indication of what DeFranco might be like as a congressional leader comes from her immigration reform plan.
DeFranco would implement heavy fines against employers who exploit immigrants, increase border and port security with targeted inspection goals over the next four years, double the number of immigration judges to process cases and deport immigrants with felony convictions, and create a path to legalization — not citizenship — for undocumented immigrants who refuse to go through the same process as legal immigrants. She’d also create an “essential worker visa’ similar to the seasonal visa that exists now.
The system is broken but “we’re not going to deport our way out of the problem,” says DeFranco, who opposes amnesty.
DeFranco campaign to unseat Tierney and defeat three other rivals in the race is an uphill battle. In our view, however, she’s articulated the best ideas to change Washington’s partisan culture and get things done. The Sun endorses Marisa DeFranco in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary race for the 6th Congressional District.
Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/opinion/ci_26450855/marisa-defranco#ixzz3CB6mcpQ7
By Marisa DeFranco | September 2, 2014
The Lynn Daily Item
I have a real plan for immigration that honors our nation’s rich history as a nation of immigrants while fixing the holes and cracks that have allowed our system to become broken over the years. I am the only person the 6th Congressional race who has a plan and the experience to back it up. I am an immigration attorney and have spent years working for responsibility in immigration, and I have watched a broken system continue to grow the problem.
….
I am the only candidate in the 6th Congressional District race with a true plan for immigration reform, and my plan creates more good-paying jobs for Americans while presenting real solutions for everyone.
By Joanna Weiss | Globe Columnist August 15, 2014
There are a few standard paths to entering politics. You start as a selectman or a school committee member and work your way up. Or you toil for years as a government official or a politician’s aide, gaining knowledge and insider support. Or you have enough personal wealth — or access to other people’s money — to enter a race in a blaze.
If you have none of that, you might look something like Marisa DeFranco.
….
Still, while she’s earned a few outside endorsements, from such groups as the National Women’s Political Caucus, DeFranco has largely been ignored by the political establishment. (Warren endorsed Tierney; DeFranco tartly notes that Warren lost the district by 7 points in 2012.)
And despite years of volunteering for Democratic campaigns, DeFranco doesn’t exactly talk the talk of the Democratic party. She opposes much of the Affordable Care Act. She objects to the way Democrats talk about the Paycheck Fairness Act, which she says won’t address broader problems, such as sexual harassment and hostile work environments.
“They pretend this is a panacea,” says DeFranco, who has served on the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. She calls the standard rhetoric a “lie that the party tells to women.”
….
Indeed, DeFranco might be the closest thing the left has to the Tea Party’s grass-roots, pox-on-all-their-houses mindset. And her candidacy raises an interesting idea: If Congress had a critical mass of absolute outsiders, what would it do?
July 21, 2014
By William J. Dowd
Defranco [sic] asserted the two issues are rooted in a 2008 Bush-era, bipartisan law to prevent human trafficking, which forbids unaccompanied minors from non-contiguous countries from being deported before being brought before an immigration judge.
Also contributing is an executive order President Obama signed in June 2012, which gave 1.7 million qualifying undocumented immigrants whose parents brought them to the U.S. as children a two-year deferment on their deportation hearings.
Defranco believes that Central American parents are under the impression that the order applies to their children, prompting them to send their children to the U.S.
“People in my own party will tell you that’s not true,” said Defranco. “I have to tell them, ‘Excuse me; I’m the one on the ground in the foster-care homes and in the courts.'”
. . . .
“If the kids qualify for asylum, give them asylum,” Defranco said. “But very few will meet the strict requirements for it.”
Defranco [sic] believe[s] children should be held near the border and undergo deportation hearings there. [She argues] that dispersing them would add to the financial burden for communities and raise the chances the children would skip their deportation hearings.
_________________________________________
July 18, 2014
By Christian M. Wade
—- — BOSTON — The surge of immigrant children from Central America could become a prickly issue for Democratic Rep. John Tierney as he fights for re-election, with challengers from both parties calling him out for not doing enough to stem the tide of refugees.
….
Tierney, however, also faced criticism Thursday from at least one other Democrat in the hotly contested race.
Marisa DeFranco, an immigration attorney and one of four Democrats challenging Tierney in the Sept. 9 primary, ripped the congressman for inaction.
“He’s been nowhere on this issue,” said DeFranco, of Middleton, who regularly represents immigrants and asylum seekers in federal court. “I haven’t seen any ideas or significant proposals coming out of his office.”
DeFranco blames President Barack Obama for signing an executive order in June that gave temporary amnesty to about 1.7 million undocumented children, which allowed them to stay until their cases are heard in immigration courts.
“When he signed that, it sent a signal to everybody to, ‘Send your kids here, they’re going to be legal,’” she said.
DeFranco said she doesn’t believe the children should be brought to this state, even temporarily.
“If you start dispersing them across the country, they are going to disappear into the wind like so many do,” she said. “They’re not going to show up for immigration court hearings. And, if you allow all these children to stay, it will hurt thousands of more children whose parents are going to be encouraged by human traffickers to send them.”
______________________________________________________
Detainee arrivals at Hanscom bring calls for transparency
By Samantha Allen, sallen@lowellsun.com
Updated: 07/14/2014 08:42:13 AM EDT
LOWELL — Marisa DeFranco, a Democratic immigration lawyer running against incumbent U.S. Rep. John Tierney for the 6th Middlesex District seat, demands to know more about undocumented immigrant detainees coming into the state.
DeFranco said news of reportedly seven federal planeloads of illegal immigrants coming to Massachusetts raises alarm bells for her. She said it looks like a sign of what’s to come.
“I’m very troubled that we had these transfers happening and no knew about it,” she said. “I’d like to know if this will change, and for (state corrections facilities), what are they going to do? Will they expand beds for ICE?”
….
DeFranco said as an attorney working directly with immigrants for 17 years, she’s certainly compassionate toward those trying to get into the country. But she stressed transportation of detainees must be handled in a controlled way. She said she opposes the current immigration reform proposals.
“I would convince the president to stop acting unilaterally because it’s creating chaos,” she said.
The Sun additionally reached out to Tierney and U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas for comment. Tierney responded in a statement, but declined to address concerns about the detainee flights to Hanscom.
“In order to address this issue, Speaker (John) Boehner should listen to 200 of his House colleagues and the Senate and bring to the floor a bipartisan comprehensive immigration-reform bill,” Tierney spokesman Daniel Rubin wrote.
Tsongas responded in a similar fashion, blaming Republicans for ongoing issues with immigration while not touching on state matters.
“Regrettably, the Republican leadership recently announced that they will not bring immigration reform legislation to the floor of the House for a vote anytime this year,” she said. “This is downright shameful since Americans unequivocally want action.”
DeFranco said these responses from the congressmen are unacceptable.
“I’d never give an answer like that because those are more excuses,” she said. “Especially on immigration issues, (members of Congress) pass the buck.”
Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_26144618/push-answers-immigrant-flights#ixzz37rIqKoxG
Story By Keith Spencer with Photos by John Andrews of Social Palates
SALEM – Go Out Loud hosted a first of its kind Equality Forum on Friday that featured the major candidates of the Massachusetts Sixth Congressional District, including a gay Republican, three Democratic newbies, and an incumbent Congressman.
The Q&A style forum was moderated by Boston Spirit Magazine Publisher David Zimmerman at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem where candidates were asked to delve into issues surrounding diversity and equality at home in the district,across the Bay State, and affecting the entire nation.
Analysts have said the race is one of the top to watch in the country during the upcoming election. Congressman John Tierney (D) faces perhaps the toughest challenge of his political career with several candidates vying for a seat he has held for nine terms.
All of the candidates worked the room before the forum commenced while Congressman John Tierney arrived slightly late from Washington, D.C. First, the incumbent must mount a challenge from three members of his own party in September: [including] longtime immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco,….
Posted by William A. Jacobson Monday, June 2, 2014 at 6:47pm
Marisa DeFranco is a liberal Democratic outsider challenging incumbent Democrat John Tierney in the 6th District of Massachusetts.
We previously wrote about the mistreatment of DeFranco at the hands of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Female Democratic candidate charges War on Women … by Democratic machine. Tierney barely won in 2012 despite Obama’s landslide in Massachusetts, and
Looks like the machine is shutting DeFranco out again, keeping DeFranco off stage during a women’s right rally in support of Tierney headlined by Nancy Pelosi.
I was shocked and disappointed to hear Mr. Seth Moulton’s Memorial Day speech at Waterside Cemetery. In what can only be described as a campaign speech, Mr. Moulton:
- criticized the Iraq War (minutes after the town laid a wreath commemorating those who gave their life in that conflict);
- commented that the VA scandal was a problem that needed to be corrected in Washington (presumably, when elected, he will do just that); and
- said that “his” generation may be the next greatest generation (how self-serving).
Additionally, at the cemetery there were numerous attendees with “Seth Moulton for Congress” T-shirts, and their pockets were overflowing with campaign literature.
How inappropriate. Shame on Mr. Moulton for politicizing this sacred day. — John Buba, Palmer Road
John Tierney, who narrowly held his Massachusetts congressional seat in 2012, is facing another difficult challenge in the 2014 election season. Tierney, a Democrat, has represented the 6th Congressional District in northeastern Massachusetts since 1997. In his last re-election, he won by less than 5,000 votes in a bitter fight with Republican opponent Richard Tisei.
According to CNN, MA-6 is one of the top 5 races to watch in the 2014 election cycle. So, what makes the race such an interesting one?
“Race for Mass. 6th congressional district on the list of top 5 races to watch.”
In 2012, Tierney was put on the defensive by the Republican Party after his wife, Patrice, pleaded guilty to financial wrongdoings involving illegal gambling and tax fraud. Republicans worked hard to connect Tierney himself to knowledge of his wife’s federal violations, and it took its toll on his popularity.
Tisei, an openly gay, moderate Republican, ultimately lost his bid to unseat Tierney in 2012, but is vying for another chance this year.
But first, Tierney must get past Democratic primary challenges from Seth Moulton, an ex-marine and Harvard graduate, and Marisa DeFranco, an immigration attorney who battled Elizabeth Warren in the 2012 Senate race.
In a poll conducted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in April, Tierney led over Moulton by a wide margin (64% to 17%) with 20 percent undecided. DeFranco’s name was not included in the DCCC poll.
May 22, 2014 By Brad Slager
It is one thing to allege or display evidence showing the Democrats war on women in Massachusetts is an organized effort to marginalize female candidates. It is an altogether different thing when a Democratic candidate makes that charge against the Democrat party. In Massachusetts, Marisa DeFranco is running for a congressional seat in the State House, but she is running into interference – from her own party.
In a statement released by the DeFranco For Congress office, entitled “War On Women In Massachusetts’ Sixth District”, the candidate makes direct allegations that a concerted effort to stifle her campaign is taking place. At issue is a poll commissioned by the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in her district, in which DeFranco’s name was not included among the possible candidates.
Making this more blatant is that at the time of the poll DeFranco was the only candidate to have the required paperwork completed to appear on ballots, due to petition signatures. DeFranco’s office made stern comments about her treatment by the DCCC:
The Democratic Party holds itself out as the champion of women, but in a blatantly sexist move, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — omitted Marisa’s name from the poll. Yes, the party that has howled about the “War on Women” left Marisa out of the poll even though she is the only candidate to date who has qualified.
Middleton TM says ‘Yes’ to all articles in one night
By Anna Burgess
aburgess@wickedlocal.com
Posted May. 15, 2014 @ 3:08 pm
BOXFORD
Middleton residents chose to fund two new large recreation projects at Town Meeting on Tuesday night at the Howe Manning School.
Led by Town Moderator Lynn Murphy, the meeting lasted a little over three hours. Ultimately, all 43 articles on the warrant were passed. The longest discussions of the night centered on Phase 1 of the Rails to Trails project, the Natsue Way land purchase for recreation and the street acceptances of Ross Lane and Warren Drive. — Resident Marisa DeFranco asked if there are projected costs for Phase 2 and 3 of the project. Fullerton said he won’t have these until an engineering feasibility study is done.”As a taxpayer, I’m concerned there’s not enough specificity for this project,” DeFranco said. “If we can’t bring Phase 2 within $200,000 or $300,000, I don’t think the town meeting would accept it, I don’t think the Finance Committee would recommend it,” said Singer. “But the beauty of Phase 1 is that in itself, it can be justified.” Stream Team member Sandy Rubchinuk spoke to Singer’s last point. “Even if it’s only this small section,” she said, “it’s what we need for young parents to go out there and teach their children how to ride a 2-wheeler safely.” The project was then voted on and approved.
By Tom Keane
| GLOBE COLUMNIST MAY 13, 2014
Dear Mark,
A small confession: When I heard some guy named Mark Fisher was going to try to take on Charlie Baker, my first thought was, “Marisa DeFranco.” You may remember the 2012 Democratic Senate primary, when we thought we had cleared the field for Elizabeth Warren. Then up popped DeFranco, who refused to get the message and, with every media outlet singing her praises, actually started to believe she had some traction. No way. Convention day arrived and — boom! — the poor woman never saw it coming.
We took a huge hit for it, though, with Republicans and others hammering us for strong-arming the race and being undemocratic. And so as I watched you beginning to mount a campaign, I started to think a little turn-about might be a good thing. A quick jab from you to their holier-han-thou ribs, if you will.
But Mark, truly, you’ve exceeded my wildest expectations. Jab in the ribs? How about a full-on thrashing?
Posted: Saturday, May 10, 2014 9:39 am
By Jon Bishop Town Crier CorrespondentJon@YourTownCrier.com |
Election 2014
WILMINGTON/TEWKSBURY—Maria DeFranco wants to be a different kind of candidate. She’s challenging both Seth Moulton and John Tierney for the Democratic nomination, and she said that she’s seen what Washington does to small businesses.
“I’m an immigration attorney,” she said, adding that she’s had her own practice for seventeen years. “It’s become harder and harder over the years to get things done.”
Congress, she said, has been “crushing jobs and crushing innovation—and crushing all of the energy and vitality of Main Street.”
Thus they don’t know what they’re doing.
“I’m going to do better than this,” she said. “So that’s why I’m running.”
Her number one issue is jobs. And she used that to take aim at Tierney, who is the incumbent.
BY ASHE SCHOW | MAY 6, 2014 AT 12:23 PM
Democrats may claim that the GOP is waging a “war on women,” but in a handful of races across the country, the Democratic Party has gone to great lengths to push women and minority candidates out of races.
In some of those instances, the candidates have even claimed sexism and filed complaints. Here are some examples:
Marisa DeFranco
In Massachusetts, immigration lawyer Marisa DeFranco is claiming sexism after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a poll of primary voters that did not include her challenge to incumbent Democratic Rep. John Tierney.
That “status quo” DeFranco is referring to may have to do with her stance on Obamacare (she’s against it and prefers a public option), which Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz believes is a winning issue for Democrats in 2014, despite all signs to the contrary.
This article was published in the Washington Examiner on May 6, 2014.
Why are Democrat leaders waging a war against a fellow Democrat and woman candidate — Marissa DeFranco?
“Perhaps they are afraid that my numbers might be better than they are hoping they are, and (people) might not support the incumbent and they might support my independent nature and willingness to buck the party,” DeFranco told Sun editors during a recent interview session. Read More
This editorial was published in the Lowell Sun on April 27th, 2014.
April 28, 2014
By Neil H. DempseyStaff Writer
Marisa DeFranco launched an attack on her own party last week, slamming the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for being “blatantly sexist” because the group left her off a voting poll — but all the fury might have been a bit shortsighted.
DeFranco, a Democrat and Middleton lawyer, didn’t question the results of the poll, which indicated that incumbent John Tierney was leading main challenger Seth Moulton by 47 percentage points in his quest to keep his 6th Congressional District seat. But she did question why it seemed to ignore her candidacy altogether.
“Keeping a candidate out of a poll effectively mutes her voice and keeps voters in the dark as to their choices in a race,” Margaret Mulvihill, DeFranco’s spokeswoman, said in a statement. “This sexist double standard is unacceptable.”
What DeFranco lacked in timeliness — the poll had actually been released almost three weeks before her statement — she made up with acidity.
“Standing by and doing nothing while a woman is slapped down is just as bad as doing the slapping yourself,” said the statement.
TPNN April 25, 2014 By Matthew Burke
Marisa DeFranco, a Democrat candidate for Massachusetts’ 6th congressional district, has accused her own party, who “howled” that Republicans were waging a “War on Women,” of hypocritically waging their own war, and that the Democrat Party has a “sexist double standard” that is unacceptable.
DeFranco, an immigration attorney who received the “Top Woman of Law” award by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, is vying to replace current Democrat incumbent John Tierney, accused the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) of excluding her name from a poll on the race, a poll commissioned by the DCCC themselves.
A scathing release from DeFranco’s office says that if the Republican Party “did something so disrespectful to a woman candidate and her supporters who have been working their hearts out, we would be hearing about the “War on Women” in every media outlet across the land.”
“This sexist double standard is unacceptable. Who needs Mitts Romney’s etch-a-sketch when the Democratic machine can just as easily write a woman off with an eraser?”
A recent poll of likely Democratic primary voters in the 6th Congressional District asked voters about just two of the Democrats planning to run in the party’s primary. One candidate left out of the poll released by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, immigration lawyer Marisa DeFranco, said she believes party leaders are afraid to find out about the strength of her campaign.
This article was published on the Lowell Sun website on April 19th, 2014.
The Lowell Sun
UPDATED: 04/27/2014 08:38:42 AM EDT
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POLITICAL SIGNS, bumper stickers, and fundraisers will be the norm this fall in the Highlands and Acre, as the expanding race for the 18th Middlesex District state representative seat formerly held by Kevin Murphy will dominate the district’s two neighborhoods.
As of Friday, eight people have qualified for the Sept. 9 primary ballot by having a minimum 150 nomination signatures certified by the city’s Elections Division. They are, in alphabetical order: Democrats Brian Donovan, James Leary, Rady Mom, David M. Ouellette, Michael Sheehan and Paul Ratha Yem, and unenrolled candidates Fred Bahou and Mayon Mitchell.
By Neil H. Dempsey Staff Writer The Salem News
Marisa DeFranco launched an attack on her own party this week, slamming the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for being “blatantly sexist” because the group left her off a voting poll — but all the fury might’ve been a bit shortsighted.
DeFranco, a Democrat and Middleton lawyer, didn’t question the results of the poll, which indicated that incumbent John Tierney was leading main challenger Seth Moulton by 47 percentage points in his quest to keep his 6th Congressional District seat. But she did question why it seemed to ignore her candidacy altogether.
“Keeping a candidate out of a poll effectively mutes her voice and keeps voters in the dark as to their choices in a race,” said Margaret Mulvihill, DeFranco’s spokesperson, in a statement. “This sexist double standard is unacceptable.”
Friday, 25 Apr 2014 06:54 AM
By Jason Devaney
A Massachusetts Democrat has accused her party of starting a “war on women” because it left her out of a recent poll.
Marisa DeFranco, who wants to take Democratic incumbent John Tierney’s 6th Congressional District seat in the November midterm election, says she was omitted from a poll commissioned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She vented her growing frustrations with the party in a press release.
“Our campaign is not asking for special treatment, only equal access,” DeFranco says in the release. “We need to show the Democratic Party machine, the DCCC, and everyone else that they cannot ignore, dismiss, and erase out of the picture women who dare to challenge the status quo.”
The release questions why the Democratic Party doesn’t have more female members. “Whose fault is that?” reads the release.
Daniel Doherty | Apr 25, 2014 Delaware Newzap
Democrat Marisa DeFranco is running for a US House seat in Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District. She’s running against incumbent Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), who won re-election by a razor-thin margin in 2012 and is the presumed Democratic nominee this fall. However, as the only female candidate in the race, DeFranco isn’t too happy with the way she’s been treated as a primary challenger. In fact, she and her team are so fed up with the DCCC that they’ve blasted out a scathing press release, accusing the organization of blatant sexism for omitting them from a district-commissioned poll they recently conducted:
Daniel Doherty | Apr 25, 2014
Whoa. Be sure to click through the link above and read the whole thing. Team DeFranco essentially accuses the Democratic Party establishment of blatant favoritism and colluding against her, urging her primary opponents — especially Rep. Tierney — to take action. She also points out the obvious double standard here: if the Republican Party was excluding female candidates from GOP polls, Democrats would be apoplectic. And yet DeFranco’s complaints continue to fall on deaf years.But not everyone is staying silent. NRCC Communications Director Andrea Bozek criticized the DCCC in an email to Townhall: “The DCCCs exclusion of Marisa DeFranco from their primary polling is troubling for the party that claims to stand for gender equality,” she wrote. “Their frequent rejection of women candidates exposes their blatant hypocrisy.”Indeed. So before Democrats (once again) start accusing the GOP of waging a “war on women,” perhaps they should take a good hard look at what’s happening in their own party first. That would be an appropriate place to start.
American Liberty PAC
A female Democratic congressional candidate has accused her own party of inciting a “war on women” after a Democratic committee omitted her from a recent poll:
Marisa DeFranco, a Massachusetts Democratic congressional candidate looking to unseat incumbent Rep. John Tierney, slammed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for its “blatantly sexist move” and a “war on women” in a new press release.
“The Democratic Party holds itself out as the champion of women, but in a blatantly sexist move, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee commissioned a poll in our race and omitted Marisa’s name from the poll,” the campaign’s release reads. “Yes, the party that has howled about the ‘War on Women’ left Marisa out of the poll even though she is the only candidate to date who has qualified for the ballot in the 6th District of Massachusetts. Keeping a candidate out of a poll effectively mutes her voice and keeps voters in the dark as to their choices in a race.”
A recent DCCC-commissioned poll on the 6th District race reportedly left DeFranco — who has been critical of Obamacare and proposed a milder brand of immigration reform that stops short of citizenship for illegal immigrants —- off the list of candidate options.
APRIL 25, 2014 KAY B. DAY
Democrats are treating a couple of their own female candidates shabbily, but media aren’t inclined to talk about it. Aren’t Dems the protectors of women?
Sometimes I bump into a story begging to be covered and then I wonder why no one does. Usually it’s because the political powers that be don’t want it covered.
Anyway. About those female Dem candidates.
For starters, the Democrat gubernatorial wannabe Nan Rich is like the most ignored human being in Dem politics in Florida right now.
Rich isn’t included on polls, and Dems asked Charlie Crist to represent them at the Gridiron Club dinner in March in Washington. Rich served in the Florida State Senate—she’s not a newcomer to politics. And, horror of horrors! Emily’s List, a list that touts getting ‘progressive’ women elected (think no-limits abortion types), didn’t even include Rich on their list.
Moving along, let’s talk about Marisa DeFranco. The Democratic Congressional Committee recently ran a primary poll on Massachusett’s 6th district congressional race, and they left DeFranco off the poll. This is the second time they’ve snubbed her although she’s a viable candidate who proved her street creds on petition signatures. A conservative blogger told her story—imagine that.
Chances are you never heard of either of these women. The Nan Rich tale even intrigued a blogger at Dem influencer The Daily Kos.
Betsi Fores, Rare Staff, Posted on April 24, 2014 2:30 pm
Massachusetts Democrat Marisa DeFranco is calling out her own party for their “war on women” after she was deliberately left out of a poll.
DeFranco is challenging incumbent Democrat Rep. John Tierney, but the Democratic Congresssional Campaign Committee’s recent decision to omit DeFranco from their polling has her calling the organization “sexist.”
“The Democratic Party holds itself out as the champion of women, but in a blatantly sexist move, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee commissioned a poll in our race and omitted Marisa’s name from the poll,” DeFranco’s campaign said in a statement.
“Yes, the party that has howled about the ‘War on Women’ left Marisa out of the poll even though she is the only candidate to date who has qualified for the ballot in the 6th District of Massachusetts. Keeping a candidate out of a poll effectively mutes her voice and keeps voters in the dark as to their choices in a race.”
The DCCC recently conducted a poll on the 6th district in Massachusetts, and left DeFranco out. The poll touted her competitor Tierney has having a commanding lead, but only gets those figures by leaving DeFranco off the list of candidates.
Yes, you read that subject line correctly. Not only is the DCCC actively working against women candidates in congressional primaries, today a Massachusetts Democrat Congressional Candidate Marisa DeFranco sent out a press release highlighting what she calls the DCCC’s “sexist double-standard.” DeFranco is currently running in a three-way primary in MA-06 with John Tierney and Seth Moulton; she also ran in the 2012 Democrat Primary for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. But when the DCCC paid for a poll this month, they tested John Tierney, Seth Moulton, and NOT DeFranco.
Posted by William A. Jacobson Wednesday, April 23, 2014 at 8:18pm
You may remember Marisa DeFranco, the plain-talking, no-nonsense, old-fashioned working class liberal Massachusetts Democrat who filed more than enough ballot petition signatures to challenge Elizabeth Warren in the 2012 Democratic Primary — and then was kept off the ballot at the Democratic State Convention, which wanted a clear field for Warren.
The Democratic Party machine doesn’t seem to like DeFranco.
Maybe it was her comments about Elizabeth Warren’s Cherokee-gate:
“I’m not going to go into her mind and what goes on there. All I can speak to is what everyone else sees.”
“The question also is with Harvard. If Harvard were better at having a diverse professorship, it would not have to put someone who appears as white as I am out there as minority.”
“Even if she is 1/32 [Cherokee], diversity is about people being discriminated against based on what we see. You can’t say someone is a diversity hire if everyone in the general public would not identify the person that way.”
Or maybe they don’t like that she would have voted against Obamacare, and still doesn’t like the law, viewing it as a sell out to insurance companies. She also lambasts the misleading sales pitch:
“I would never have gone along with the party line that ‘if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor under Obamacare’ because, unlike Congressman Tierney, I would have read the bill and told you what was in it before it was voted on,” DeFranco said in announcing her candidacy this week. “Courage and leadership mean standing up to your own party sometimes.”
Whatever the reason, the powers in the Democratic Party are at it again, this time trying to damage DeFranco’s bid to unseat Democrat John Tierney in the MA-06 primary race.
Caroline May Political Reporter 9:29 AM 04/24/2014
A female Democratic congressional candidate is accusing her party of waging a “War on Woman” after a Democratic committee omitted her from a recent poll.
Marisa DeFranco, a Massachusetts Democratic congressional candidate looking to unseat incumbent Rep. John Tierney, slammed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for its “blatantly sexist move” and a “war on women” in a new press release
.
“The Democratic Party holds itself out as the champion of women, but in a blatantly sexist move, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee commissioned a poll in our race and omitted Marisa’s name from the poll,” the campaign’s release reads. “Yes, the party that has howled about the ‘War on Women’ left Marisa out of the poll even though she is the only candidate to date who has qualified for the ballot in the 6th District of Massachusetts. Keeping a candidate out of a poll effectively mutes her voice and keeps voters in the dark as to their choices in a race.”
A recent DCCC-commissioned poll on the 6th District race reportedly left DeFranco — who has been critical of Obamacare and proposed a milder brand of immigration reform that stops short of citizenship for illegal immigrants —- off the list of candidate options.
The poll showed Tierney with a wide lead over another challenger, Seth Moulton, but it has the DeFranco campaign fuming.
by Michael Graham
Why Are MA Democrats Waging A War On Women?
First it was the smearing of Hillary Clinton by an allegedly “liberal” man.
Now it’s this attack on the woman who wants to run against John Tierney in the Democratic primary:
WAR ON WOMEN IN MASSACHUSETTS’ SIXTH DISTIRCT
Marisa DeFranco Calls Out The DCCC
The Democratic Party holds itself out as the champion of women, but in a blatantly sexist move, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee commissioned a poll in our race and omitted Marisa’s name from the poll. Yes, the party that has howled about the “War on Women” left Marisa out of the poll even though she is the only candidate to date who has qualified for the ballot in the 6th District of Massachusetts. Keeping a candidate out of a poll effectively mutes her voice and keeps voters in the dark as to their choices in a race. Where is John Tierney on this?
Hey, ask Fox 25′s Maria Stephanos about how John Tierney treats women.
All I can say it–you go, girl!
MARISA DEFRANCO, DEMOCRAT FOR CONGRESS
By Sarah Thomas
sthomas@wickedlocal.com
Posted Mar. 29, 2014 @ 6:06 pm
IPSWICH
If the road to Capitol Hill were paved with pointed bon mots, Marisa DeFranco would already be there.
“Everyone says Congress has too many lawyers, but I say they have too many bad lawyers.”
“The way tax codes work now is small businesses subsidize big businesses so they can steal employees from small businesses.”
“I’m 10 times as good as my opponents. That’s why I only need a tenth of their money.”
That last quote is germane. An immigration lawyer from Middleton, DeFranco, an unfamiliar name to many 6th District voters, is facing an uphill battle to take on Democrat incumbent John Tierney in a primary challenge this fall.
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- By Sarah Thomas
Posted Aug. 1, 2013 @ 12:01 am
Updated Aug 1, 2013 at 1:17 AMSalem
Last November was a nail-biting Congressional race for sixth district Democrats – incumbent Congressman John Tierney was in trouble, embattled by scandal regarding his family’s criminal offshore gambling ring. National Republican political action committees, smelling blood in the water, poured unprecedented resources into the coffers of challenger Alan Tisei. The result was one of the nastiest campaigns in recent memory, with Tierney surprising even his supporters by ekeing out a win by a single point.
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