John Tierney’s wife out of Deval shindig

Boston Herald ^ | 10/12/10 | Laurel Sweet, Richard Weir, and Howie Carr

[raccoonradio]

In an apparent move to distance Deval Patrick from U.S. Rep. John Tierney’s family troubles, the congressman’s newly convicted wife was removed yesterday as co-chair of a deep-pockets fund-raiser North Shore Democrats are holding in the governor’s honor Oct. 19.

At a function in Waltham last night, Patrick dodged questions from the Herald as to whether he pressured Patrice Tierney to back out or if the Democratic Party now thinks of her as a liability.

“I think it’s her decision and a totally understandable one,” Patrick said. “I don’t know the whole story, but it sounds like a very, very sad one. I’ve known her for four or five years and my heart goes out to her.”

As late as yesterday afternoon, organizers of the event at the swank Hawthorne Hotel were expecting Patrice Tierney to join her husband in introducing Patrick to hundreds of supporters paying up to $500 per plate.

But after the Herald began making inquiries, Patrick’s campaign press secretary Alex Goldstein said, “In light of recent events, a decision was made that Mrs. Tierney would not be participating in the fund-raiser.”

Congressman Tierney’s spokeswoman Kathyrn Prael added, “Mrs. Tierney was on the host committee. She is no longer. She does not plan to attend.”

Organizer Bill Wasserman Jr. said the event has been in the planning since summer and already has some $50,000 committed to Patrick through patrons and sponsors.

“This, I hope, will be a major fund-raiser for him,” said Wasserman, a retired newspaper publisher from Ipswich.

Patrice Tierney, he said, is “a very good Democrat and a loyal trouper. If the feds had more damaging information on Patrice, they certainly would have revealed it in court.”

Author Thomas Whalen, a professor of social science at Boston University, said Congressman Tierney needs to pull the plug on the fund-raiser altogether because, “It puts Patrick on the spot.”

While it would have been “political suicide” to be seen with Patrice Tierney, Whalen said, “It still doesn’t look good for the governor. Tierney is damaged goods as a politician. Given how close the race is, (Patrick) can’t afford any misstep right now. ”

Patrice Tierney, 59, pleaded guilty last week to charges she falsified her brother Robert Eremian’s federal tax returns for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in order to conceal his alleged $7 million ownership stake in an illegal phone and online betting service based in Antigua.

The congressman’s wife of 13 years faces up to six months in prison when she’s sentenced in January. Her brother is a fugitive from racketeering charges.

[raccoonradio]

Howie Carr list ping. Mr Tierney is a fellow alumnus of my alma mater Salem State University. Fittingly enough, his
degree: B.S.

[raccoonradio]

I believe Tierney has a war chest of over a million while opponent Bill Hudak—R— is more like $100,000 or better(though he may have been getting a lot more lately). Hudak could pull a surprise (we hope) victory on Nov 2. If you are in this district you will see the huge number of signs for Hudak. A few are going up for Tierney. Hoping this is the year, esp. with this scandal, that 6th Dist voters will oust Tierney. The dist. did pretty well in the Brown election
for the GOP.

[Liz]

Deval unceremoniously dumps the shady Mrs T so she won't lose him votes.
Patrick dupes the public by saying: “I don’t know the whole story, but it's a
very, very sad one.......my heart goes out to her.”

ROTFL. Libs have a prepared script they read off of whenever they have to do some dirty work----notice that they're invariably "sorry" and "sad" when they have to castrate or bury alive one of their crony suckups.

BTW, offshore gambling havens are notorious money launderers.....and casino chips are untraceable......

[hoosiermama]

Praying that it is so....In our area the signs are three to one for “R” candidates. But the districts are so gerrymandered that the River Rats and Bloomington Liberal/student swing it “D”.

Just keep talking and working...one vote at a time, one seat at a time, one state at a time...One Nation.

[raccoonradio]

And my district--the one Tierney and Hudak are vying for-- is the one where gerrymandering was invented or at least named...

(I live in Beverly, Tierney in Salem, Hudak in Boxford)

[martin_fierro]

But he said publicly that her conviction was "not about me."

Wotta mensch. < |:/~