John Tierney

Party: Democrat
State: Massachusetts
What you need to know: Tierney is concerned about the war in Afghanistan, aid to Pakistan and the effort to combat Al Qaeda along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Democrat - Incumbent
Endorsed by Council for a Livable World

John Tierney was elected to Congress in 1996. He has risen to be a strong champion of progressive values and a key voice on national security issues. Republicans believe that voter dissatisfaction with the polarized political process in Washington DC makes Tierney vulnerable to a challenge, and have recruited a well-funded candidate to run against him.

As former Chairman and now Ranking Member of the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and as a Member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Tierney is a key player in national security issues. An article in Foreign Affairs magazine stated:

“[Tierney’s] subcommittee has a reputation for taking on thorny oversight issues the House Armed Services Committee shies away from, and Tierney is not known to pull his punches.”

Tierney is particularly concerned about the war in Afghanistan, aid to Pakistan and the effort to combat Al Qaeda along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He has led four fact-finding oversight missions to the region, held 19 related hearings and passed significant reform legislation designed to enhance accountability of U.S. funds. He exposed billions of dollars unaccounted for in military reimbursements to Pakistan, which resulted in significant tightened oversight by the Department of Defense and the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.

Tierney was a vocal critic of the decision to go to war in Iraq. Once the war began, he used his position to try to ensure taxpayer dollars were not subject to waste, fraud and abuse. To this end, he authored the legislation that created the Commission on Wartime Contracting that has as its sole mission to investigate allegations of war profiteering. He has also been an advocate for the rights of returning veterans, and as Subcommittee Chair convened the “Walter Reed” hearings that culminated in significant legislative and administrative improvements for veterans.

Tierney discovered the sale of sensitive military equipment on Ebay, brought to light reports of human trafficked labor in building the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and exposed vulnerabilities in the GPS satellite system relied on by warfighters in Iraq and firefighters in the U.S. He has investigated matters ranging from U.S. energy security and Latin America, to the effectiveness of sanctions in Iran, to drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border and to the genocide in Darfur.

Republicans have recruited former State Senator Richard Tisei to challenge Tierney. Tisei was the youngest Republican elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1984. He gained statewide prominence through a failed bid for Lieutenant Governor in 2010. If elected, he would be the only openly gay member of the Republican caucus. Tisei is allying himself closely with the popular Republican Senator Scott Brown.

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