Hudak Ad Targets Tierney Family Tax Trouble

• By Jessica Brady
• Roll Call Staff
• Oct. 13, 2010, 3:33 p.m.

Massachusetts Republican Bill Hudak, in the first television ad in his race against incumbent Rep. John Tierney, is attacking the Democrat for his wife’s guilty plea for aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns.

The 30-second spot, released Wednesday and airing on cable, comes one week after Tierney’s wife, Patrice Tierney, pleaded guilty to four counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns by her brother, Robert Eremian, who funneled millions of dollars into an illegal offshore betting operation.

“John Tierney’s family engaged in racketeering and tax fraud, $7 million in laundered gambling money,” an announcer points out in the TV ad, which also highlights Tierney’s 2006 vote against legislation cracking down on Internet gambling.

“Tierney voted against a ban on offshore Internet gambling. It’s sad. Tierney raises taxes on our families but thinks it’s okay for his own not to pay theirs. We need a change,” the ad states.

Tierney spokesperson, Kathryn Prael, said the ad “wildly misrepresents the facts.”

“Bill Hudak is obviously intent on spreading inaccuracies, instead of talking about the critical issues facing our communities,” Prael said in an email. “But voters are looking for a more serious conversation. To that end, John continues to travel the district to talk with local families and small business owners about their concerns, and let them know what he is doing to create jobs and revive the economy.”

Tierney went up on TV last week, releasing a 30-second spot in which the seven-term incumbent focuses on jobs and the economy.

“We have a work ethic here in Massachusetts and people here just want the opportunity to work,” Tierney says in the ad. “Creating jobs, saving jobs is what we should be about.”

Tierney has gotten an unexpected challenge from Hudak, a lawyer and political novice, this cycle. Hudak has sought to make the tax scandal a central issue in the race, maintaining that John Tierney has not fully explained what he knew about his brother-in-law’s offshore gambling business. John Tierney, meanwhile, contends Hudak’s conservative views are out of touch with the 6th district, which voted 57 percent for President Barack Obama in 2008. Sen. Scott Brown (R) also won the district in the state’s 2010 special election following the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D).