I was very excited to have the opportunity yesterday to interview Sean Bielat, Republican U.S. Congressional Candidate running in the 4th District of Massachusetts against long time corruptocrat, Democrat Barney Frank. Before I had a chance to publish my interview, some interesting news came out today showing that Barney Frank is polling at under 50% in his district. Sean Bielat is polling at only 10 points behind him. For reference, at the same time in the campaign of Brown vs. Coakley last year, Brown was trailing by 20 points or more.
Background Information(from www.retirebarney.com): Sean is a Major in the U.S Marine Corps Reserve. He is an Independent Consultant and helps client companies build market strategies. As a Program Manager at iRobot Corporation, Sean led a $100 million, 100 person business line providing life-saving defense robots used to destroy roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sean is also the Chairman of NATO Industrial Armaments Group and led an international team studying the potential for use of advanced reconnaissance technology in urban warfare.
Sean holds a B.S. from Georgetown University and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he earned a Master in Public Policy. Sean also is an M.B.A from the Wharton school of Business. Sean and his wife Hope just recently had their first child, Theo. They reside in Brookline.
The Interview:
In case you aren’t familiar with the 4th District in Massachusetts, it is made up of cities and towns from Brookline to Fall River. Brookline is a big college town – lots of students and professors while New Bedford is more blue collar with a big fishing industry (what’s left of it thanks to the NOAA) and of course there is everyone in between. I wanted to know what makes Sean an attractive candidate for the various constituents that he would be working for:
Sean Bielat: “Being a representative is about listening. You can listen to anyone. You don’t have to have a similar background to listen and hear what is being said. I come from a middle class background just like many people in the district. I am in the Marine Corps which is a very hard working environment. I’ve spent time doing construction and have gotten my hands dirty. Fishermen are good people who are hard working, salt of the Earth people who make the economy go. On the other hand, I also had the opportunity to attend great academic institutions. A Representative is about listening to the people from across the entire district.”
Bielat clearly has a better grasp on what it means to be a Representative for all people across his district compared to Frank. Frank has an obvious disdain and elitist attitude any time he has been forced into having a Town Hall meeting. Bielat has proven over and over again that he truly does listen and actually cares about the people he would represent.
I asked Sean how his Marine Corps and business experience would benefit the people in the 4th District and the country as a whole:
Sean Bielat: “Only 20% of Congress has military experience and they are charged with military discretionary funding and funding in general. Iran and China are important issues as well, experience with military establishment is very important in making these decisions. I have that experience. As a businessman, I believe it is a lot easier to understand what works and what doesn’t work for the economy if you have experience dealing with the economy. At iRobot I had to make sure things were working right or people would have lost jobs. An Administration or Congress that haven’t worked in the private sector or haven’t worked in it in a long time, forget or don’t know what challenges there are in a business.”
What a concept – a man who has both military and business experience who can make decisions based on those actual real life experiences as opposed to the majority in Congress (or Barney Frank) who sit in their ‘Ivory Towers’ looking down on the little people telling us what is best for our lives.
I often hear Democrats in various races across the country literally whining that people outside of the race are involved in trying to get the best candidate elected. Since every Congressman’s vote affects every single one of us, not just his/her district, I asked Sean if he felt that Congressmen should be held accountable by not only their constituents but the entire country as well:
Sean Bielat: “Yes and the reason is that the problems we are experiencing in the 4th district are national problems caused by individual votes of members in Congress. You can’t pretend away the importance by focusing away issues that affect the entire country. The number one job of a Congressman is to listen to the people of his/her district. The number one role as a Legislator is to think of what is best for the entire country.”
This is something that Americans and obviously Congressmen don’t seem to think about. When they make laws in Congress, they don’t only affect certain districts, they affect the entire country. When Congressmen get pork for their districts, only their district benefits but the entire country pays for it. These things need to change and only Americans paying attention to all races can make that happen.
The race to ‘Retire Barney’ has been picking up steam over the past several weeks and Sean’s campaign has garnered National Attention from Michelle Malkin, Sean Hannity, bloggers across the country and even Bill Clinton apparently. I asked Sean why he thought this was and what he thought of Clinton coming to stump for Barney:
Sean Bielat: “Barney Frank is one of the chief architects of the financial disaster. He’s a leader in Congress and people are not happy with him. He’s been on the wrong side of too many issues and nationally people see getting rid of him as a good move. We’ve mounted a credible campaign. We’re getting things done and we’re getting them done right. We are the campaign that can do it (retire Barney). The fact that Clinton is coming to campaign for Frank tells us what he thinks about our campaign and that we are viable. Clinton has given a limited amount of days that he promised to campaign for the DNC and with all the races across the country, they decide to send him here? Frank says it’s business as usual but that isn’t true. The last time someone campaigned for Frank was back in the 80s.”
Interesting indeed. I wonder why they didn’t send Obama?
Finally I asked Sean how he has found his supporters to be both nationally and locally – are they excited? What is the general feeling?
Sean Bielat: “There are always different people in the office. During weekdays there are people making calls constantly. The phones are going strong even on a Tuesday afternoon. People want to make calls nationally from across the country. We’ve been overwhelmed with small dollar donations and the messages from people are fantastic; they tell us that Frank needs to be replaced and they are worried about their children. People from all over sending their prayers. It’s been amazing.”
Amazing indeed…
If you’d like more information on Sean Bielat you can visit his site: www.retirebarney.com
Clinton will be coming to campaign for Frank on September 26th. The Bielat campaign is holding a rally on the Historic Taunton Green from 2-4pm.
Interview originally published on the Examiner.