GOMEZ wins GOP special election senate primary, and will face MARKEY on JUNE 25TH

[Aratus]

He's in his 40s, is a former navy SEAL and he just pulled off an upset over
Winslow and Sullivan. Markey won by roughly 20% over Lynch in a very
predictable victory in the Democratic primary. I am unfamiliar with how into
the Bill of Rights or Civil Liberties the Republican contender is, and yes, to
get to D.C he needs another upset. The race has now gotten interesting!

[mz10]

Gomez is a hardcore Democrat who ran as a Republican because he is an opportunist. He is Scott Brown on steroids (literally and metaphorically). Really nice guy on a personal level, but genuinely awful on everything liberty-related.

[tsai3904]

I was hoping for a Lynch victory. He at least voted for Audit the Fed.

[Thane Eichenauer]

Gomez is a hardcore Democrat who ran as a Republican because he is an opportunist. He is Scott Brown on steroids (literally and metaphorically). Really nice guy on a personal level, but genuinely awful on everything liberty-related.

His shit sandwich statement on 2nd Amendment rights makes this sound accurate to me.

http://www.gomezforma.com/issues/


As a former U.S. Navy SEAL, I am a strong Second Amendment supporter.

Our freedoms make America the most unique and prosperous country in the world. The President and the Congress must act now to forge consensus and compromise to close the gun show loophole, and to keep weapons out of the hands of those with mental health issues.

We must not, however, take away freedom for law-abiding citizens in the process.

It sounds like there isn't going to be good choice in this race.

[Aratus]

Rep. Ed Markey is a Washington fixture and if he wins it big, people will look at the votes he casts carefully
to see if he's taken a position that can be said to be even SLIGHTLY different than ole Teddy Kennedy's or
even perhaps our state's erudite sitting senator who is said to be part Cherokee. Gomez is a military man.

[Aratus]

I should at least vote for somebody on June 25th! Gabriel Gomez is a complete total unknown quantity to me.

[Gage]

Takes 5 seconds to go on his website and find this.


As a former Navy SEAL, I know how essential it is for freedom here and around the world that America maintains a strong national defense. We need to preserve our ability to stand up for our allies and protect ourselves.

America has no closer ally than Israel, and we must work together not only to ensure Israel’s security but also to promote freedom and encourage peace throughout the Middle East. I support a two-state solution that is negotiated by the parties and includes defensible borders for Israel.

I recognize Israel’s right to defend itself from the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran and I believe the United States should take whatever steps are necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

We must confront the real threats to freedom and we must sustain the readiness we need to protect our security and sustain the cause of liberty.

http://www.gomezforma.com/issues/

[lib3rtarian]

Republicans are dying for diversity right now, so if you are a minority right now, it doesn't matter what your positions are, it seems like you get a shortcut to the top. That seems to be what happened here.

[mz10]

Before Gomez ran for Senate, he begged Gov. Patrick to appoint him to the seat. Here's the text of the love letter he sent to Deval:


Dear Governor Patrick:
I respectfully submit my name for consideration as the interim replacement for Senator John F. Kerry’s US. Senate seat. Appointing a moderate Republican Would Set a national example of sorely needed bipartisanship and would reinforce your growing national reputation for bold and thoughtful leadership. I welcome the opportunity to discuss how the following reasons may warrant your consideration.

As background (please also see attached a short chronology of my life), l am a proud resident of Massachusetts. I am a first generation American whose parents were born and raised in Colombia. Spanish is my first language since my mother was not yet fluent in English when I was born. I graduated from the US. Naval Academy in 1987 with a BS. in Systems Engineering (with Merit) and eamed my Navy pilot wings in 1989. As a Navy pilot, I flew off aircraft carriers until 1991. I then volunteered and was selected for Navy SEAL training (BUD/s - Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL) and was Class Leader of BUD/s Class 181. 1 am one of only two people to have ever been both a Navy aircraft carrier pilot and then a Navy SEAL. [was a platoon commander at SEAL Team FOUR until 1996.

After completing my Navy service commitment, I attended and graduated from Harvard Business School in 1997. After graduation, I was a mergers and acquisitions professional at the boutique investment banking firm Bowles Hollowell Connor (founded by Erskine Bowles) and a private equity professional in Boston at both Summit Partners and 110w Advent International. I am married to Sarah H. Gomez who was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the West Indies and then a Special Education teacher (we actually met while she Was a Peace Corps volunteer and l was deployed as a SEAL platoon commander in the West Indies). We have four children - Olivia (l3), Zander (11), Antonia (10), and Max (8) and we live in Cohasset, Massachusetts.

I fully understand that naming a moderate Republican like me would be completely unconventional. However, given the partisan and acrimonious atmosphere in the US. Senate today, this is even more of a reason to consider appointing a moderate Republican with my background. I supported President Obama in 2008. I strongly believe this appointment would be good for the Democrats as well since it is in everyone’s interest to have two parties at the table negotiating. Admittedly, the Republican Party could benefit from another moderate, diverse voice like mine and I can be a practical and symbolic first step toward bringing the two parties closer together. I have a strong desire to serve again, do my time, help move things along and then leave that post to who the people of Massachusetts choose in the special election in which I would not get involved. This is a rare opportunity with a potentially nan-ow window where someone with my background can make a positive impact on these main issues that is ultimately good for the country.

Below are summary points ofwhy I think this is a positive and viable idea:

With your leadership, Massachusetts could provide a shining national example of how our country can overcome the partisan atmosphere in DC, which has reached a point (been this way for quite a while) where the two sides unfortunately do not even come to the table to discuss reasonable solutions on any issues This appointment would be the ultimate demonstration of bipartisanship.

Two main issues that will dominate the political discussion during this appointment will be Immigration Reform and Gun Control. Given my Latino and Navy SEAL background, I have credibility to contribute thoughtfully on these issues. I support the positions that President Obama has taken on these issues and you can be assured I will keep my word and work on these issues as I have promised.

This ultimate bipartisan move by the Democratic Party would be a catalyst for getting something done on these two main issues in a bipartisan way. This is what the American people want to see happen – both sides working together and things getting done.

This high profile appointment will generate national attention and Senators from both parties would be hard-pressed to ignore your bold leadership. Such a bipartisan appointment of a Latino, Navy Veteran, and businessman would be a terrific boost for the diversity of our Massachusetts delegation

This is a temporary appointment and the Democrats control the-Senate 5 5-45, so this presents no risk to the Senate majority.
You would be inserting a Navy man into a seat that is currently held by a Navy veteran (minor point, but there really does need to be more representation of veterans in Congress and the Senate)

Thank you for your time and consideration. Please let me know what other information you require. I am available at your convenience.

Very respectfully,

Gabriel E. Gomez

http://c.o0bg.com/rw/Boston/2011-2020/2013/03/13/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Graphics/MASenateStatementofInterest17Jan13.pdf

The guy just wants to be a Senator. Again, very nice guy personally, but absolutely no principles.

[muzzled dogg]

Lynch and Winslow were the lesser evils

[Smart3]

Personally I think anyone who truly believes a Republican has a chance at this seat needs their head examined. This house latin won't go over well in Mass.

He's almost as bad as Elizabeth Emken - the Obaamcare lobbyist and CAGOP Nominee in 2012.

[mz10]

Personally I think anyone who truly believes a Republican has a chance at this seat needs their head examined. This house latin won't go over well in Mass.

He's almost as bad as Elizabeth Emken - the Obaamcare lobbyist and CAGOP Nominee in 2012.

Agreed. The most important work here in Mass is at the state level, not the federal level.

[Aratus]

scott brown did win with about 2% of the vote and then lost to ms. elizabeth warren by about 2% of the vote!!!
mr. winslow the 60something businessman sits in scott brown's old seat inside the state legislature and his run on
the surface looked like sheer boldness or perhaps the hint of an actual classic GOP machine gettin' into overdrive.
if mr. gomez does not alienate scott brown's and mitt romney's "sheeple" and slams anything donkey very hard, he
has a chance at picking up 45% of the vote rather than the typical 30% who went republican in the past when we
had teddy kennedy and also john kerry trouncing the sacrificial lamb from the GOP almost religiously on the alter of
politics as usual. since gabriel gomez is 40something, extroverted and also a political cypher, the nicest present he
can hand himself let alone the local GOP is to run hard without making verbal gaffes that will be magnified by the mass
media. if he gets above 45% then in 2014 the next GOP senatorial candidate can strive for 49% to 51% of the vote!!!
i think he has yet to sharply define himself, is very recently a 'team player" with SEAL training who is military and tidy,
and if he has political instincts, he might run for governor eventually if he does not act like a total idiot. he may luck in!

[supermario21]

PPP tweeted that this race is in single digits.

[Aratus]

it is going to be quite tight if gabriel gomez does not alienate the core of the GOP up here!!
the "fickle" suburban "indies" will tip it neatly in the bedroom suburb belt between 495 & 128!
if gomez gets to the senate, and is pure 100% neo~con and only 1/10th or 1/100th the civil
libertarian sen. elizabeth warren is on occasion, i just might try to run against him down the
road. if he tries to build bridges between our local libertarians and GOP people, i will sit back.

[SilentBull]

I don't see how Ed Markey does not become senator. Mass is a lost cause and Gomez sounds just like another Scott Brown. The GOP still doesn't get it. They think they need to be liberal to win in places like Mass. They'll never learn. A libertarian republican could carefully frame the message to make some liberals understand why democrats actually work against them and for the corporations, under the guise of helping the poor. But instead they choose to become liberals and continue to lose.

I'm glad I'm not a Mass resident anymore.

[Keith and stuff]

I don't see how Ed Markey does not become senator. Mass is a lost cause and Gomez sounds just like another Scott Brown. The GOP still doesn't get it. They think they need to be liberal to win in places like Mass. They'll never learn. A libertarian republican could carefully frame the message to make some liberals understand why democrats actually work against them and for the corporations, under the guise of helping the poor. But instead they choose to become liberals and continue to lose.

I'm glad I'm not a Mass resident anymore.
MA is slightly less free than the average state and shows no sighs of improving in anything other than drug policy. While it is certainly a lost cause for liberty as a whole, if very big government Republicans like Romney or Brown throw enough money at an election or just get lucky, they can win in MA. MA is such a 1 party state that when Republicans run for statewide office, they often sound just like Democrats.

The same is true in NJ. For example, look at Christie.

For course, this forum isn't about helping put big government Republicans into office, so I see your point. And you likely know what I just said, anyway :)

[Gage]

Public Policy Polling:

Ed Markey (D) - 44%
Gabriel Gomez (R) - 40%

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/ed-markey-gabriel-gomez-poll-mass-90895.html?hp=l6

[Aratus]

Gomez is picking up 47% and Markey only 32% from our INDEPENDENTS... this was also from the PPP polling!!!

Even with the overall edge Ed Markey has, if the pattern holds like this thru May + June...Gabriel Gomez wins.

[jkob]

Is Gomez better than Scott Brown in any way?

[Aratus]

its a toss up. the only thing Gomez brings to this is his lack of any type of formal political involvement prior to this race.

[mz10]

Is Gomez better than Scott Brown in any way?

Worse I would say. Big MIC guy (not that Brown wasn't, but Gomez is more egregious), and not a fiscal conservative in any way shape or form (again, not that Brown was, but Gomez is worse)

[Aratus]

winslow, who ended up being the number three guy in the GOP primary was possibly the better choice
if one wanted a clone of henry cabot lodge junior concerning the issues of the day. sullivan had been
inside the dep't of justice during the reign of Kynge W and even if corruption free, his understanding of
our Bill of Rights is a great debate. many of their stances were quite similar, however the 2 guys gomez
beat were veteran politicians and older than him. the primary was an upset, it was held two weeks after
the bombing on the 15th. the voters who are GOP people did not seek out a civil libertarian at all, i feel!

[wormyguy]

Is Gomez better than Scott Brown in any way?

Worse. He's better than Markey but that's not exactly difficult. My choice in the primary was Dan Winslow, who was at least good on foreign policy (he wants to get out of Afghanistan) and supports marijuana legalization, and actually took time off from his campaign to help Leah Cole (one of us) win a state rep special election, although on the other hand he was not much of a fiscal conservative and somewhat gun-grabby.

[Aratus]

i'm agreeing with wormyguy!!! dan winslow had looked well versed on the issues & very capable of debating ed markey & holding his own with him.

[Gage]

Gabriel Gomez calls Mark Sanford "pathetic" and a "career politician who needs to go get a real job in the real world."

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/gabriel-gomez-sanford-91078.html#ixzz2SjNSCeSs

[Aratus]

Gage... our ex-military guy jist waded into the complex election that precedes lindsey graham's 2014 run
and jist shot his two big front toes off with georgie patton's quick draw mcgraw pearl handled revolvers.
mark sanford won because he wasn't dancin' to D.C's beat last nite. this whippersnapper who did pull
off a big upset over two older GOP guys who are politicians by vocation is missing the point of what has
just transpired. i was hoping his I.Q points were close to dan winslow's but now i am despairing. i indeed
think our own WARLORD was very correct in how he picked up on the PPP poll flaws as of late. if young
Gabriel Gomez wins this one, i will be quite surprised. if he were more of a civil libertarian i'd get myself
to the polls this june. i really want to vote LIBERTARIAN PARTY. the kindest thing i can do for him and
ed markey is to sit this one out. johnny one note on the kazoo is not a symphony orchestra. he can play
the prairie populist card only so often. when he was in the service did he bounce quarters off of his bunk
before he unlearned the technique or are we lucky and he's like one of John Wayne's green berets and
has an idea of how things really went down. he is a cipher begging for an interpreter or to be decrypted.

[compromise]

Does anyone know Gomez's positions on civil liberties and foreign policy?

He's a lost cause on fiscal issues, the right to life and guns, so that's really the only thing that can redeem him.

[Aratus]

He needs an epiphany on our Constitution and Bill of Rights equal to Sam Ervin's at the height of the Watergate Controversy

if he wants people to respond in a positive way to any emailing Doctor Ron Paul could hypothetically send out in the next two

weeks. The Benghazi Hearings are now the talk of Capital Hill & Thomas Massie was asking us for questions that could be asked

about the incident that was evidently micromanaged by our CIA before, during and sadly after. I had assumed the late ambassador

had close ties with the current administration, and that they were upset over the ramifications of the security gap retroactively.

Admittedly Gabriel Gomez is running for a national level office, and desperately needs a clever performance in a debate, however if

he clarifies his positions in a clutzy manner, the Democrats are going to return to the party fold en masse. There is a very recent

Suffolk U. poll that shows Ed Markey with a lead and about to pull away from Gomez in a manner very much like John Kerry would

have, had he not stepped down and this year is 2014 not 2013. Gomez has three choices, he can remain sorta low profile and push

for an intense debate while he is close to Ed Markey's numbers, and hype the confrontational aspects of the same, or possibly he

pleads to Mitt Romney, John McCain and the RNC bigwigs not to abandon him with benign neglect like they did Mark Sanford on the

hopes of PAC money and deals to be cut, or he can take all his electioneering reserves and buy a heck of publicity before obscurity.

We represent his 4th choice, namely by reaching out to us on the issues that matter, he can promise us he won't be bought by D.C

and that he will take principled stances that challenge the entrenched interests each step of the way. He needs to say or do something.

[mz10]

Does anyone know Gomez's positions on civil liberties and foreign policy?

He's a lost cause on fiscal issues, the right to life and guns, so that's really the only thing that can redeem him.

Horrible. He wants to throw Tsarnaev in Gitmo without a trial, and he's uber-hawkish on foreign policy. Don't look for redeeming qualities, he has none.

[Aratus]

The worst of it is, were Gabriel Gomez about 95% the civil libertarian Dennis Kucinich
is and only 50% the statist he is, we should be moneybombing him grandly a.s.a.p. if
if only to scoot someone to D.C who might join SENATOR RAND PAUL when he decides
to wisely filibuster for more than ten hours on what is a very telling issue of the day!!!
Scott Brown would not have pushed to muzzle a filibuster like the recent drone filibuster.
At least Ted Cruz stood firm with Rand. Can I expect to say the same about Mr. Gomez?

[Aratus]

we have been handed a firm Bill of Rights & a time honored Constitution by our nation's founders as a noble legacy.
i think some of us here in these forums when pushing for a civilian courtroom rather than a military tribunal that would
have a negative impact on our Bill of Rights, we got the White House to back down and only humour a death penalty WMD
charge inside a state that DOES NOT HAVE THE DEATH PENALTY but was upset and badly shook up over the horrific bombings.
i think our voices on the internet were noticed. Rand Paul right now can tap about 33% of the GOP and galvanize them in a
big way. our POTUS is a rather clever politician and a very good orator. the neo-con "texans" who recently under the "W"
had hogtied the Justice Dep't & whipp'd out branding irons clearly want a colorful public execution after a guilty verdict.