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Rep. Neal confident coming to election

Congressman Richard Neal (D-Springfield) seems pretty secure about his re-election prospects.

“Well, I’m extremely confident,” said Congressman Neal in comments to The Beacon. “But not cocky.”

A former Springfield mayor, Rep. Neal has represented Massachusetts’ 2nd Congressional District since 1989.

Much of the 2nd District was merged with part of retiring Congressman John Olver’s (D-Amherst) 1st District in order to form a new 1st District. This was done as part of Massachusetts’ congressional redistricting this year.

As a result, Rep. Neal is running in this new 1st Congressional District, which includes all of Berkshire County, the City of Springfield and parts of Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties.

Because of his hefty war chest and the advantages of incumbency, Rep. Neal is widely favored to win the race.

Because no candidates have filed to run for any other party, the winner of the Democratic Primary will almost certainly emerge victorious in the general election.

Both Mr. Shein and Mr. Nuciforo are running to Rep. Neal’s left and have criticized his record, particularly the large amount of money he’s raised from lobbyists and corporations and his support of deregulation of the financial sector.

“The money I’ve received is a reflection of the interests of the people of Massachusetts,” Rep. Neal said in defense of the campaign contributions he has received.

He also criticized Mr. Nuciforo on this issue, noting the money he raised while he was a state senator representing The Berkshires.

“I don’t think that a guy like Nuciforo … can all of a sudden argue that he’s just a little bit pregnant,” said Rep. Neal.

He also defended his record on financial regulation, saying that he voted for the Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley financial regulation bills and has been a supporter of the Volker Rule on proprietary trading.

“The question was, why did big banks loan money to those who didn’t pay it back?” said Congressman Neal on the 2008-2009 financial crisis, saying the ultimate responsibility for the crisis rested with the banks and financial institutions themselves.

Asked how he would use to his influence as an incumbent to help the 1st District, should he be returned to Congress, he pointed to his position on the House Ways and Means Committee and the funds and resources he’s been able to bring to his district.

“I have projects from Southbridge through Westfield that I’ve worked on,” said Congressman Neal. “No one has ever said [I’m] ineffective or lazy.”

When asked what he considered the most important vote he’d taken in his long congressional career, he said, “the vote against the war in Iraq.”

As for his proudest overall congressional accomplishment, Rep. Neal pointed to his role in the peace process in Northern Ireland, which he said has been acknowledged by President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On the campaign for the Democratic nomination, Rep. Neal said he has kept it positive and would continue to do so.

“I have never run a negative television ad [in my congressional career],” he said. “In two weeks I’m going to be able to say the same thing.”

His priorities f he is re-elected, would be to continue to focus on jobs.

“Getting people back to work,” he said. “Getting them back to work should be our number one priority.”

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Posted by on August 30, 2012. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
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