Diehl And Warren Spar Over Townhalls
WHITMAN (CBS) -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Geoff Diehl officially began his campaign with a simple message--to put Massachusetts first.
Diehl disputes Warren's claim that she's having townhalls because she loves hearing from constituents and that "We need to focus on the fights in front of us." He says she only started holding townhalls when it was time to run for re-election.
"She is not holding town hall meetings to interact with her constituents. These are political rallies disguised as town hall meetings. Warren has only been interested in holding 'town hall meetings' since she announced her re-election campaign and the WBUR poll numbers showed her upside down," Diehl said.
Diehl campaign spokesperson Holly Robichaud says the two candidates have two different approaches.
"Geoff will put Massachusetts first. Unlike Warren, he will not put Massachusetts in the rearview mirror. For example, she held her first town hall meeting on the Cape in three years two weeks ago," Robichaud said.
The Diehl campaign also says the "Codfather" case is an example of how Warren didn't act to protect Massachusetts interests.
New Beford fisherman Carlos Rafael was convicted for violating federal fishing regulations. This put the distribution of the fishing permits up for grabs and took a number of the permits away from Massachusetts fishermen.
Diehl says those fishing permits were important to the Massachusetts economy.
"These licenses are the economic lifeblood for New Bedford. To lose them to another state would be an economic disaster. Senator Warren should be lobbying the NOAA to keep the permits in New Bedford," Diehl said.
Robichaud says that Diehl will focus on three major areas while he's in the senate.
"He wants secure borders, to lower the tax burden, and being the jobs senator," says.
The Diehl campaign says that when the time came, he acted on behalf of Massachusetts taxpayers.
"We have been mainly talking about how Geoff led the grassroots movement to repeal automatic gas taxes," she said. "That's why most of the stops were at gas stations."
The Republican state legislator announced his campaign at a Tuesday night event and Robichaud says there's a good reason for the early start.
"Geoff will be using his grassroots team and that's why he is starting early," Robichaud said.