CANDIDATE BIO: Michael Tierney for Executive Council

Michael J. Tierney,

Republican for Executive Council – District 2

Date of birth: February 4, 1977

Your background/education: Dartmouth College/ Notre Dame Law School, Magna cum Laude

Experience/Occupation: Attorney at Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, formerly high school teacher in St. Johnsbury, Vermont

Prior elected office: None

Personal: Married with children

Priorities for NH and your view of the Executive Council’s role in state government?  The role of the Executive Council is to act as a check on the power of the governor.  We need an executive councilor who will say no to wasteful and excessive spending and regulation.  

Why are you running?
In recent years we have seen a tremendous growth in the size of government both at the state and federal levels. Individuals' free choices are threatened each time the government decides it will take over and pay for a particular product or service. Whenever the size of government increases, individual liberties decrease. Each time the government increases its expenditures, it must either increase taxes or burden the next generation with an increased deficit. Each time the government decides it will “pay” for a product or service, we limit our own free choices and we all must pay.

The Executive Council plays a vital role in preventing excessive government spending.  We need Councilors who will protect individual liberties by keeping the size of government small.  We need Councilors who will say no to excessive and wasteful government spending.

My Democratic opponents are running in order to increase the amount of excessive and wasteful government spending. The Democrats state that they are running for the purpose of reinstating public funding of New Hampshire’s largest abortion provider: Planned Parenthood. This is simply wrong. For too many years, Planned Parenthood has received millions of dollars in government subsidies. While taking this money, Planned Parenthood has been posting large profits. In 2008 and 2009, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America reported a surplus of over $25 million.1

The Democrats justify giving your tax dollars to Planned Parenthood on the theory that the government needs to be providing free or reduced cost birth control as a necessary government service.   Nevertheless, in an email between federal HHS officials, it was admitted that birth control pills were less expensive at Walmart than at Planned Parenthood.  What next – will we be providing tax payer subsidies to Walmart?

It is not hard to understand why the Democrats are working so hard to give your tax dollars away to Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood and its allies give millions of dollars back to Democratic candidates. One of the Democratic candidates for the Executive Council, District 2, started his campaign with a fundraiser headlining Planned Parenthood CEO Steve Trombley.2

The wasteful subsidies to Planned Parenthood are just one example of how my philosophy differs from that of my opponents. In the next two years, several billion dollars of government contracts from health care to housing to transportation are likely to come before the Executive Council. New Hampshire deserves to have a Councilor who will prudently make sure that the state is spending its limited resources wisely. While my opponents will tell you about all of the ways in which they plan to increase spending, I think it is time to draw some lines and say no to more excessive and wasteful spending. While my opponents would approve appointments to state agencies who will, through increased regulation, tell the citizens of New Hampshire how to live their lives and manage their affairs, I will only approve appointments of officials who understand that government should strive to have as limited a role in citizen’s lives as possible.  The people of New Hampshire do not need a nanny telling them how to live their lives and spend their money. The people of New Hampshire need an Executive Council which will act as a check on excessive and wasteful government spending and approve appointees who believe in a small and limited government.

1www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/PPFA_FY_2010_990_Public_Disclosure_Copy.PDF
2http://thetipsheet.typepad.com/the_tip_sheet/2012/01/cecile-richards-to-launch-women-are-watching-campaign-in-new-hampshire-on-eve-of-the-presidential-pr.html