June 25 U.S. Senate Election An Important "Open Access" Vote

May 20, 2013 - The Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) today officially endorsed republican candidate Gabriel Gomez in the race for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. A special election is being held on June 25 in Massachusetts to fill the seat left vacant when Democrat John Kerry left to become U.S. Secretary of State under the Obama administration earlier this year.

RFA is urging all Massachusetts fishermen who support responsible open-access to our nation's public resources to vote for Gomez on June 25.

The son of Colombian immigrants and a former Navy pilot and Navy SEAL platoon leader, Gomez and his family live in Cohasset, MA where he has been active in the local community for years.

"Mr. Gomez represents the next generation of leadership in Washington DC, part of a youth movement of common-sense American citizens who understand how an onerous tax law and over-burdensome regulatory framework impacts our small businesses," said RFA executive director Jim Donofrio. "Our coastal fishermen have been hammered by this type of big government intrusion in the past few years, and it's helped lead to a complete fisheries disaster in New England."

Donofrio said the democratic challenger in the June 25 election, Rep. Ed Markey, has been a longtime ally of showroom environmentalists at Pew Charitable Trusts and the Environmental Defense Fund and has long opposed any efforts by RFA to amend the federal fisheries law.

"As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Mr. Markey has helped carry the water for the radical environmental movement, pushing for catch shares, opposing fishermen's views and generally ignoring our testimony before the Committee," said Donofrio. "The environmental movement has identified this as the most important race of the year in their effort to add more burdensome regulation, this should be of major concern to our Massachusetts anglers."
The Associated Press recently reported that environmental groups spent nearly $1.8 million in outside money to help Markey defeat his democratic primary opponent, noting that one of the most pressing issues for environmental advocates who are vowing "to do everything they can to help democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Edward Markey in his special election battle with Republican challenger Gabriel Gomez" is the fate of the Keystone XL oil pipeline opposed by Markey and supported by Gomez.

"I will work with President Obama when he is right, and will oppose him when he is wrong," said Gomez, adding "the Obama administration is wrong in stopping the Keystone pipeline, a project that will create jobs, drive down our energy costs, and help us to become energy independent."

Donofrio said it's ironic that Rep. Markey didn't even show up for the most recent House Natural Resources Committee vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline project. "Rep. Markey is known for cruising in and out of the Committee and Oceans Subcommittee hearings to wax poetically about the need to create catch shares and stop global warming, but when it came time for a vote on April 24 to decide the fate of this project, he was nowhere to be found."

The bill to approve the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Keystone XL Pipeline energy project by declaring that a Presidential permit should not be required passed by a roll call vote of 24-17 without Rep. Markey's participation, and now moves to the floor of the House for a full vote.

"It's bad enough that we have to deal with Rep. Markey preaching against fishermen at the House Committee, having more of his rhetorical grandstanding in the Senate will only lead to additional fisheries problems down the road," Donofrio said.

After leaving the Navy in 2996, Gomez went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School.

In a recent poll paid for by the League of Conservation Voters, Markey was leading Gomez by 7 percentage points or 48-41 percent. The Associated Press also reported that the League of Conservation voters has already spent over $830 thousand to help ensure a Markey victory in June.

"Massachusetts fishermen both recreational and commercial should get behind Gabriel Gomez 110%," said RFA member Mike Lindley of Nantucket, MA. "Whether you're a commercial tuna monger or a seasonal surfcaster, Gomez will have our back, ensuring our fishing industries won't be forgotten about on the Senate floor."

"Unlike his opponent Ed Markey, Gabriel Gomez hasn't been corrupted by a lifetime in politics," Lindley said. "He's a man that's heading to Capitol Hill to shake things up. Ed Markey is just another politician with a partisan agenda. Out with the old, in with the new."