From the “I Called It” file: I remarked last week that the race between Republican Congressional candidates Adam G. Chaprales and Christopher Sheldon would be close, but I had no idea the race would end with fewer than 50 votes separating the two; the final tally was 11,019 votes for Mr. Chaprales, 10,980 for Mr. Sheldon.

But wait! In a shocking last-minute twist, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office announced Tuesday that Mr. Sheldon was in fact the winner by 79 votes. Mr. Chaprales conceded the race Tuesday, leaving Mr. Sheldon to focus on Congressman William R. Keating (D), who handily defeated C. Samuel Sutter, Bristol County’s district attorney.

Mr. Sutter simply did not present a well-fleshed-out platform. Most of what he said during the campaign was framed as a criticism of Rep. Keating rather than a sales pitch for himself.

From the “Missed It By That Much” file: Brian C. Mannal scored what everyone (myself included) is calling an upset primary victory over State Representative Demetrius J. Atsalis (D – Barnstable). I thought Mr. Mannal would lose this race — as did the candidate himself as evidenced by remarks he made to the media after the election — but he instead won with 56 percent of the vote in the Second Barnstable District.

I predicted a Mannal loss because, not unlike the Keating/Sutter race, the challenger focused more on tearing Atsalis down than he did on building himself up. Petty carping over quasi-issues like endorsements and attendance records made Mr. Mannal appear more like a man running to take down Rep. Atsalis and less like someone running to act as a champion for his potential constituents.

So why did Mr. Mannal win? My theory is that years of running against ho-hum opponents made Rep. Atsalis complacent and he did not take the race as seriously as her perhaps should have.

Regardless of the reason, Mr. Mannal now belongs to the “Free Ride to Re-Election Club” that also includes State Senator Daniel A. Wolf (D – Harwich) and State Representatives Timothy R. Madden (D – Nantucket), Cleon H. Turner (D – Dennis), and David T. Vieira (R – Falmouth).

Then there is the item from the “Never Expected That!” file: the Democratic primary for governor’s council of the first district ended in a statistical three-way tie between Nicholas D. Bernier of Fall River, Oliver P. Cipollini Jr. of Marstons Mills, and Walter D. Moniz of New Bedford.

In terms of ballots cast, Mr. Cipollini, a three-time candidate for the post, received 142 votes more than Mr. Bernier, who announced Monday he would seek a recount.

We’re now set up for a repeat of the 2010 general election race that pitted brother against brother: Oliver Cipollini against Charles O. Cipollini, the incumbent.

This time, however, Charles may forgo the pretense of a campaign he waged in 2010, when he actively encouraged voters to support his brother. Charles has indicated that he might simply drop out of the race and hand the job over to Oliver.

For two candidates who liked to talk about restoring integrity in politics, they’re showing an appalling lack of integrity in so shamelessly conspiring to get Oliver into office.

***

Daniel Botelho, non-party candidate for Congress, has a new campaign website up at www.danielbotelhoforcongress.com. It’s a solid improvement over the previous iteration, so go check it out.

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State Representative Randy Hunt (R – Sandwich) invites the public to his next fundraiser, the “ ‘Slice & Ice’ Golf Outing and 19th Hole Social” on Monday, September 17. That will be held at the Ridge Club in Sandwich starting at noon with warm-ups and a bag lunch, followed by a 1 PM shotgun start.

The cost to attend is $150 per player for the entire day or $75 per person for the after-tourney social, which starts at 5 PM. Go to www.electrandyhunt.com/events.html for further details and to register.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

It also means that some of this week’s items may be moot points as of today. And so it goes.

In the week leading up to the Thursday primary, two candidates were hit with allegations of campaign finance shenanigans. First, C. Samuel Sutter, Bristol County DA and candidate for the Ninth Congressional District, blasted Congressman William R. Keating (D) for accepting special interest donations, specifically from the American Crystal Sugar PAC.

Rep. Keating last year received $10,000 from the American Crystal Sugar PAC, which represents a Minnesota-based sugar beet harvesting and processing firm (no, I am not making that up) that, also last year, locked out 1,300 workers during a labor dispute. Half the money was donated before the lock-out.

The national arm of the AFL-CIO asked all Congressmen who received donations from “Big Sugar Beet” (my term, not theirs) to return the donations. Rep. Keating, who said he was unaware of the whole thing until recently, donated the money to the affected union workers.

Mr. Sutter nevertheless chided his Democratic rival for a slow response and reiterated his boast that he would not accept PAC money.

And then there is the latest in a series of campaign donation missteps for State Representative Demetrius J. Atsalis (D – Barnstable). The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance received this week a complaint that Rep. Atsalis had accepted inappropriate donations in excess of state limits, improperly reimbursed himself for expenses, and spent money on a campaign office he does not actually have.

The Yarmouth-based accounting agency Glivinski and Associates took the bullet for Rep. Atsalis on these offenses and took the necessary steps to correct the problems.

Point of interest: the individual who filed these complaints and sent copies to the local media did so anonymously for fear of retribution by Rep. Atsalis, but I spoke to “Robert” directly and confirmed that, despite the curious timing of the filing, it (and he) had nothing to do with Rep. Atsalis’s primary race against Brian R. Mannal.

The timing was simply due to the fact that this week was when Rep. Atsalis’s pre-primary campaign finance report was released to the public, Robert said.

***

Thomas F. Keyes of Sandwich, Republican candidate for State Senator of the Plymouth and Barnstable District, continues to build his on-the-ground presence in preparation for the November general election.

Mr. Keyes recently announced that Falmouth residents Jan Perry, Debbie Aguiar, Mimi Frank, and Mary Anne and Mark Alliegro will serve as precinct captains to help boost Mr. Keyes grass-roots efforts in town.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

By his own admission, Adam G. Chaprales of Marstons Mills is a reluctant candidate for US Representative of the Ninth Congressional District.

Adam Chaprales of Marstons Mills

“I don’t think anyone wants to be a politician. I don’t think anyone wants to run a political campaign and go through the hardships you have to go through,” Mr. Chaprales said, “but people like myself, that don’t necessarily want to go through what we’re going through, has a passion inside to want to change the community, and that’s why I want to run, because I want to change the direction of where our community’s going.”

“I’m not going to sit on the sidelines and swear at the TV every night because I’m so fed up with what’s going on, I want to be the person that’s actually going down to Washington and championing the issues,” he said.

Mr. Chaprales is emphasizing the fact he is a lifelong Cape Cod resident and says his deep Cape Cod roots make him better suited to represent the region than his immediate Republican rival Christopher Sheldon or his potential general election opponent, Congressman William R. Keating (D).

“I’m not a carpetbagger like most of the people running in this race…I didn’t just move into this district to run,” he said. “I’m in tune with this community. I’ve been in this community my entire life and I know what people want here in this district.”

He also pointed to his experience in local government. At 21 years old Mr. Chaprales became the youngest ever member of the Sandwich Board of Selectmen, defeating a long-term incumbent in the process. He served one term, from 2005 to 2008, and did not seek re-election.

“I have a track record,” he said of his time on the board. “When I ran for selectman, I told the residents of Sandwich what I was going to do when I got elected, and I did everything I said I was going to do.”

Mr. Chaprales criticized not only Mr. Sheldon’s lack of similar credentials in public service but his lack of a solid work history. “Unlike my opponent, who’s had job after job after job,” he said, “I’ve held the same job (at New York Life) since 2006, worked my way up as a partner.”

“Chris is a nice guy. He’s a good kid, he’s smart, but he’s not ready for this,” Mr. Chaprales said. “I am far more experienced than he is, on every level.”

Conversely, he criticized both Rep. Keating and C. Samuel Sutter — Bristol County’s district attorney and Rep. Keating’s primary opponent — as out of touch with voters due to their lengthy careers in public service.

“What we need in that office is one of us. We don’t need another politician,” he said. “We don’t need someone to move into this district that can talk slick, that has years of political experience, we need a representative who is one of us, accountable to the people.”

Local Job Creation

Mr. Chaprales said his top priorities in the campaign are “jobs and the economy, number one,” and said he has become more keenly aware of how economic issues affect him and his growing family; Mr. Chaprales and his wife Aynaz are expecting their first child in early 2013.

“I feel the pinch, the economic pinch. I know what it’s like to put gas in my car and see the gas prices go up,” he said. “I know what it’s like to see the electricity bill going up. I know what it’s like to say gee, should I pay this bill or that bill and wonder if I’m going to get to this bill because I don’t have the money for it.”

During his time with the Sandwich Board of Selectmen, Mr. Chaprales served as the board’s liaison to the Sandwich Economic Development Initiative Corporation (EDIC), and he said community EDICs are underutilized in local job creation.

“We need to start working in collaboration with them, and start getting federal funds over to them and state funds over to them, and help them so that way they can stimulate the economy locally, in all part of our district,” he said.

Similarly, programs like Coastal Community Capital, a program of the non-profit Cape & Islands Community Development, are not realizing their fullest potential due to the lack of funding – for which he faulted Rep. Keating. “Why isn’t Bill Keating working on getting more federal grant money over to [the program]?”

Another part of the formula is stability and predictability in the tax codes, which he said scare businesses away from investing in themselves. “A lot of these businesses are afraid to hire more employees and to invest in the infrastructure of their businesses, because if taxes go up, they’re in big trouble,” Mr. Chaprales said. “People feel victimized to our taxes…there is no predictability right now with our current tax code. Our tax code needs to be reformed and simplified.”

Part of that simplification would involve maintaining the Bush tax cuts for all taxpayers, he said.

Mr. Chaprales said he would prioritize helping the small business community over large corporations, noting that on Cape Cod “we are comprised of small businesses, and if you think that we’re comprised of large corporations where were are, you’re wrong…we’re comprised of mostly mom-and-pop-type businesses, and that’s what we need to stimulate the economy.”

However, the candidate drew the line at getting the government directly involved in job creation through investing in particular companies or industries. “The government should always step aside and let the free market do what it needs to do. The federal government should be an assistant and not a big brother,” Mr. Chaprales said.

“If you want a big loser, get the federal government involved,” he said, citing as an example the “biggest loser in history,” the California-based Solyndra, which received a $535 million loan from the US Department of Energy before filing for bankruptcy in 2011. “The government is terrible at investing.”

Smaller Government

This ties into Mr. Chaprales’s desire to see the size of the federal government shrink and shed itself of costly bureaucracy, duplicated services, and wasteful programs.

Mr. Chaprales said his basic strategy would be to keep government spending focused on public safety, the military, and infrastructure needs, with additional consideration for necessary safety net programs “to help people get back on their feet and get back to work.”

Within that latter goal Mr. Chaprales said it would become necessary to review Social Security and consider raising the retirement age, but he stressed that any changes to benefits should affect only future beneficiaries, not anyone currently collecting Social Security.

He did not outline a specific game plan for accomplishing his goal of shrinking government, and said only he would “stand up and fight for the best interests of my district…I yell, I scream, I kick, and I make noise, and I think my colleagues down in Washington, if I’m lucky enough to get voted in, will understand and back me up, because people are fed up.”

The candidate did not express a desire to reduce military spending. “We’re the number one nation in the world, and that doesn’t come without cost,” he said. “You can’t have both, you can’t have a weak military and be the strongest nation…if you want to be the strongest country, you have to have a big military.”

Mr. Chaprales, like many Republicans, advocates a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, often called “ObamaCare.” “It shouldn’t have been approved the way it was approved. It shouldn’t have gone through reconciliation,” a process that allows bills to pass with only 51 votes n the Senate rather than the usual 60, he said. “That’s just another way of our President bullying Congress and bullying the American people.”

He said many elements of the plan are undesirable and unaffordable, and would prove burdensome to businesses. Mr. Chaprales agreed health care reform was necessary, but said it should focus on promoting competition by allowing taxpayers to purchase insurance across state lines, increasing transparency by making costs clear and understandable, and addressing tort reform for malpractice insurance.

He added that the government should not force anyone to purchase health insurance. “That’s unacceptable. I wasn’t a fan of the Massachusetts health care law” championed by former governor and current Republican presidential candidate W. Mitt Romney, which includes an individual mandate provision, “and I’m certainly not a fan of ObamaCare.”

When asked how he would avoid the divisive and often inaccuracy-laden public debates preceding the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Chaprales did not offer a specific strategy. “I think that’s an unfair question to answer” because of its hypothetical nature, Mr. Chaprales said, but said he did not anticipate such a recurrence.

“I think that the Republicans agree that we need to do something with our health care. I think the Democrats agree that we need to do something with our health care. I think that we can all agree that we need to work across the aisle and get something done,” he said, “and I think that the people who are going to get elected for 2013 are going to wake up, smell the coffee on both sides, and say ‘We got to start getting the job done’…and I will be shocked if our American people vote in a Congressional body again with people that are going to be divisive and not want to work for the better part of Americans.”

To learn more about the candidate, visit Mr. Chaprales’s official campaign website at www.adamforcongress.com.

Other Issues At A Glance

Education

Wants states, not the federal government, to determine educational requirements; promoted strengthening community colleges to increase access to higher education.

The Middle East

Mr. Chaprales said he “trusts the military” to do its job properly and should respond appropriately to threats against the United States. He added, “I am not someone who wants to go to war.”

Social Issues

The federal government should not get involved in social issues such as women’s reproductive rights and same-sex marriage, and should allow state governments to enact their own laws; Mr. Chaprales called most current political discussions on such issues “a smokescreen” to distract voters.

When C. Samuel Sutter launched his campaign for US Representative William R. Keating (D), he came out swinging and has yet to let up on his opponent in the upcoming September 6 primary election.

Sam Sutter, Bristol County DA

“He’s kind of inherent in my decision” to run, the Bristol County district attorney said of Rep. Keating, who he regarded as representative of the many issues plaguing Congress.

“Look at polls that say that over 90 percent of all Americans are unhappy with Congress,” Mr. Sutter said. “Americans are unhappy with Congress because Congress isn’t getting enough done on behalf of them…we are electing our representatives to transcend [partisanship], to get things done, and that’s not happening.”

In addition to his personal frustration with Congress, Mr. Sutter said he was “frustrated by [Rep. Keating’s refusal to debate on Cape Cod…I asked for three debates on Cape Cod and debates all over the region -- nine, I called for -- and I was flat-out turned down on the Cape and the Islands.”

That refusal was “strategic as opposed to civic,” Mr. Sutter said, driven by the fact that the Cape Cod region is the largest chunk of familiar territory within what is now the Ninth Congressional District; redistricting following the 2010 federal Census eliminated the 10th District and placed the Cape and Islands within the new Ninth along with several communities formerly in the Fourth District.

“I think it’s undeniable that this is a brand new district. It might not be a brand new district for the people of the Cape, but it’s certainly a brand new district for the people from Wareham from Fall River,” Mr. Sutter said, adding that be believed his opponent vulnerable locally “since he’s really only been representing the Cape and Islands since January of 2011.”

Mr. Sutter added that Rep. Keating’s political career began long before his election to Congress; Rep. Keating served in the Massachusetts Legislature from 1977 to 1998 and in 1999 became the Norfolk County district attorney.

“That’s a career politician,” Mr. Sutter said, offering himself as an alternative to the career politicians he said have taken over Washington D.C.

Despite his relatively short political career, Mr. Sutter referred to his time in the DA’s office as evidence of his ability to serve effectively in the higher elected office of Congress. He referred to strategies he implemented since taking office in 2006 to greatly reduce gun violence, the homicide rate, gang activity, and high-level drug activity in Bristol County – particularly within the communities of Fall River, New Bedford, and Taunton.

Those successes, he said, were the result of solid initial planning, working cooperatively with various law enforcement agencies, and fully utilizing the available tools within the law enforcement and justice systems to leverage the desired results.

And those results were: 13 shootings in 2007, down from 38 in 2006; and a 100 percent homicide solve rate (cases resulting in charges) in 2007, up from 57 percent in 2006, with an 80 percent annual average solve rate over the past six years.

Local Issues

Mr. Sutter identified several key issues for Cape Cod, starting with safety concerns tied to Pilgrim Nuclear in Plymouth. “People throughout the Cape are very concerned about the safety, about the pollution, and about the evacuation plan,” he said, noting that very early in his campaign he began to speak out against re-licensing the power plant until several safety concerns had been adequately addressed.

“I did not call for a shutdown, but I did call for no re-licensing until the safety standard recommended by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s task force in the wake of Fukushima (Daiichi, the Japanese nuclear plant damaged in a devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami) had been adopted,” he said.

The candidate also wanted to focus on wastewater management, and Mr. Sutter said he has spoken to several key players in the region including Paul J. Niedzwiecki, executive director of the Cape Cod Commission, and Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative, about the Cape’s challenges and needs.

On that topic Mr. Sutter said he wanted to emulate former Congressman William D. Delahunt, who was a powerful advocate for the Cape in its fight to clean up groundwater pollution originating from the Massachusetts Military Reservation.

“There was a huge problem, I know Congressman Delahunt got to work very quickly on it, and successfully and effectively on it, and the problem was greatly improved,” Mr. Sutter said. “That’s leadership and that’s what I believe, based upon my record as the district attorney in Bristol County, and my commitment to the people of Cape Cod, where I lived during the 1980s and had a law practice, that I will lead on this issue.”

National Issues

“I think it’s getting better but not getting better fast enough,” Mr. Sutter said when asked about the general state of the economy, “and that’s the biggest immediate concern.”

His plan for boosting the economy is based in infrastructure development, and he said he agreed with a plan floated by US Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren calling for a $100 billion infrastructure investment initiative -- “not a stimulus plan,” he stressed, but an investment in developing roads, bridges, and sewer systems.

To offset such an investment, Mr. Sutter said he would identify “spending at the federal level that can no longer be justified in view of our national debt and our infrastructure,” namely military spending. He said he would cut military spending five percent across the board.

This could be achieved easily by almost completely withdrawing troops from the Middle East, Mr. Sutter said. He supported sustaining a “limited” military presence in the region to aid local governments in maintaining stability.

Mr. Sutter said he would also end subsidies for oil companies and agricultural conglomerates to boost revenue to fund infrastructure projects, and would vote to end the Bush tax cuts for individuals making more than $250,000 a year, but retain the cuts for those making less than $250,000.

The candidate said he’s had “no time to study every part of the [federal] budget,” but expected there are numerous “inefficiencies” that could be eliminated to reduce spending further.

He would also prioritize small businesses over large corporations, which “have let us down with the way they send jobs overseas. Mr. Sutter said the New Bedford/Fall River region has lost approximately 40,000 manufacturing jobs over the last 25 years.

A report prepared by the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth’s Center for Policy Analysis entitled “Economic History of the Massachusetts South Coast” stated that the two cities, the communities most heavily dependent on manufacturing, saw the total employment in that industry drop from 43 percent (average for the two cities) in 1985 to 17.9 percent in 2008.

Mr. Sutter had no specific ideas on stimulating small businesses beyond promoting public-private partnerships. “The exact specifics, I’m not ready at this time to discuss that with specificity because I haven’t studied the issue enough,” he said.

However, he did identify the green energy industry as a potential growth industry for the South Coast region. “The Cape Wind project is about to commence. We’re hopeful in New Bedford and Fall River that that’s going to mean hundreds and maybe ultimately thousand of jobs for our beleaguered economy in that area,” he said, and he envisioned those seaside ports as possible construction and staging areas for the Nantucket Sound-based project.

Regardless of the nature or size of the business, Mr. Sutter said employers and their workers would be affected by the federal Affordable Care Act, which he called “a good and needed start” to reforming the nation’s health care system, but “do we need to do more? Yes.”

He specifically identified as his top priorities lowering administrative costs and fees for services, and encouraging preventive care.

To learn more about the candidate, visit Mr. Sutter’s official campaign website at http://samsutter.com.

Other Issues At A Glance

Reproductive Rights

Pro-choice.

Same-Sex Marriage

Supports same-sex marriage.

Second Amendment Rights

Said gun ownership is “not a social issue. Guns are a public safety issue,” and would work to reinstate the federal “assault weapons ban” and close loopholes that allow for easier purchasing of firearms at gun shows.

First and foremost, folks, remember that the primary election this year is two weeks earlier than normal and on a Thursday — September 6, to be precise. Get out and vote! Voting gets things done; whining on news website comments sections about how bad the country is does not.

The primary ballot is not terribly busy but there are a few key races to consider, starting with two contests for the Ninth Congressional District. On the GOP side we have Christopher Sheldon of Plymouth and Adam G. Chaprales of Sandwich vying for the party nomination.

In terms of positions on the major issues, these men are largely interchangeable and their respective experiences in public service I would call comparable, so this might be a very close race.

On the Democratic side, I am not anticipating good news for C. Samuel Sutter, the Bristol County DA challenging Congressman William R. Keating (D). Mr. Sutter’s campaign strategy has been to aggressively criticize Rep. Keating rather than sell his own qualities, which is never a good sign.

Add to that the fact Mr. Sutter has issues he wants to address, but in most cases no game plans for doing so — and has made addressing traffic at the bridges one of his three big issues. Having been stuck at the bridges myself on many an occasion I appreciate the sentiment, but really: bigger fish to fry.

More locally we have a primary contest for State Representative of the Second Barnstable District between incumbent Demetrius J. Atsalis (D – Barnstable) and Brian R. Mannal, or as I’m calling it, The Race of Lost Opportunity.

See, Rep. Atsalis I consider one of the more vulnerable incumbents in the region. I think a very solid challenger could defeat him, but no such challenger has come along in several years and Mr. Mannal, in my opinion, has failed to buck the trend.

As a fellow Democrat, Mr. Mannal needed to decisively illustrate where Rep. Atsalis has failed as a legislator on critical issues and show voters how he would be markedly different. On his campaign website, Mr. Mannal compares and contrasts himself with the incumbent on three issues of significance: the increase in the sales tax, an expedited approval process for wind turbines, and whether to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

The other three topics he mentions are rather trivial: proposals on a term length increase, posting roll call votes on the state website, and a campaign spending disclosure measure…not the kind of issues voters are all that concerned with nowadays. His positions on other priority issues are unsurprising and fail to educate voters how he’d be a change from the status quo.

Mr. Mannal’s most aggressive push against Rep. Atsalis has also been on relative non-issues: Marie Parente’s endorsement of the incumbent and Rep. Atsalis’s attendance record. I’ve written about both previously and won’t rehash them now, I’ll simply say Mr. Mannal could have (and I dare say should have) put his time and effort toward something more substantial.

Still, Mr. Mannal has put significantly more effort into his campaign than Stephen M. Palmer, the Plymouth man challenging Senate President Therese M. Murray (D – Plymouth) — and by “challenging” I mean “His name is on the ballot but he has a snowball’s chance of actually winning.”

I recently listened to WATD’s online candidate forum hosting Sen. Murray and Mr. Palmer and…uh, yeah. Wow. Mr. Palmer was semi-coherent, confused, angry, occasionally condescending — in other words, he sounded like yet another person running for office not to serve the public but to have a large stage upon which to grind his anti-government axe.

Finally we have the three Democrats running for governor’s council of the first district: Nicholas D. Bernier, Oliver P. Cipollini, and Walter D. Moniz. This is another toss-up because the candidates’ positions are virtually identical: more public outreach, more diligence in appointing judges, no rubber-stamping whatever comes to them.

One thing voters should be aware of is the potential for another non-contest should Mr. Cipollini win. The Republican incumbent, Mr. Cipollini’s brother Charles, won the 2010 race against Oliver despite his continued insistence that he didn’t even want to win. He actively encouraged people not to vote for him. Voters deserve better than that.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

When it came time to start thinking about the 2012 elections, Christopher Sheldon decided to look around and check out the potential field of Republican candidates.

Christopher Sheldon of Plymouth

What he quickly learned was that the prospects were few and far between. “I started looking at this race about 12 months ago, trying to find a great candidate,” he said, and in meeting with potential candidates, “time and time again, the response was exactly the same: ‘I’m not interested in running, haven’t heard of anyone who is, if you find someone, let me know’.”

After six months of dead-ends, Mr. Sheldon said people started to suggest that he run for Congress, so in March he formally launched his campaign, and he’s betting his professional background will strike a chord with voters.

“I think [voters] are going to look at me and say, ‘This is a guy who’s really different and perhaps even more qualified than anyone we’ve seen in this area in a long time’,” he said, “and I think that’s something that’s going to excite them, and that that’s really where I differentiate and distinguish myself from my potential opponents.”

Mr. Sheldon is running in the Republican primary against Adam G. Chaprales of Marstons Mills. The winner of that race will face the winner of the Democratic primary between C. Samuel Sutter and the de facto incumbent, Congressman William R. Keating (D).

Rep. Keating currently represents the 10^th District, which is being eliminated as part of the decennial redistricting process. Portions of the 10^th District, including the Cape and Islands, will be rolled into a new Ninth District that also includes the New Bedford area, which is currently part of the Fourth District.

Mr. Sheldon said he viewed the Ninth as a “50 – 50 district, one that could go either way” in terms of whether voters chose a Democrat or a Republican, and he hoped voters will choose to break up the Democratic lock on the state’s Congressional delegation (all 10 Massachusetts Congressman are Democrats).

The Springfield native and current South Plymouth resident touted his extensive and varied private sector experience as a key component of his candidacy. Following his graduation from Syracuse University, he joined the New York-based Worldco Financial Services as a logistics coordinator, and later spent several years with the company as an equities and derivatives trader. The company dissolved in 2003 and he joined the Florida-based iHealth and led the consumer goods company’s sales and marketing department.

After obtaining his Master of Business Administrations from the University of Florida, Mr. Sheldon became a consultant for — and still works with — AlixPartners in New York and Bridge Strategy Group in Chicago, as well as for businesses in the health care, utility, and manufacturing sectors.

Mr. Sheldon believed that voters will find his résumé an appealing change of pace from the professional politician environment that dominates Congress. “Folks are tired of business as usual, they’re tired of professional politicians, they’re tired of people – by people I mean politicians – not taking on the tough challenges, the tough decisions,” he said. “They want somebody with a business background…I think that is unique to my candidacy.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Mr. Sheldon is emphasizing the economy in his platform, with an eye toward improving the business climate locally and nationally. “I would like to see this country move in a more business-friendly direction,” he said, explaining that increasing government regulations, operational costs, and a corporate tax rate that is not competitive in the global market are conspiring to drive businesses overseas.

In 2012 the United States’ combined corporate tax rate (which includes federal, regional, and local taxes) stood at 39.2 percent, and until March was the second-highest combined rate in the world behind Japan (which dropped to 38.01 percent). The top federal corporate tax rate is 35 percent.

“We’re simply not competitive,” he said, and what the nation is experiencing now in the “flight of capital or the non-return of capital” to other countries is reminiscent of what happened in the 1950s, when businesses began to leave urban areas for outlying suburbs.

“If you go back into the fifties, you see cities believing, ‘We can make these decisions about our local city property tax rates and income tax rates and nobody will ever leave the city. This is the economic hub of our state’,” he said, but those high costs drive capitalists out, and businesses followed soon thereafter.

To reverse this trend, Mr. Sheldon said he would push for a corporate tax rate of 25 percent for large corporations, “and we need consider and at least have a healthy debate on eliminating corporate taxes for small and medium-sized businesses…and we need to consider eliminating corporate income taxes for new businesses, to try to encourage investors and new businesses.”

Mr. Sheldon also wants to greatly simplify the federal tax code, which he described as “convoluted” and “completely unwieldy,” to get rid of special interest-driven deductions and exemptions; and sustain the Bush Tax Cuts for all income levels.

“I don’t think our economy is in a position to really absorb any major shocks right now,” he said. “We’ve created an economy that’s fragile enough that we shouldn’t be messing with it right now.”

While the Ninth District would benefit from such actions in the form of increased tourism spurred by greater economic prosperity, Mr. Sheldon said the district needs industry-specific relief, namely from federal regulations that dampen the fishing industry.

“That is our greatest asset, our coastline,” he said, “so we need to make sure we protect the coastline environmentally…and we need to allow for the continued development of coastal businesses like fishing.”

Through these economic stimuli strategies, he said, the nation can recoup some of the revenue lost through cuts and tax reduction in the form of income and payroll taxes paid by employees and employers as the job market expands. “It’s a lot more powerful to have a growing economy, to have people working, than it is to sit around complaining companies aren’t paying enough in taxes,” he said.

However, Mr. Sheldon said spending cuts must also be part of the equation, and politicians on both sides must be prepared to make sacrifices. “We need to take a step back to try to figure out what out priorities are, try to figure out the things that have to be done versus the things we’d really like to be done, and make some tough decisions,” he said. “I don’t think that any organization at the government level is off the table.”

He included Social Security, and he faulted Rep. Keating for failing to address the issue. “He absolutely refuses to acknowledge that there’s any issue,” Mr. Sheldon said, stating that the Congressional Budget Office has projected bankruptcy for the program by 2031.

(The CBO predicted in 2011 that Social Security will exhaust a $2.5 trillion surplus by 2037. It expects to begin tapping into the surplus in 2018, and once the surplus is drained, assuming the system has not been reformed by then, the program’s annual revenue will be sufficient to cover 75 to 80 percent of its obligations. Rep. Keating has opposed raising the retirement age and privatizing the program.)

A middle ground solution for reducing government expenditures Mr. Sheldon hopes to play a role in implementing is in the elimination of fraud and wasteful government spending, although he admitted that might be a considerable challenge. “It’s weird. Everybody agrees we should get rid of fraud, waste, and abuse,” he said, “but for whatever reason, when you point to wherever you think that there’s fraud, waste, and abuse, then all of a sudden you get an outcry, even though everybody internally and externally agree it exists.”

Mr. Sheldon also expected to realize savings through the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, also known as “ObamaCare,” and maintained the a full repeal would be necessary before the government made a new attempt at meaningful health care reform.

“What we have there is a giant bill with a ton of uncertainty, but one that didn’t really address the issues that they said it was going to address, which is lowering our overall health care costs and making sure that everybody gets covered and making sure people get to keep their plans,” he said. “It doesn’t address the two major issues that we have with health care in the country today, which is a lack of transparency and a lack of competition…the ACA did not accomplish that on any level.”

Because of the bill’s complexity, Mr. Sheldon said it could not be amended piecemeal without risking unintended consequences to other parts of the law. “There’s just too much there in the ACA for us to peel it all back one piece at a time,” he said, “and make some subtle tweaks and changes…what is relatively easy to do is to get rid of stuff cleanly, and it’s a lot cleaner to get rid of the ACA and start over.”

To learn more about the candidate, visit Mr. Sheldon’s official campaign website at www.electsheldon.com.

Other Issues At A Glance

Energy

Wants greater energy independence in the U.S. but wants the free market rather than the government to decide which energy sources are best for the country.

The Middle East

Supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine; thinks America should not have an “occupying presence” in the Middle East or engage in nation-building, but should retain enough military presence to address security threats; supports troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Reproductive Rights

“This decision should ultimately be made by a woman in consultation with her doctor,” he said, but wants to reduce abortions performed in the U.S.; opposes federal funding for abortion services, which he said should be covered entirely by the patient and/or her insurance.

Same-Sex Marriage

Marriage is primarily a religious issue, not a government issue, Mr. Sheldon said, but states should decide on who may be legally married through direct voter input rather than court action; supports a repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Second Amendment

“Unequivocally” supports the right to own firearms, does not believe “responsible citizens” should be restricted in their gun ownership.

The de facto incumbent, Congressman William R. Keating (D) faced off against C. Samuel Sutter, Bristol County district attorney, on a live NECN debate with Jim Braude serving as moderator. Over the course of about 22 minutes, the two candidates traded ideas on major issues and some in-our-own-backyard concerns.

First, I’ll recap the predictable Democratic Party-approved lip-service: cut military spending! Troops home now! Tax the rich! Create jobs! Reach across the aisle and hug a Republican!

Now, onto the good stuff. Cape Wind came up early on. Mr. Sutter offered the “right idea, wrong location” sound bite and with a metaphorical “Whatcha gonna do?” shrug said the thing was a done deal, so time to suck it up, cupcake. Rep. Keating spun his previous opposition to the project as “concern” over its chosen site, but said the prospect of jobs for Cape Cod and a step toward breaking the nation’s dependence on foreign oil (another Democratic oldie but goodie) outweighed the project’s siting-related drawbacks.

Controversial Energy Facility Chat Number Two was about Pilgrim Nuclear in Plymouth. Mr. Sutter claimed Rep. Keating was dead silent on the issue of the plant’s re-licensing until he criticized said silence earlier this year, but Rep. Keating said he visited Pilgrim during his first month in office, and co-sponsored H.R. 1242, The Nuclear Power Plant Safety Act.

Rep. Keating boasted about his job creation successes and specifically highlighted $540,000 in federal funding he secured for Falmouth Hospital and money that trickled down to the Falmouth Fire Rescue Department, all of which saved jobs. Mr. Sutter berated the Congressman for coming in “at the last minute” and taking credit for his “small roll” in securing that money, which had been “in the works” for years.

I know it’s traditional for pundits to name a winner and a loser in debates, but neither man really shined or tanked. It was a rather tepid discussion with a few jabs but no knockout punches.

Go to www.necn.com to view the full debate video.

***

We should soon know who will be Barnstable’s new representative for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates — and, in all likelihood, that town’s candidate-to-beat for the November election.

Last week I reported that Terry Duenas, executive director of the Cape Cod Community Media Center, and Patrick Princi, chairman of the Barnstable Democratic Town Committee, had filed letters of interest with the Barnstable Town Council, which will choose one of the two men to replace former delegate Thomas K. Lynch.

J. Gregory Milne, former town councilor and two-time candidate for the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners (2002 and 2008), also submitted a letter of interest just before the July 3 deadline.

On a related note, Ronald R. Beaty Jr. of West Barnstable has withdrawn his candidacy for the assembly and is now running for…nothing. He previously planned to run for the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners, then entertained the notion of running for both the board of commissioners and the assembly, then dropped his county commissioner run.

***

State Representative Randy Hunt (R – Sandwich) is hosting a golf day campaign fundraiser in Sandwich. The event is scheduled for Monday, September 17 with a 1 PM shotgun start, and will be held at the Ridge Club in Sandwich. A reception follows at 5 PM.

Further details are pending, just to keep you all in suspense. Go to www.electrandyhunt.com for additional info as it becomes available.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

It looks like two men are putting their names in for consideration as Barnstable’s new representative for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates.

Information released by the Barnstable Town Council’s office stated that Terry Duenas, executive director of the Cape Cod Community Media Center, and Patrick Princi, chairman of the Barnstable Democratic Town Committee, have filed letters of interest with the council, which will choose one of the two men to replace former delegate Thomas K. Lynch. Mr. Lynch had to resign from the assembly when he was appointed as Barnstable’s new town manager.

Whoever is appointed to the assembly would have the advantage should he decide to run for the post in November. Even though he would serve only three months or so until the election, that could be enough for such a low-profile race to leverage the “incumbent’s advantage.”

***

Sandwich hosted dueling Senators over the past week, as Democrat Elizabeth Warren swung through town last week for the opening of the Sandwich Democratic Campaign Office – and give some face time to state representative candidate R. Patrick Ellis – and yesterday US Senator Scott P. Brown had a joint meet-and-greet with Mr. Ellis’s opponent, State Representative Randy Hunt (R – Sandwich) at Two Brothers Pizza & Mexican Restaurant.

***

By the time you read this, Congressman William R. Keating (D) and his Democratic primary opponent C. Samuel Sutter will have wrapped up their first debate. The two met on NECN’s “Broadside” with Jim Braude, and I’ll have some thoughts on that next week.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

I’ll mark my return with something from the Shoe’s On the Other Foot File. I’ve reported here previously that Bristol County DA C. Samuel Sutter, who is challenging Congressman William R. Keating (D) in the Democratic primary for the Ninth Congressional District, was under the microscope for alleged misconduct by his office tied to a 2010 murder case.

Mr. Sutter’s office was earlier this month cleared of any wrongdoing in that case, but now Rep. Keating is under similar scrutiny. While still in office as the Norfolk County DA, Rep. Keating’s office allegedly failed to turn over documents to a defense attorney involved in a statutory rape case.

The case was later dismissed without those documents ever being turned over to the defense attorney, and last month the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the DA’s office displayed “egregious prosecutorial misconduct” for its actions.

Rep. Keating defended his former office, claiming that withholding those documents was in the best interests of the alleged victim and the office was under no legal obligation to hand the information over.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sutter’s office is still under investigation for a second alleged instance of misconduct tied to a 2011 murder case that ended in dismissal over a recanted testimony, which the office allegedly failed to tell a grand jury about.

Frankly, it’s tough to take either of these situations as a major issue. Yes, all our candidates should have sterling ethics and spotless records, but in this day and age it’s hard to find anyone in politics with a flawless background. Unless either of these reveals a serious ethical lapse on the direct part of the candidates, voters would be better off trying to learn where they stand on the issues.

***

However, don’t expect to be educated through a debate this week on WBSM-AM 1420, because Rep. Keating has refused to participate. Why? Because on-air personality Phil Paleologos was tapped as the moderator, and he’s a Republican. Mr. Sutter said he planned to show up anyway.

Rep. Keating is calling his decision a matter of political principle, but I’m calling it silly posturing. Personally, I’d be very interested in hearing a debate guided by a moderator who holds politically contrary positions as compared to the participating candidates.

***

On another Congressional note, Republican candidate Christopher Sheldon of Plymouth has secured his spot on the ballot. Mr. Sheldon announced on May 31 that he had submitted more than enough certified signatures to qualify for the race.

***

Someone who won’t be on any ballots is US Senate candidate Marisa DeFranco, who was planning to challenge Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic nomination. Ms. DeFranco failed to receive 15 percent of the delegates at Democrats’ June 2 state convention, and under the party’s rules she is not eligible for the ballot.

While DeFranco had no realistic chance of beating Ms. Warren, it would have been nice if voters had a choice in September. It’d also be nice if all the signatures she collected to get on the ballot actually mattered more than internal party processes.

***

Linell and Steven Grundman of East Sandwich will host tomorrow (Saturday, June 16) a campaign event for R. Patrick Ellis, Democratic challenger to State Representative Randy Hunt (R – Sandwich). The event is scheduled to run from 7 to 9:30 PM and will be held at 51 Wing Boulevard E in Sandwich.

Shoot an RSVP e-mail to grundmans@comcast.net. Campaign contributions will be accepted but are not requested.

***

Thomas F. Keyes, Republican candidate for State Senator of the Plymouth and Barnstable District, welcomes former state auditor candidate Mary Z. Connaughton to town on Monday. Ms. Connaughton is the special guest at a campaign reception for Mr. Keyes at the Nimrod in Falmouth, and that runs from 7 to 9 PM.

Admission is a donation to Mr. Keyes’ campaign, payable at the door or make arrangements in advance by calling 774-208-3480.

***

Finally, Andrew V. Putnam of Falmouth has filed his nomination papers for the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates, making him the first 100-percent-official candidate for the county’s legislative body.

Mr. Putnam will have a campaign kick-off event next week, details TBA, but in the meantime, go groove to his new campaign website at http://andrewputnam.org.

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.

The de facto incumbent, Congressman William R. Keating (D), announced last week his team had submitted his nomination papers and he was “on the ballot,” even though, technically, all those signatures must first be certified.

(I say “de facto” because Rep. Keating is running for a second term, but he is currently representing the 10th Congressional District. The 10th as it exists now will be eliminated and many of its communities will be rolled into a new Ninth District.)

The other party candidates in the race — fellow Democrat C. Samuel Sutter, Bristol County’s DA, and Republicans Christopher Sheldon of Plymouth and Adam Chaprales of Sandwich — have filed their nomination papers according to local town clerks.

Two announced non-party candidates, Daniel Botelho of Fall River and Peter A. White of Mashpee, have until July 31 to file their nomination papers.

***

Senate President Therese M. Murray (D – Plymouth) is holding her Cape Cod-area campaign kick-off event tonight at 6 PM in the Atlantic Room of the Brookside Club in Bourne. If you’d like to attend, give a call to 508-591-0230 and see if there is still room.

Sen. Murray held a kick-off event last week in Plymouth, and the Massachusetts Republican party has offered an interesting opinion on that. In an e-mail to supporters sent out Monday, the GOP noted that the Plymouth event was preceded by “scant media notification and no announcement on the Senate President’s Facebook page.”

“Everyone in politics knows you announce bad news on a Friday, so clearly the Senate President believes her own candidacy for re-election isn’t good news for the Commonwealth,” Peter Blute, deputy chairman of the Mass. GOP remarked in the e-mail. “I agree with the Senate President that she should be ashamed of her record.”

By “her record,” Mr. Blute means the passage of a sales tax increase, revoking the sales tax exemption on alcohol sales, and the fact that “on Senator Murray’s watch, three state Senators went to jail.” Those three would be Anthony Gallucio (drunk driving), Dianne Wilkserson (who this year was sentenced to jail time for accepting bribes), and James Marzilli (sexual harassment).

(One note in the interest of full context: these Senators’ respective offenses were committed while they were in office, but they were all convicted after resigning from the Legislature.)

Mr. Blute’s analysis of Sen. Murray’s 11^th-hour event announcement is, of course, political rhetoric at its finest. He’s reading into the situation exactly what he wants to based on purely superficial evidence (why he went with subconscious self-loathing is beyond me), and preaching it to the choir. Hardly a compelling case for ousting Sen. Murray from office.

The Democrats could as easily interpret it this way: “Terry Murray has nearly $140,000 in her campaign fund and doesn’t need to go nuts promoting fundraisers.” Me, I interpret it as: “Whoops, that was really dumb. We should have publicized this better. Oh, well, we’ll pay closer attention next time.”

Political news and announcements may be e-mailed to Michael Bailey, senior political reporter, at bailey@capenews.net.