David S. Bernstein reports that Sean Bielat, the 2010 and 2012 Republican nominee in Massachuettts’ Fourth Congressional District, looked into a Congressional run in upstate New York in 2006 – as a Democrat. In 2004 Bielat helped out on the campaign of Kennedy School classmate Samantha Barend, who was the losing Democratic nominee in New York’s 29th district. The district is near Rochester, where Bielat lived for a time growing up.
Apparently, after actively supporting Barend early in the cycle, Bielat flirted with the idea of running against her in the Democratic primary. He instead moved to Chicago to work for McKinsey & Co. But heading into 2006 Bielat met with DCCC folks in Washington and bought a house in Canandaigua, N.Y., which is in the 29th District. His wife took a job in that area while Sean Bielat himself remained in Chicago. He did, however, register to vote in Canandaigua as a Democrat. Implausibly, his people now claim that was a “vestige” of his parents’ leanings during his childhood. As Bernstein points out, at the time Bielat was a 30-year old Kennedy School grad flirting for the second time with running for Congress.
Bielat abandoned his plans to run when the local Democratic Party structure supported Eric Massa (who was elected that year and, you may recall, has since resigned). He took a job with i-Robot, which led him to move to Massachusetts in mid-2006. In 2010, reinvented as a Republican, Bielat won the GOP nomination in the 4th District here and lost to Barney Frank. He then moved to Pennsylvania, but moved back here to run when Frank announced his retirement. For a guy who’s gone around accusing Joe Kennedy of being a carpetbagger, this guy’s got some chutzpah. Joe Kennedy was born and raised in the Boston area and lived here his whole life except college and the Peace Corps. Also, Bielat (and I) turned 31 in May 2006, when he first looked into running, meaning his assertion that the 32-year-old Joe Kennedy is too young for the job is purely hypocritical.
Bernstein notes that Bielat often refers to his having drifted from the Democratic Party over time. It seems it was more sudden than gradual, and was probably because they wouldn’t nominate him. I used to think Sean Bielat was at least sincere about his views, but this makes him seem like a huge — and hugely ambitious — phony.
I’ll post about this on the Milford Patch web site and link back to your post – should be fun!
People in the district should know what’s going on. I have to say I was surprised to read this article. I thought Bielat was a genuine Republican of long standing, but it appears he’s just being opportunistic.
Maybe tonight – I’ll comment here when it’s up
Here’s a link:
http://milford-ma.patch.com/blog_posts/sean-bielat-staunch-republican-or-glad-handing-opportunist