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Kerry challenger faults both parties

11th April 2008

Kerry challenger faults both parties

BY RICK FOSTER / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Friday, April 11, 2008 1:39 AM EDT

MANSFIELD - Jim Ogonowski says Washington - including both Democrats and Republicans - is too focused on glitz and sound bites and is not interested enough in issues like reducing the deficit.

"Recently you had hearings where every politician was there to ask Roger Clemens what's up with baseball," said Ogonowski, a Republican candidate challenging Democratic Sen. John Kerry. "Why? Because they all want to get on TV. That's wrong."

Ogonowski, who lost a 5th District Congressional campaign last year to Nikki Tsongas, said Congress should focus more on consequential issues like immigration, the deficit and energy policy.

The Dracut resident took his everyman message on a coffee shop tour this week with stops in Mansfield and Foxboro in his uphill Senate campaign.

Unlike many politicians on one side of the aisle or the other, however, Ogonowski heaps fault on both political parties.

The Iraq war was "a mistake," said Ogonowski, whose brother died when terrorists hijacked the airliner he was piloting into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

"The issue is, now that we're there, how are we going to stabilize the country so it can provide for its own stability and security," he said, seated at a table in Cafe on The Common in Mansfield.

Ogonowski is also highly critical of earmarks used by congressmen to obtain large chunks of money for pet projects, calling it "wasteful spending" leading ultimately to corruption.

And, he said, proponents of free trade have neglected "fair trade" measures needed to level the playing field on behalf of American companies and workers.

Ogonowski, an Air Force veteran who returned to working his brother's farm to save it from bankruptcy, said his plain talk has been received well so far by retirees, secretaries and tradesmen at local diners.

"We're having a great week," Ogonowski said. "I'll talk with people and they'll say, 'Jim, I hear what you have to say. You're one of us.'"

Ogonowski did surprisingly well in last year's congressional election, polling 45 percent of the vote against Tsongas, widow of former U.S. Sen Paul Tsongas.

The Dracut resident said despite the current economic downturn, he sees openings to stimulate growth through tax and investment policies that would encourage home energy conservation and windpower.