One Last Stop in Peabody for Gomez Campaign

With just days to go until Tuesday's special election, Republican senate candidate Gabriel Gomez made sure to get in one last stop at Brooksby Village on Friday.

"I know everybody in here votes and I hope the rest of the people in the state do as well," he told a modest crowd of seniors gathered in the retirement complex's chapel for the event.

The concern is a real one as the Secretary of State William Galvin's office has reported absentee ballots are down 22 percent from the 2010 special election that put former Sen. Scott Brown in office. Peabody City Clerk Tim Spanos and other local election officials are predicting only a 20 percent turnout at the polls.

Galvin's office says there are a number of factors competing for people's attention over this election -- summer is just getting started, school is almost out, the Bruins were in the Stanley Cup finals and the Whitey Bulger trial is underway.

As expected, both Gomez' campaign and that of Democratic Congressman Ed Markey have been working hard to generate as much interest as they can in the final days before the vote.

Back in Peabody, the Tanner City did go red for Brown twice since 2010, but that didn't help Brown enough in last year's race against now Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

On Friday at Brooksby, Gomez shared his story of growing up the son of Colombian immigrants who sought a better life in the United States. He said he didn't learn English until he went to school.

Gomez briefly covered his military and business backgrounds, saying that a desire to serve his country has motivated him in both pursuits over the past 25 years and continues now to be the main reason he is running for the open seat in the U.S. Senate.

"I'm concerned that my kids are not going to have the same chances I had. I lived the American Dream," he said, noting how he was a first generation immigrant who served in the military, worked his way into college and eventually into a successful business career.

"I want to make sure everyone's kids have the same chance to chase that American Dream," he said.

Gomez said there's too much bickering and hyper-partisan politics in Washington, D.C. now, along with wasteful spending in many areas. He argues he brings a fresh perspective to that scene as a new kind of Republican, who wants to work across the aisle on good ideas to prosper the country rather than fight age-old ideological battles.

"I will always put the people and country before politics," Gomez said. "Where I come from, you either lead or get out of the way."

Gomez argues Markey has spent 37 years in Congress, but has relatively little to show for it and has simply been another reliable vote for Democratic party leaders. Gomez again pledged to only serve for two terms if elected.

When it came time to ask questions, Brooksby residents covered everything from Medicare and Social Security to gun control, immigration reform and spying on Americans.

Gomez said he'd pursue a bipartisan plan to ensure both Medicare and Social Security are available to his generation and his children's generation, spending needs to be reigned in across the board in the federal government, both business and individual income tax codes need to be reformed and the country needs to get more people back to work.

"I think there [are] a lot of loopholes we don't need and [they] could save quite a bit of money," he said, referring to tax code reform. He said that includes such things as tax breaks for private jets for business and production incentives to Hollywood.

As for balancing the budget, he said, he doesn't advocate for any cuts to "social net programs," such as Medicare, Social Security, welfare and education, but argues all other areas, including the Department of Defense, have room to trim and make better use of resources to save money.

Gomez did speak at length on immigration reform, saying he has a unique perspective on that given his background. He supports a current plan to create pathways to citizenship for the 12 million immigrants currently here illegally. He said it's impractical now to think the U.S. can just deport those people and that the issue has become an economic one as well as a moral one.

One subject neither Gomez nor his audience touched on, but which Markey brought up in a debate last week, was Gomez' involvement in layoffs and jobs being shipped overseas at Peabody-based company Synventive Molding Solutions.

Gomez denied the assertion that he was part of directly shipping jobs overseas during the debate and said the company simply grew where the industry was thriving at that time. He also argued he and former firm Advent helped Synventive survive.