Candidates came out swinging on topics such as job creation, excessive taxation and illegal immigrantion at the first in a series of televised debates for the Massachusetts gubernatorial election last night on WBZ-TV.
The debate saw Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick and Charlie Baker, his Republican rival, swatting at each other's records, leading independent candidate Tim Cahill and Green-Rainbow party candidate Jill Stein to scold the pair for squabbling.
"Governor, you've been in charge of the health care system in Massachusetts for the past four years," Baker said to Patrick in one of several confrontational exchanges. "And until we got to March of 2010, you didn't pay much attention to it at all, and many of the decisions you made drove up the cost of health care for small businesses."
"Health costs are the single biggest concern of businesses is what I hear everywhere, and you've been at the center of that." Patrick responded, referencing Baker's tenure as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. "You've raised premiums a hundred and fifty percent."
Investing in healthcare and education creates jobs, Patrick said, adding that Massachusetts has gone from being ranked the 15th best state for business to the fifth in the last two years.
"Massachusetts is first in the nation in student achievement, first in health care and third in the nation in job creation. We want to finish what we started in the second term, continuing the pace so that everyone who is seeking work can find it," Patrick said. "Our biggest concern, as well as businesses', is health care costs. Tim is right that we have to be about solutions. People need help right now. I'm proud of the health care reform we've done; it's a private-public partnership."
But some thought Patrick was painting a too-cheery picture of economic events.
Green-Rainbow party candidate Jill Stein, a physician, noted that Massachusetts has record unemployment and bankruptcy levels. Bay Staters need good jobs and strong schools, Stein said, but this won't happen with Patrick at the helm.
"We need green jobs that basically pay for themselves. We need a real chance in Beacon Hill to do that," Stein said. "I think we need jobs that are jumpstart green jobs, not low wage, dead-end jobs."
WBZ-TV political analyst and moderator Jon Keller also questioned the candidates about their plans for balancing the state budget.
State Treasurer Cahill said health care costs are unsustainable and transportation costs need to get back under control.
"I'm a firm believer in supply-side economics," Cahill said.
Baker said he wanted to cut taxes, get rid of the Pacheco Law to make it easier for the state to do business with private enterprises and get serious about outsourcing. He was also critical of the Massachusetts liquor tax increase and stressed the need for tax cuts.
"We need to get real about taxes and create a climate of affordable tax policy. We need to live within our means," Baker said.
But Stein said she worried more about schools cutting funding for sports teams and Lawrence laying off firefighters, saying that it is not OK to just let the bottom fall out of Mass. communities.
"If we are going to cut taxes for the people who need it, then the people who can afford it should pay their fair share," she said.
Cahill said people at the local level would prefer to vote on their own taxes.
"Let's let the people decide. We have to trust them," he said.
Stein stated the candidates were ignoring the elephant in the room, which was that 50 percent of the budget was going into health care and that 75 percent of that amount is spent on chronic diseases that are preventable.
"Clean energy and cleaning up the air [would help preventable diseases]," she said. "This is the kind of bickering that we've come to expect from Beacon Hill. The debate hasn't changed."
Stein was also critical of needless bureaucracy.
"We should cut the waste in health care and insurance waste," she said. "We don't have a healthcare system, we have a disease-care system."
Baker agreed. "There's a lot we can do about administration simplification," he said.
Cronyism was a heated topic among the candidates as well when Baker brought up an article in The Boston Globe showcasing political patronage on Beacon Hill.
"It's outrageous it took a story in The Boston Globe to get anyone to do anything about it," Baker said. "It's an example of something everyone knew was a problem on Beacon Hill, but no one did anything about it until this big story in The Globe."
Cahill said he did not think it mattered if the government workers know someone or don't know someone as long as they do their job and serve the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
"Make sure people are qualified, work hard and serve the taxpayers," he said.
For the last question of the evening, Keller asked the candidates if they supported allowing illegal immigrants access to public housing. Cahill noted his strong opposition.
"We have to focus on legal immigrants first," he said. "It's wrong for any illegal immigrant to get public benefits. State police should check immigration statuses."
Patrick, however, said that state police "have their hands full."
And Stein blamed the recession and growing unemployment as major problems that needed to be tackled before immigration.
"Immigrants did not create this problem," she said.
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