Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker and Democrat-turned-Independent Tim Cahill attacked Gov. Deval Patrick for what they said was an unproductive term in office in a debate Tuesday night on WBZ Radio.
Though Baker has attempted to portray Cahill and Patrick as ideologically similar throughout the campaign, at the debate Baker and Cahill tended to agree on issues, while Patrick dissented more often &- for instance, on illegal immigration.
Baker and Cahill said they were in favor of implementing an immigration law in Massachusetts similar to the controversial immigration law in Arizona, which critics say gives law enforcement power to racially profile Latinos. Patrick was opposed to the idea.
Similarly, the incumbent governor was the only candidate in favor of allowing drivers licenses for illegal immigrants and granting economic support to children of illegal immigrants going to college in Massachusetts.
While this portion of debate was straightforward, as moderator Dan Rea restricted the candidates to a yes or no response, many of his other questions provoked a much more heated debate.
At one point during an especially heated argument, Cahill cut off Baker loudly.
"Tell the truth and I won't interrupt you!" Cahill told the Republican.
The candidates tried to portray each other as dishonest, with Patrick accusing Baker in particular of lying and twisting the facts.
This rhetoric began early on in the debate, with Baker accusing Patrick, and Cahill as his treasurer, of reckless spending.
"[Gov. Patrick and Cahill] spent the rainy day account before the rain. . . nobody said anything about it," Baker said.
Patrick refuted this, saying that he in fact worked on reversing some of the financial problems that his predecessor created when he came into office.
"I've heard this charge. . . it's not true that we spent the rainy day fund," Patrick said. According to a fact check by Boston.com, however, Patrick and the legislature did tap into the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund before the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
Another charge that Baker brought up against Patrick was that his administration wasn't in touch with the needs of Massachusetts residents.
"They don't believe Beacon Hill under your administration is listening...they see spending that goes up 3 billion dollars in the past five years," Baker said.
"Our job is to listen to all of what they are saying try to make the balance," Patrick responded. "I'm listening to people and I'm hearing some of the same things they're hearing. . . I'm listening to fact. . . not hyperbole."
Cahill, who emphasized the need for job creation throughout the debate, said, "We don't have to disagree on values, we just have to find a way to pay for things...The best social program in the world is a job."
When the debate jumped into the controversial topic of building casinos in the Commonwealth, Patrick held strong in his stance that while he agreed with creating three destination resorts, he would not support gambling at the racetracks.
This, he said, was his disagreement with the casino bill that failed in Massachusetts.
Cahill said he saw the creation of casinos and slot machines as a way of making jobs and that if sworn in, he would push for the creation of gambling in the state. Baker chose to use the topic as an example of Beacon Hill's inefficiency.
The subject of illegal immigrants came up again with a question of how each candidate would cut down on violence in the cities.
Cahill talked about hiring more police officers, saying that Patrick had broken his promise to do so.
"One of my priorities that I cut because we made other choices," Patrick retorted, referring to job creation and educational spending in the state.
Baker, however, chose to bring up immigration, saying he wanted to use "immigration status... to take bad actors, borderline domestic abusers.... to stop them from terrorizing our cities."
In the end, the candidates acknowledged their fate lay in how well they wooed the voters.
"We have some big, big challenges facing the Commonwealth. . . people need a reason to hope," Patrick said. "If given a second term, we will complete the job."
Jill Stein, a Green-Rainbow party candidate for governor, was not invited to the debate because of her low poll numbers.
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