Candidates for lieutenant governor faced off for the first time on Wednesday, attacking each other's running mates for policies that they said would dig the commonwealth further into a financial hole.
Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and State Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, R-Wakefield, traded some of the sharpest barbs at the debate at Suffolk University Law School.
"No matter where you go in Massachusetts, people instinctively know that the state government is off-track," Tisei said.
Murray countered that the state's fiscal situation is improving.
"We are making progress because we've been willing to make some tough decisions," Murray said. "Massachusetts is the only state in the country that's added jobs seven months in a row."
Independent candidate Tim Cahill's running mate, former GOP state Rep. Paul Loscocco, said voters were sick of the squabbling between Democrats and Republicans.
"People are tired and they're cynical with what the party system has brought and what it has failed to deliver," he said.
Green-Rainbow Party candidate and self-proclaimed non-politician Richard Purcell, who read his opening statement instead of delivering it from memory, dismissed the arguments between Tisei and Murray as politics as usual.
"To me, it's bad boys telling on bad boys, that doesn't solve anything," he said. "Bad boys are bad boys. You're telling the truth about each other, and you're both wrong."
Baker's role in the "Big Dig" was one of many points of contention between Murray and Tisei.
"Over the course of time the Big Dig makes sense, but that doesn't excuse the fact that it was mismanaged," Murray said. "People weren't honest about the cost, mainly Charlie Baker."
Tisei said the project had no cost overruns during Baker's time as state secretary of administration and finance, and turned the topic against the current administration.
"The lesson that we've learned from the Big Dig is don't move forward with these huge projects like some of the ones that Tim are advocating without having a funding source or any way of paying for it," he said.
None of the candidates came out in support of Question 3, which would roll back the sales tax from 6.25 percent to three percent.
"We think the impact will be devastating," Murray said.
"It's like jumping into a swimming pool without knowing whether the water's in the pool or not," Loscocco said.
Tisei, who said he and Baker want to reduce the sales tax to five percent, said that as an owner of a realty company, he had a special understanding of the recession's impact.
"During the economic crisis I couldn't sleep at night, trying to figure out how I was going to make the payroll, how I was going to pay my bills," Tisei said.
However, Murray argued that the GOP's planned spending reductions would harm those who rely on state services.
"You can't say you're going to cut. . . and then profess concerns for those programs," Murray said. "You got to match your words with your actions."
Tisei said the cuts would not affect those working on "the front line" in state offices.
"There are so many different things that we could do to streamline, save money, reform state government without hurting the people who need it the most and the workers who do so much for the state," he said.
Unsurprisingly, all candidates were against the idea of abolishing the lieutenant governor's office, even though some say the position is merely ceremonial.
"Some lieutenant governors have been Maytag repairmen," Murray said, though he argued that the position was historically important.
"Having a lieutenant governor and continuity of government matters," he said.
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