The MBTA
The MBTA is in crisis. This year, we saw both a fare increase and a reduction in service as a result of the agency’s fiscal problems. By common agreement, either the T’s debt obligations will have to be reduced – perhaps by having the state or another agency assume some of them – or its funding will have to increase. Please describe your favored approach to putting this vital transportation agency back on stable footing. If you favor more funding, please specify where it would come from, and what taxes or fees you would support for that purpose.
Democrat
Democrat
It is essential to maintain our mass transit system. However, I am not convinced that now is the time to try and expand the system, as this might wait until the T's budget is more stable.
I think it is important to expand enforcement of fare evasion - any form of cheating the system is wrong and must be reduced and eliminated.
Given the fact that T riders are helping pay for the debt obligations associated with highway improvements that benefit automobile drivers, I believe we should give serious consideration to a modest increase in the gasoline tax (e.g., 3 cents or 5 cents) that would be dedicated to the T budget.
Republican
Republican
We have the highest-paid transit workers in the country, and it's obviously burdened with decades of wasteful patronage hires.
Before any taxes and fares are raised, we should look into reducing our expenses.
I would like to sit down with the workers themselves to get their ideas on reducing costs.
Healthcare
Massachusetts’s new healthcare cost containment law limits the growth of healthcare spending to the growth in the state’s economy and shifts from fee-for-service care to global payment models. Do you believe these measures will protect healthcare choices while preventing rapid increases in costs?
Democrat
Democrat
The Massachusetts healthcare laws are leading the nation and continuing our history of innovation.
The experiment with healthcare cost containment linked to state economic growth is a worthy effort, but obviously it is too soon to say whether it will "prevent rapid increases in costs."
Other initiatives, like the effort to provide incentives for citizens to obtain services at lower cost regional and local hospitals, are important. There is a wide disparity in the prices being charged for the same service, so we must find a way to establish limits that drive costs down.
Global payment models are also worthy of evaluation and testing - but it remains important to ensure that they do not discourage providers from giving necessary care in order to reduce costs.
Again, Massachusetts is a leader in innovation in this area, and we must stay on this course.
Republican
Republican
They will not protect healthcare choices because if the economy continues to grow slowly (as it most likely will), then there will be no money to pay for the faster-growing healthcare requirements.
This will reduce choice and eventually result in higher costs.
Education
Many parents are looking for educational options for their children. It’s very hard to get expanded day programs in districts like Boston because the teachers’ union believes its members should be paid for the extra time they work. Charter schools offer longer days and longer school years at the same per-pupil cost, and there are more than 35,000 children on waiting lists statewide. Do you support raising the cap on charter schools? If yes, under what conditions?
Democrat
Democrat
Currently, we are in the course of implementation of the “Act Relative to the Achievement Gap,”
signed into law in January, 2010. I support that approach, along with many of the recommendations of the Race to the Top Coalition in their November 2011 assessment.
Republican
Republican
Yes, I support raising the cap.
The school system belongs to citizens and taxpayers, not politicians or unions or bureaucrats.
If we want more charter schools, then we have the right to build more and staff them accordingly.
Project Labor Agreements
The Patrick administration has imposed so-called Project Labor Agreements on three large construction projects that require that anyone working on them must be members of a labor union and firms must abide by union work rules. Non-union shops say those requirements effectively exclude them from bidding. Several studies show that projects done under PLAs or with only a small number of bidders cost more than projects that have more bidders. Unions, however, say the PLAs insure higher-quality work and offer a guarantee against strikes or other labor strife. Do you favor or oppose PLAs? Why?
Democrat
Democrat
I have seen studies that identify both benefits and concerns about PLAs, but I believe they are a worthy tool that can serve important functions.
The fact that a project may have a small number of bidders is not necessarily linked to the existence of a PLA.
The PLA for the Whittier Bridge project - a major public works improvement of significance to citizens in the 2nd Essex District - does not prevent non-union shops from bidding. Moreover, I understand that it places emphasis on hiring local labor, which is a critical objective.
Republican
Republican
I oppose PLAs, and I have more than 20 years of experience in the construction industry.
The vast majority of projects get done without a PLA, and that has not resulted in poor quality.
Meanwhile, the Big Dig was done with a PLA and is full of defects, despite spending a lot more time and money on it than anyone imagined.
Employee Pensions
Do you think further changes to the state employee pension system are necessary?
Democrat
Democrat
Yes. Although the current Legislature deserves substantial credit for recent pension reform, it is important to continue to evaluate how the system works and what can be done to ensure that the system is fair both to state employees and to taxpayers.
In the Second Essex District, which is near the New Hampshire border, we often hear of instances where a retired state employee is working full time in New Hampshire - collecting both the MA pension and the NH salary.
Although it may be legal to do so in certain circumstances under current MA law, I hear often from voters that they think an adjustment should be made out of fairness to taxpayers who feel overburdened by state taxes.
Republican
Republican
Yes.
It has an unfunded liability in the tens of billions of dollars and will certainly impact us the same way it's impacting states like New York and California.
This can only get fixed with a healthy, two-party system.
Legislative leadership
Cite any votes (if an incumbent) or positions (if a challenger or newcomer) you have taken that disagree with the stance taken by your party’s legislative leadership.
Democrat
Democrat
My position in support of a modest increase in the gasoline tax to support the MBTA is not supported by current leadership.
I also think the Legislature should give serious consideration to reducing the income tax in accordance with the ballot initiative Question 4 that was passed by voters in November 2000, and this is contrary to the stance of current leadership. In doing so, consideration should be given to reducing or changing many tax expenditures that are out of date or no longer support important objectives.
Republican
Republican
My Republican leadership has signed off on budgets that have all of the waste, fraud, and abuse mentioned in these questions.
I believe we should take a stand and not agree to any tax increases, or any cuts to local aid, until we address all this waste.