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
As controversial as the position may be, I contend we need to establish a new and recurring revenue stream for mass transit.
I favor increasing the state’s gas tax from 21 to 25 cents per gallon. If you drive 12,000 miles a year and get 25 miles to the gallon, you will pay only $19.20 more a year. Yet in the aggregate, the extra revenue generated would virtually erase the T’s operating deficit, the very deficit that creates an annual crisis over fare increases and service reductions.
Healthcare costs
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
No. After I ran for governor in 1994, leaving a safe state Senate seat to do so, I happily joined the private sector.
I started off by serving as CEO and general counsel of the Visiting Nurse Associations of New England, a large network of Medicare-certified home health agencies. The job got me interested in the potential of computers and the then-infant Internet to improve health care delivery and finance, and I've made my living in healthcare IT -- healthcare and information technology -- ever since.
I know healthcare.
The new law is useful in that it sets forth a numerical goal for limiting healthcare spending and lets us track progress towards achieving it. Really, though, that's about it. The means of attaining the goal are optional, tentative, untested. We'll be back dealing with cost containment soon enough. I believe I can help.
Charter schools
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
Yes, I support raising the cap.
On the other hand, I am concerned that charter schools not cherry-pick the best students and would favor steps to make sure this does not happen.
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
Not sure on this one. I intend to take a close -- and impartial -- look at the question, with no preconceptions in either direction.
I'm the only candidate in this state Senate field who is refusing all campaign contributions from lobbyists and PACs. I believe I can listen to all the arguments without being in the pocket of either side.
State pensions
Do you think further changes to the state employee pension system are necessary?
Democrat
Democrat
As the baby boomers age and ever-growing demands are made on government finances, I fear the increases in our pension obligations may -- I say may -- catch us by surprise again and again.
If I'm wrong -- and I hope I am -- changes to state employee pensions can be avoided.
But if my fears are realized, we will have to visit and revisit the issue, as reluctant as we may be to do so.
To cite just one element here that worries me: The state system still assumes an annual return on invested pension monies of 8 percent, which in turn prompts the state to collect fewer additional contributions from employees. No one is earning 8 percent on their money nowadays. Get an assumption like this wrong for very long and you find yourself in deep financial trouble, imperiling the modest pensions of middle- and low-income state employees who must rely on the income.
Those of us who believe in the justice and fairness of traditional pensions must be hyper-vigilant about keeping the various funds solvent, even if changes are needed to make it all work.
Independence
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
When I served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1987 to 1994, I took on an issue that was anathema to then-Senate President Bill Bulger and his lieutenants -- a proposed civil rights bill outlawing discrimination against gay people in employment and housing.
At the time I became its lead sponsor, the bill had gone down to defeat for 10 straight years. I'm pleased to say that we worked with colleagues and civil rights groups and got the legislation passed.
For overcoming insider politics in the Senate, the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts hailed my "great courage and independence" and "enormous political skill." CLUM exaggerates, which I really appreciate. Still, standing up to the powers-that-be was, and is, no walk in the park. Sometimes it's necessary, though.