State Representative Candidates Face Off

BOURNE- Education funding, healthcare, and the economy were among the topics addressed this week at the Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce’s bi-annual candidates’ forum.
The forum, held at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School, gave five state representative candidates an opportunity to meet with the public and briefly discuss their reasons for running this year. A second forum for the four candidates for Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled for October 22.
State Representative Susan D. Williams Gifford (R-Wareham), who is running for the second Plymouth district seat unopposed, was joined by colleagues Matthew C. Patrick (D-Falmouth) and Jeffrey D. Perry (R-Sandwich) and their respective opponents, Carey M. Murphy of Waquoit and Glenn S. Paré of Sandwich.
Ms. Gifford left the forum after delivering her initial comments as she had another commitment.
Each of the candidates was given a few minutes to address the audience of about three dozen residents, and Ms. Gifford led off with a warning that the Legislature would face “probably the most financially challenging session that I as a legislator have seen” due to the struggling economy.
Weathering the coming year would require strict fiscal responsibility and prioritizing state spending, she said. Ms. Gifford noted that she and Mr. Perry were among the lawmakers who voted against the Fiscal Year 2009 state budget because they felt the state was over-spending.
Mr. Perry called his vote against the budget, as well as his vote against the 2006 healthcare reform law—he was one of only two lawmakers to oppose the measure—challenges to a “corrupt” and “broken” legislative system that is influenced by special interests and fraught with backroom deals.
“The system is broken on Beacon Hill,” he said, refuting claims that casting such votes or refusing to simply follow House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi’s lead was “causing problems…I say that’s leadership.”
Mr. Perry cited his work on Chapter 70 education aid reform and in increasing local aid to Sandwich as among his career highlights, and in addition to those issues, Mr. Perry said he wanted to continue his work on “Jessica’s Law,” which imposes mandatory minimum sentences for certain sex crimes.
Several provisions of that law were passed in the 2007 - 2008 session, but the Legislature struck a number of mandatory minimum sentencing laws from the final bill.
Mr. Paré said Mr. Perry “is not doing the job we need him to do,” faulting him specifically in the area of local aid. Mr. Perry said that during his time in office local aid to Sandwich increased by more than 30 percent, but Mr. Paré said that increase was “relatively flat” when compared to the proportionately higher increase in the town’s expenses during that same period.
The Democratic challenger for the fifth Barnstable district seat said his formula for success in the State House would rely on building relationships rather than challenging House leadership, stating that the district’s needs must take place over a lawmaker’s individual priorities.
Mr. Patrick spoke specifically about his accomplishments benefiting Bourne, which is partially in the third Barnstable district. He listed his success, in partnership with Senate President Therese Murray, in securing $500,000 to offset a loss of federal impact aid, which went to Bourne schools that educated children living on the Massachusetts Military Reservation.
He also hailed the Cape delegation’s success in pushing through the Sagamore Flyover project, and the Legislature’s decision to close corporate tax loopholes, both of which happened because of deals struck largely out of the public eye.
“Mr. Perry is right: a lot of things go on in those backrooms,” he said, and sometimes a proposal’s success hinges on being able to get into closed-door meetings to influence the process for the public interest.
Mr. Murphy promoted his status as the sole unenrolled candidate in attendance, and expressed hope that unenrolled candidates in 27 other legislative races would all win in order to temper the partisan politics of Beacon Hill.
Mr. Murphy listed Chapter 70 reform and expanding affordable housing stock as among his top priorities, referring to the latter as “opportunity housing” as it gives Cape residents an opportunity to stay in the area and invest back in their community. He noted the Cape’s demographic makeup was increasingly leaning toward retirees as working families left the region for more affordable areas.
Robert W. Parady, chairman of the chamber of commerce and forum moderator, led off the brief question-and-answer session that followed the individual remarks, asking the candidates what they would do in the area of estate tax reform.
Mr. Perry responded first, referring to a bill sponsored by State Representative Louis L. Kafka (D-Stoughton) that would synch the state’s estate tax threshold with the federal exemption threshold, which is currently $2 million and will increase to $3.5 million in 2009. Mr. Perry viewed the estate tax as “obscene,” but said residents should at least be able to rely on consistent state and federal policies.
Mr. Patrick supported both the estate tax and the uniform exemption thresholds. He said the tax, which dates back to Colonial-era America, promotes “egalitarian democracy.”
Mr. Paré agreed with the concept of matching state and federal thresholds, and added that state-level reform should include language to prevent residents with homes outside of Massachusetts, in states without estate taxes, from using their dual resident status to avoid paying the tax.
Mr. Murphy said that coordinated federal and state thresholds made sense, but wanted to abolish the estate tax, noting that people are taxed throughout their lives “and get penalized for dying at the end.”
The four men were largely in agreement when responding to a question about education, all of them promoting further Chapter 70 reform, all of them vowing to listen to local educators to learn what they need for resources.
The candidates also responded similarly to a question about where they stood on the Second Amendment. All of them supported an individual’s right to own firearms, though Mr. Paré said there should be common sense limits on ownership, noting that no one in this day and age needs an automatic rifle for hunting purposes.
Mr. Murphy and Mr. Perry, gun owners both, said he they would scrutinize any bill that could limit a gun owner’s rights. Mr. Murphy added that he believed gun ownership laws should be consistent from state to state.
Mr. Patrick supported individual states’ right to regulate gun ownership, especially as it pertains to regulating concealed weapons, and said Massachusetts must be diligent in making sure gun owners are psychologically fit to possess a firearm.
In response to a question about increasing healthcare access, Mr. Patrick said he supported a loan forgiveness proposal that would pay off a new doctor’s student loans for as long as he agreed to work in Massachusetts as a primary care physician.
Mr. Perry reiterated his opposition to the healthcare reform law, calling it the “healthcare mandate law” in reference to the “personal mandate” provision. “We didn’t reform anything,” he said, noting that the Legislature would have a chance to enact true reform next year when new personal mandate standards go into effect.
Mr. Murphy said Massachusetts needs to create an attractive economic atmosphere, one with lower costs of living, to entice new doctors to stay in the state.
Mr. Paré disputed the notion that an improved economic situation would attract doctors, and said the state should pursue a single-payer system. He said implementing such a system would drain state resources away from other areas, but deemed it a worthy trade-off as healthcare was “the single most important issue” facing residents.