29th Middlesex District State Rep Candidates Forum Recap
Tonight, I attended the 29th Middlesex District State Rep’s Candidates Forum at the Brigham House (a.k.a. Castle Grey Skull, a.k.a. the old East Junior High) The State Rep Postion was recently vacated by Rachel Kaprielian who went on to head the RMV. The room was pretty packed especially relative to the Lt. Governor debate they held there a few years back. In addition, a large number of Watertown elected officials where in attendence. All 4 candidates for the position where at the forum tonight: Stephen Corbett, John Hecht, Julia Fahey, and Josh Weisbuch. First off, in the unlikely event he reads this blog post, I want to apologized to Josh Weisbuch. I am glad he added another voice in the campaign, but since he has the least amount of chance to win and did not do or say anything earth shattering tonight to change that fact, I will focus on him the least in my summary of tonight’s event.
The night started with 3 minute statements by candidates for a different office, The Governor’s Council. The Governor’s Council approves Judges and other court officials. The candidates are Marilyn Devaney who needs no introductions to Watertown residents, Jack Doyle, and Tom Walsh. Devaney talked about her experience on the council and gave a long list of endorsements. Doyle and Walsh both talked about bringing more openness to the Governor’s Council; and there lies their problem. There is not much to distinguish Walsh from Doyle aside from personal biography so I foresee that they would end up splitting the anti-Devaney vote. Now on to the main event.
All 4 candidates came in with huge entourages, then took their place at their respective podium, and began firing verbal pot shots at each other. Well not really; in fact, all 4 candidates sat at the same table, shared the same microphone (Nas would be proud cause all they need is One Mic), and did not take any direct attacks on one another in keeping line with the rules of decorum established by WDTC Committee Chair Steve Owens. There where what I believe to have been a few subliminals at each other during the night though. (more on that later)
The candidates started by giving a run down of who they where and their resume which you can find on their respective websites. There where 2 types of questions asked; Questions that had a one word answer (though many times the candidates answered those with many words) and questions that where designed for a one or two minute response. I will start off by giving a brief summary of the one word answers. All 4 candidates are not surprisingly pro-choice and against the death penalty. Hecht is against Casinos, Corbett is for them, Fahey gave a maybe answer to that question, and I interpreted Weisbuch longer answer as a maybe as well. None of the candidates are in favor of term limits thought they pretty much all said there needs to be reform in the system in order to prevent some of the advantages now held by incumbency.
Reducing the cost of health care was discussed. Hecht talked about investing in prevention, in wellness, and using more cost effective home based care for the elderly. Corbett talked about how under the current system some people over utilize services which leads to higher costs for others and suggested that those who over utilize should pay more. Fahey outlines some past improvements and talked about the need for more technological innovation to keep costs down. She said she was open to a single payer system which is something that Weisbuch said he supported such as the systems that are found in Europe.
One of the more controversial issues of the night was whether or not there should be government mandated nurse staffing ratios at hospitals. The nurse’s union that supports such a government mandate backs Fahey. Fahey did not specifically say if she was for or against staffing ratio mandates and kinda talked around the issue while trying to distance her self from the Union’s campaign on the issue. Both Corbett and Hecht came out against the idea and tried to make it seem like Fahey was in the unions pocket euphemistically. In Corbett’s case he talked about not taking union money and in Hecht’s case he used the phrase “honest broker” which I interpreted as being a shot at Fahey who got that specific nurse’s union endorsement.
On the MCAS, I did not get the impression that any of the candidates where 100 percent for or against it. Corbett talked about the need to improve it and have other graduation standards, but he seemed to have the most favorable opinion of the test when he repeatedly mentioned the need for base minimum standards. Fahey and Hecht both talked about how the test causes teacher to teach to the test and possibly stunt creativity in the classroom Hecht used anecdotes of his own experiences as a parent in the Watertown School System to stress his point. There where other issues discussed during the night, but none that I found as interesting as the one mentioned about.
The candidates all had brief closing statements. Weisbuch said he would speak truth to power which is a phrase that I am sick of hearing. This is not Weisbuch fault, but for some reason a bunch of my professors at UMass Boston all love using that exact phrase whenever they can. Hecht urged people to look beyond to what a candidate had actually done. Fahey, stressed that she would leave her current job to work as a State Rep full time which seemed to me to be a shot at Hecht, but I could be wrong. Corbett stressed his long roots in the town, the variety of his experiences, and more moderate voice.
4 last things:
1. If by a small chance any candidate or their representative actually happens to read this and feels that I misrepresented their candidate’s position on an issue, feel free to let me know and I will correct where need be.
2. I am a jack ass. As many of you know I ride my bike to and from work. Sometimes when it is hot, I take my shirt off and stuff it in my backpack so I don’t become too much of a sweaty mess. I did that on the ride from work in Boston to the forum tonight and being the jackass that I am, when I grabbed it from my book bag and put it back on it was inside out which is how I wore it during the forum because I repeat, I am a jackass.
3. Thanks to the WDTC, Committee Chair Steve Owens tonight’s moderator Dolores Mitchel for putting on this event.
4. Finally here are the links the 4 canidates websites and a picture from tonight:
Stephen Corbett – http://www.corbettforrep.org
Julia Fahey – http://www.juliafahey.org
Jon Hecht – http://www.jonhecht.com
Joshua Weisbuch –http://www.electweisbuch.org
The night started with 3 minute statements by candidates for a different office, The Governor’s Council. The Governor’s Council approves Judges and other court officials. The candidates are Marilyn Devaney who needs no introductions to Watertown residents, Jack Doyle, and Tom Walsh. Devaney talked about her experience on the council and gave a long list of endorsements. Doyle and Walsh both talked about bringing more openness to the Governor’s Council; and there lies their problem. There is not much to distinguish Walsh from Doyle aside from personal biography so I foresee that they would end up splitting the anti-Devaney vote. Now on to the main event.
All 4 candidates came in with huge entourages, then took their place at their respective podium, and began firing verbal pot shots at each other. Well not really; in fact, all 4 candidates sat at the same table, shared the same microphone (Nas would be proud cause all they need is One Mic), and did not take any direct attacks on one another in keeping line with the rules of decorum established by WDTC Committee Chair Steve Owens. There where what I believe to have been a few subliminals at each other during the night though. (more on that later)
The candidates started by giving a run down of who they where and their resume which you can find on their respective websites. There where 2 types of questions asked; Questions that had a one word answer (though many times the candidates answered those with many words) and questions that where designed for a one or two minute response. I will start off by giving a brief summary of the one word answers. All 4 candidates are not surprisingly pro-choice and against the death penalty. Hecht is against Casinos, Corbett is for them, Fahey gave a maybe answer to that question, and I interpreted Weisbuch longer answer as a maybe as well. None of the candidates are in favor of term limits thought they pretty much all said there needs to be reform in the system in order to prevent some of the advantages now held by incumbency.
Reducing the cost of health care was discussed. Hecht talked about investing in prevention, in wellness, and using more cost effective home based care for the elderly. Corbett talked about how under the current system some people over utilize services which leads to higher costs for others and suggested that those who over utilize should pay more. Fahey outlines some past improvements and talked about the need for more technological innovation to keep costs down. She said she was open to a single payer system which is something that Weisbuch said he supported such as the systems that are found in Europe.
One of the more controversial issues of the night was whether or not there should be government mandated nurse staffing ratios at hospitals. The nurse’s union that supports such a government mandate backs Fahey. Fahey did not specifically say if she was for or against staffing ratio mandates and kinda talked around the issue while trying to distance her self from the Union’s campaign on the issue. Both Corbett and Hecht came out against the idea and tried to make it seem like Fahey was in the unions pocket euphemistically. In Corbett’s case he talked about not taking union money and in Hecht’s case he used the phrase “honest broker” which I interpreted as being a shot at Fahey who got that specific nurse’s union endorsement.
On the MCAS, I did not get the impression that any of the candidates where 100 percent for or against it. Corbett talked about the need to improve it and have other graduation standards, but he seemed to have the most favorable opinion of the test when he repeatedly mentioned the need for base minimum standards. Fahey and Hecht both talked about how the test causes teacher to teach to the test and possibly stunt creativity in the classroom Hecht used anecdotes of his own experiences as a parent in the Watertown School System to stress his point. There where other issues discussed during the night, but none that I found as interesting as the one mentioned about.
The candidates all had brief closing statements. Weisbuch said he would speak truth to power which is a phrase that I am sick of hearing. This is not Weisbuch fault, but for some reason a bunch of my professors at UMass Boston all love using that exact phrase whenever they can. Hecht urged people to look beyond to what a candidate had actually done. Fahey, stressed that she would leave her current job to work as a State Rep full time which seemed to me to be a shot at Hecht, but I could be wrong. Corbett stressed his long roots in the town, the variety of his experiences, and more moderate voice.
4 last things:
1. If by a small chance any candidate or their representative actually happens to read this and feels that I misrepresented their candidate’s position on an issue, feel free to let me know and I will correct where need be.
2. I am a jack ass. As many of you know I ride my bike to and from work. Sometimes when it is hot, I take my shirt off and stuff it in my backpack so I don’t become too much of a sweaty mess. I did that on the ride from work in Boston to the forum tonight and being the jackass that I am, when I grabbed it from my book bag and put it back on it was inside out which is how I wore it during the forum because I repeat, I am a jackass.
3. Thanks to the WDTC, Committee Chair Steve Owens tonight’s moderator Dolores Mitchel for putting on this event.
4. Finally here are the links the 4 canidates websites and a picture from tonight:
Stephen Corbett – http://www.corbettforrep.org
Julia Fahey – http://www.juliafahey.org
Jon Hecht – http://www.jonhecht.com
Joshua Weisbuch –http://www.electweisbuch.org
Glad you enjoyed the forum!
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