Politics & Government

State Senate Candidates Talk Casinos, Massachusetts Ethics Commission

Candidates for the open Massachusetts Senate Seat discussed a number of pressing issues at a forum in Dedham on Wednesday.

The Massachusetts casino bill, the State Ethics Commission, and cuts to local aid were among the topics discussed during a State Senate candidate forum in Dedham on Wednesday.

The moderated panel, held at the Newbridge/Hebrew Senior Life Center in Dedham, featured an hour-long Q&A session with State Senate candidates State Rep. Michael Rush (D-Boston), Westwood resident Michael Walsh (D), and Brad Williams (R).

During the panel – moderated by Dorothy Kelly Gay, vice president of government affairs at the Hebrew Senior Life Center – each candidate gave his view on four separate topics:

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  • What to do when individual communities are in need of funds and there is a budget shortfall
  • Views on gambling in the state of Massachusetts and thoughts on casinos vs. slots
  • How to amend or tweak the current health program in Massachusetts
  • How the State Ethics Commission is working in Massachusetts, and whether or not it's effective

The questions were based on the concerns of residents and members of the Hebrew Senior Life Center, and the candidates, after giving brief opening statements, discussed their thoughts on the issues to a group of the center's members.

Providing Local Aid to Communities in the State

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One of the more pressing issues for the members of the Hebrew Senior Life Center, according to Gay, was the notion of what to do when individual communities in the state are in need of funds and there is a shortfall in the state budget.

"It's a constant tug of war," said Rush. "But when there's not enough money to go around, generally it falls to the municipality to pick up the short fall. One of the most important thing that an elected official can do, is be a ferocious advocate for local aide."

Williams, for his part, said the best way to address the issue is to reform government and to rethink the way spending is carried out.

"Over and over again we're cutting local aid to the towns," Williams said. "Every year for the last several years, the Senate, and House and Republicans have proposed changes to the state budget that don't cut services – ways to make our government more efficient, ways to make government work for us. And those reforms are voted down repeatedly."

Walsh agreed, in that the government needs to re-evaluate how spending is carried out, and do a better job a prioritizing where money is going.

"Our government is doing a terrible job at efficiency, and we need to change that," he said. "What we need to do is think about what's important to us, what we're willing to pay for. We need to invite people from the outside. People from the outside have a new perspective. I think it's time to start changing the way our government works."

On Casinos in Massachusetts

All three candidates expressed their dismay that the bill to allow casinos and slot machines in Massachusetts fizzled out this past summer, as the bill would have paved the way for more job creation in the state, as well as help boost the state's economy.

"Clearly it's about creating jobs," Walsh said. "This legislature this time put all the jobs in one basket, and dropped it. They did not do anything this time around to create one job, not one. What they focused on was the casinos, and they couldn't get it through legislature."

Walsh added that while he believes in casinos, he does not necessarily believe in "racinos" – a combination of race track and casino, which would be a prime location for slot machines. He said that he's found many who utilize slot machines tend to "hit it big" and use expendable cash that could be used otherwise.

"I'm talking about the general number of people that go there," he said. "They're using money there that they should be using somewhere else."

Williams said casinos could have given the state the boost it needed economically.

"I believe in the free market," he said. "I believe in a free economy. And I think going forward with casinos will help us. It will help us with jobs now, it will help us with jobs in the future."

Rush, who voted in favor of bringing casinos and slot machines to the state, said that there are few things worse than being unemployed in the current economic climate.  

He went on to estimate that the building of casinos would add roughly 10,000 construction jobs in the state, as well as 15,000 permanent jobs. He emphasized that many people have left the state on a regular basis to enjoy casinos in neighboring states like Connecticut and Rhode Island.

"In my mind, common sense tells you that if we're losing $500,000, $1 million to a neighboring state, we should do something to keep those dollars here."

Health Care in Massachusetts

While all candidates agreed the current state of the health care system in Massachusetts needs to be fixed, each had his own ideas on what was posing the problem.

Walsh, for one, recommended providing around-the-clock health care to patients in need, which they would normally seek in a costly emergency room visit. 

"I think that Massachusetts has to start building 24-hour health clinics right near emergency rooms to take the burden off emergency rooms," he said.

He added that the state of California, in doing so, saved $2.5 million per emergency room, and that the best way to staff them was to employ nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants.

Rush, on the other hand, was concerned over how small businesses are being hit the hardest, as owners are finding it difficult to account for health care costs for employees.

"We want to make sure the small business owners aren't suffocating," he said. "For me, the biggest thing we need to look at right now is the small business owner, so that's something I'm going to continue to work on."

Meanwhile, Williams said there has been an upside and a downside to the state-wide health insurance bill that passed in 2006. The upside was that 98 percent of the state's residents are now insured. The downside, he said, was the part of the bill that looked to enforce cost control of health insurance, a sour situation that has been amplified by the recession and cuts to local aid.

"We need more transparency," Williams said. "We need to create an environment here where insurance companies actually want to do business in Massachusetts."

Effectiveness of the State's Ethics Commission

While Rush touted the State Ethics Commission and commended the efforts to not let big money interfere with how the state's government works, Williams and Walsh both said more reform is needed.

"One of the things we want to make sure happens is that big money is not taking over government," Rush said. "The money I've earned (as a candidate) has come from small donations. We feel it's important the money aspect is not overtaking government."

Williams said, on the other hand, said he had concerns over conflicts of interest, and said that the Ethics Commission needs to be reformed and strengthened.

"What we have in Massachusetts is a system where too many conflicts of interest are actually legal," Williams said, referring to what municipal, city and state officials are allowed to do. "We have not addressed that, and that's why I say to the people, 'Well, in other states it might be corruption, but here it's legal,' in many instances. I think the ethics commission has an essential role in this, but in a one-party state, we really haven't given them the teeth to do anything in a long, long time."

Walsh, meanwhile, said he was appalled at how ethics are currently carried out in the state, and said the board currently needs people who are not part of the current system to provide a fresh perspective.

"How do I feel about it? I think it's disgusting in this state, and I'm not afraid to say it," Walsh said. "For things that they get away with in the state house, they would be disbarred. There should be citizens on that board, who look at what happens, and say, 'You know what? This is just plain wrong.' And it needs to change."


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