Democratic State Sen. Candidates Face Off In Debate

Democratic state Senate candidate Katherine Clark cast herself as the legislator with strong community ties and experience, while her primary opponent Michael Day cast himself as voice of frustration with Beacon Hill during a debate at the Galvin Middle School on Tuesday night.

In a debate held and broadcast live by Wakefield Community Access Television (WCAT) — not yet scheduled for Reading Community Television — those themes were most strongly projected by the candidates when panelist Carol Brooks Ball, Melrose Free Press editor, said that the benefits of experience versus a "fresh face is a common election theme" and asked Day how he would convince voters that he could do better than an experienced legislator.

Day said that experience "comes in a lot of shades" and, without naming Clark specifically, spoke about the State House as a building full of legislators who "went the stepping stone route," continually running for one higher office after another.

"I'd ask you to take a look at how we're doing with that model, and suggest that other models exist," he said.

Clark was elected to the Melrose School Committee in 2001 and elected to the House in 2008; she previously ran for state Senate in 2004 against Richard Tisei — who is running for lieutenant governor and vacating the seat Clark and Day are seeking.

In terms of his own experience, Day said he has worked with, for and against the government in his experience as an attorney, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Parents Helping Parents — a non-profit organization focused on preventing child abuse — has undertaken advocacy at the State House.

"I'm in and around government constantly," he said. "I think we could use some different experience."

Clark responded that she ran for School Committee "not as a stepping stone, but because I cared about education," and she volunteered for seniors not to advance her political career, but "because it was important to give time."

She said that she "never thought" she'd run for higher office, but she "saw what happening in the State House during my day jobs" — Clark previously worked as general counsel for the state Office of Child Care Services and chief of the state Attorney General's policy division — and what was happening in Melrose while working on the School Committee or volunteering in the city.

"I'm a mom, I'm a homeowner ... the best experience I have is one so rooted in the community," she said before taking aim at Day's work as an attorney with Boston-based law firm Mintz Levin, without mentioning Day by name. "It's not in a law firm, not a lobbying firm that happens to have a D.C. office, it's within our communities."

How to make health insurance coverage fairer?

Panelist Bob Charlton of the Daily Times Chronicle noted stories of Massachusetts residents who make just enough money to not qualify for reduced health insurance premiums, but are still mandated to purchase health insurance. He asked the candidates what could be done about people in those situations.

Clark said the good news is that Massachusetts has more residents with health insurance than any other state, but the problem now is reducing health care costs and making sure people "don't fall into the gap" that Charlton described.

"Until we are able to get at this, I think we're going to continue to see unrest and crisis in our municipal budgets, in our small businesses and even in our large businesses," she said, adding that Massachusetts has the best health care in the world and some of it is available through teaching hospitals. "Rates should be reflective of that care and not just of a major name. One of my top priorities in the Senate is to get to work on underlying health care costs. We can't wait for the federal government."

Day said that phase one of health care reform was "getting everyone in the boat" by getting residents insured, but phase two of reducing costs — "making sure the boat doesn't sink" — has yet to happen. He said late in the legislative session this year state Senate President Therese Murray introduced a bill to tackle health care costs and "one of your colleagues," Day said to Clark, remarked that the bill was too difficult to take on at the moment.

"That's absolutely unacceptable," he said. "We need to go after the hopitals that have disproportionate bargaining power, why Mass. General Hospital can charge $1,500 for an MRI and Winchester Hospital charges $500 ... Attorney General [Martha] Coakey looked into this and said they have disproportionate barganing power."

Should cities and towns be allowed to move employees' health insurance to state system without union approval?

Panelist Gail Lowe, reporter for the Melrose Weekly News and Wakefield Daily Item, said that "given the fact that the state Legislature has been unable to offer any health care reform to cities and towns," asked the candidates if they would offer and ultimately vote for a home rule petition — a special legislation approved by a city or town and sent to Beacon Hill — that would allow Wakefield to move its employees health insurance to the state's Group Insurance Commission (GIC) without union approval.

Currently, cities and towns can only move their employees health insurance to the GIC if the garner 70 precent approval from the local unions.

Day said he would not offer or vote for such a home rule petition, saying that whether a city or town joins the GIC is a matter bargained with the unions. As an example, he said that Reading unions gave up concessions in order to stay out of the GIC.

"For the Legislature to come in by fiat and say, 'plan design is coming down the road and collective bargaining is out the window,' you're not counting all these concessions that the labor unions have given up," he said. "I would not support weakening of collective bargaining."

Clark stated in response to the question that "skyrocketing health care costs have to be worked on as one of our top priorities." She said that the state should examine different methods of payments for health insurance, such as a global payment system instead of a fee-for-service system.

"We have to look at our reimbursement rates and in bill that came out at the end of session, we were looking at administrative costs," she said, "and looking at the insurance commission controlling those so we can bring those costs down."

How can Massachusetts attract and retain businesses?

Lowe mentioned news reports of the state losing business to neighboring states or states outside New England and asked Clark and Day what legislators can do to attract and retain businesses in Massachusetts.

Clark began with emphasizing investment in education, which she called "our best economic development tool" and noted that the research from public higher education results in advancement in growing industries such as green technology.

"It's education that'll be the ticket for our economic recovery," she said. "We lead the country and we have to remain vigilent on that."

In addition to tackling health insurance costs and providing tax incentives for businesses to expand, Clark said that there is "money to loan" in the banks in the district, but there "isn't the confidence yet in our small businesses to ask for those loans." She said that the state must work to establish that confidence in order to grow the economy and create jobs.

"In our economics development bill, there were some changes to the tax code to prevent some corporations from leaving the state and also increase our capital gains investment," Clark said. "Those are important changes we just undertook."

Day said that Clark's characterization of a lack of confidence is accurate and "I think it's because you're getting mixed messages from the Legislature," which he characterized as "dragging its feet" and "almost shell shocked, afraid to put forth proposals."

With "the greatest reservoir of intellectual capital in the world," Massachusetts has to lead the nation in the green economy, Day said. He pointed out that Michigan officials are making a "concerted effort" to draw Massachusetts' green economy businesses to vacant plants and factories in Michigan.

"There's been a slow, if any, response from Massachusetts," he said. "My priority when I get in there is to promote green energy in a meaningful way. We're primed and ready. There's a report of the New England Council that says high-tech manufacturing and green manufacturing is waiting to develop in Massachusetts."