With the Democratic caucuses beginning later this month and the 5 Democratic candidates for Massachusetts governor – Joe Avellone, Don Berwick, Martha Coakley, Steve Grossman and Juliette Kayyem – trying to round up support before the party's June 14 convention, the candidates took the stage in Lexington, pitching their records and initiatives they would undertake if elected.
By ANDY METZGER
LEXINGTON — Attorney General Martha Coakley said if elected governor, she would sign legislation allowing in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts, a reversal from her stance in 2010.
“If and when that legislation ends up on my desk as Governor Coakley, I would sign it,” said Coakley.
With the Democratic caucuses beginning later this month and the five Democratic candidates for governor trying to round up support before the party’s June 14 convention, the candidates took the stage in Lexington Thursday evening, pitching their records and initiatives they would undertake if elected.
“I would not rule out seeking additional revenue,” said Treasurer Steven Grossman, who said new revenue would need to be coupled with tax reforms to ease the pressure on people in the middle and lower income brackets.
Joe Avellone, a health care executive who pitched revenue-neutral investments, said Thursday he would support a new market tax credit, which he later described as a $500 million tax credit that would be available to community development corporations for financing businesses.
Juliette Kayyem, a former homeland security advisor to President Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick, referenced her recent disclosure on Boston Herald radio that she had smoked marijuana as a youth.
“I did disclose to a radio station that I had smoked marijuana when I was a teenager. I also disclosed it to the FBI, and look what happened to me,” said Kayyem, who also worked in the Justice Department’s civil rights division under Patrick. She also said her parents were “harsh on me” about it, and said she would not have disclosed her marijuana use if she hadn’t been asked about it on Boston Herald Radio. She said after the debate that the message of her experience is, “Don’t give up on people.”
Kayyem, who has said taxpayer dollars could be spent on other programs by reducing the prison population, said, “We have to just envision a state that doesn’t throw people away.”
Don Berwick, Obama’s former acting chief of Medicare and Medicaid, staked out ground for himself in his support of repealing the 2011 casino law, and his support of single-payer health care – which he has said he would reserve as an option if the current health care system does not improve.
“I am the only candidate for governor that put single-payer on the table in this state,” Berwick said.
The first meeting of the five Democrats seeking the Corner Office took place at Carey Hall in Lexington Center, a short walk from the site of the first shots in the American Revolution.
“I’m not sure the results of this evening will be quite as historic,” joked Rep. Jay Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat, who hosted the forum, at the beginning of the proceedings.
In 2010, Coakley told NECN anchor Jim Braude, “I don’t support in-state tuition.”
The issue came up when Grossman asked whether the other candidates would “join me” supporting a bill filed by Rep. Denise Provost, of Somerville, and Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, that would set into law the in-state rate, which Patrick has instituted on a limited basis through executive order.
“Steve, I not only join you, I preceded you,” said Berwick.
“Seems like you jumped in front of a parade that was already on the road,” said Avellone, who said he would support requiring undocumented immigrants who take advantage of the discount rate to then work in Massachusetts.
The daughter of a Lebanese immigrant family, Kayyem said that she supports in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.
Grossman said he would work more closely with the Legislature than Patrick or past administrations, saying that six months before the unveiling of the governor’s budget, he would meet with House and Senate leaders to reach a consensus.
“You can’t get things done unless you can work with the Legislature. I have a track record of doing that. It’s something that I believe deeply, that we need to change that budget process,” Grossman said. “My guess is that all 40 senators, and all 160 members of the Legislature, the House of Representatives, would say, ‘If you can actually create a process by which you bring us into your conversation and you make us part of the debate and the discussion, where we feel that we are stakeholders in the process of building a budget, that will fundamentally change the way we do business in this Commonwealth and that is long overdue.”
A Newton resident and past chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Grossman also name-checked Rep. Ruth Balser, a Newton Democrat; Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, a Gloucester Democrat; and Sen. Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican – citing the latter two as an example of bipartisanship for their efforts on behalf of the fisheries.
Generally the candidates praised Patrick, singling out his efforts to boost clean energy and improve the transportation system.
Berwick, who has highlighted the fact that U.S. Senate Republicans blocked his confirmation as chief of Medicare and Medicaid, said he would bring a multi-faceted approach to dealings with lawmakers.
“I’ve met now with many members of the Legislature in the Senate and the House of Representatives. They seem normal,” Berwick said, who was endorsed this week by Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz. He said “For me it’s simple, social justice, equality, compassion and commitment to everybody, and I think members of the Legislature want to go there, and I would work very hard to establish that higher-level set of goals… If you don’t agree with those goals, I will fight you. I’m not as nice as I look.”
On illicit drug policies and mandatory-minimum sentences, Berwick said as a physician he has seen patients suffer and “there is no question” that there are benefits to marijuana’s medical use, and he said “criminalizing marijuana is a mistake.”
Voters decriminalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in 2008.
“When you started the question, I thought you were going to ask us what our own usage of it was,” Coakley joked. She said that more money should be spent on education and rehabilitation and said, “Drug selling is not always a victim-less crime.”
A former Wellesley selectman who was Paul Tsongas’s health care advisor during his presidential run and said he has visited 129 cities and towns through his campaign, Avellone signaled his distance from the current leadership of state government.
“I’m not a Beacon Hill politician and this is no time for politics as usual,” said Avellone. He later raised his eyebrows when Grossman claimed he is the “only one” who has spent his lifetime creating jobs – at the helm of the family business. Grossman also touted 25 years negotiating with unions of Massachusetts Envelope Company without ever going to arbitration.
“I have created thousands of jobs over thirty years,” Avellone said.
Berwick said his health policy company, which he started with a $500,000 grant, weathered the Great Recession without any layoffs.
Berwick challenged his opponents to join him in opposing the 2011 gaming law that has begun the casino licensure process, an entreaty the other four rejected for the jobs and millions in revenues, and in Avellone’s case, a criticism of legislating by ballot referendum.
Casino opponents are seeking to repeal the law through a ballot initiative, though Coakley’s office has ruled the question is unconstitutional because developers have already committed millions under the current statute. The Supreme Judicial Court will hear the case.
“We shouldn’t make promises we cannot deliver on,” said Kayyem in response to Berwick’s challenge.
“I do not like casinos. I think they were oversold,” said Avellone, though he said he opposes the effort to repeal the law.
In her question to the other candidates, Coakley spoke about her younger brother, Edward, who she said resisted treatment for his depression at the age of 17, and at the age of 33 – 18 years ago – committed suicide.
“How would you work to reduce the stigma of mental health issues?” Coakley asked. Berwick volunteered that he did not know about Coakley’s loss, and said he would aim to reduce substance abuse and suicide by 50 percent within five years.
Grossman said he would be willing to raise revenues to boost funding for mental health care. Avellone said the governor could use the “bully pulpit” to “help remove the stigma” of mental illness. Kayyem said when she worked in the civil rights division of the Justice Department, under Patrick, she had brought the first Justice Department lawsuit against a school district for bullying, and said veterans are in need of more assistance. An aide identified the school district as Petaluma City School District.
Kayyem, who said she worked on federal immigration reform in the Obama administration, said she had also worked with five Republican governors during the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and asked the other candidates for examples of working with people they disagreed with politically.
“I am not afraid to take on candidates in the primary or in the general election with whom I disagree or who doesn’t represent the values that I stand for, that I would stand for as governor,” Coakley said. She said, “We still, luckily, live in a country where persuasion works by and large. We don’t have to resort to violence.”