Share, with attribution, and amplify progressives' voices, questions and priorities during the 2014 campaigns. 
SOURCE CITE: progressivemass.com/2014statewide, Feb. 2014. 

[from Section E of our questionnaire] Because of income tax cuts and the effects of the recession, Massachusetts has lost nearly $3 billion in revenue over the last 12 years. We now collect less revenue than 21 other states, and our tax revenue is below the national average. Since 1982, local aid has dropped 58%. Cuts to the moderately progressive state income tax have meant increasing reliance on fees, sales, gas and property taxes, exacerbating the overall regressiveness of our revenue. Regressive taxation strains low- and middle-income families, and reduced revenue collection curtails our ability to invest in vital infrastructure. 

* STATEMENT OF VALUES AND RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

• DON BERWICK / experience
• MARTHA COAKLEY / experience
• STEVE GROSSMAN
• JULIETTE KAYYEM

* POLICIES AND PROPOSALS

• Tax Rates for Upper Incomes
• Automatic Tax Decrease Triggers
• Capital Gains
• Progressive Taxation
• Corporate Tax Breaks
• Clawbacks and Transparency in Corporate Tax Breaks
• Graduated Income Tax

* PDF VERSION: REVENUE AND TAXES EXCERPT

* VIDEO: CANDIDATES FORUM, REVENUE AND TAXES EXCERPT

Candidates' original responses: progressivemass.com/2014govmain

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

Statement/Experience

[Question E1/E2]What principles do you bring to considerations of state revenue and tax reform (individual and corporate)? SUGGESTED TOPIC: How should we raise more revenue to adequately fund our communities for the future?

DON BERWICK

What principles do you bring to considerations of state revenue and tax reform (individual and corporate)?

Any candidate who says that the state does not need new revenue simply isn’t telling the truth. Massachusetts cannot afford not to invest in the essential services that support the middle class and strengthen the social safety net. We must make a choice;  – it’s “spend now or spend (more) later.”

I believe this badly needed revenue should come from three main areas:

• Massachusetts needs to move towards a fair tax system that asks people with lower incomes to pay less, and people with higher incomes to pay more. I would both explore a constitutional amendment to our income tax system and work within existing law to further this goal.
• We also need to hit the reset button on loopholes and exemptions. I will order a comprehensive and transparent review of all tax breaks. If an exemption helps to create jobs or strengthen the safety net, I will support it; if not, I will work to end it. There is no place for tax breaks that benefit only the wealthy and well connected.  
• Finally, we must control health care costs. The burden of high-cost care takes money away from workers, businesses, and state and local governments. I have unique experience working to achieve better care at lower costs. Here’s how:  we need to move away from a “fee-for-service” system that pays doctors and hospitals for what they do rather than the results they achieve for patients, and towards a simpler system that focuses on keeping communities healthy. Chapter 224 was a step in the right direction, but we need to move even faster. That’s why I’m the only candidate that has put single payer on the table.

|[ TOP ]|

Berwick/Related Experience/Record

As CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, I spent 19 years leading successful efforts across the nation and globe to deliver better health at lower costs. And I have seen firsthand how lowering costs frees up much needed resources for governments to invest in critical social programs.

As Medicare and Medicaid Administrator, I fought the political wisdom that says not to talk about poverty because it doesn’t poll well. I worked every day to keep helping the most vulnerable among us at the core of our mission. And I used the tools of improvement that I have learned and taught for 30 years to make sure every nickel of tax payer dollars went towards its intended purposes – supporting the workforce to provide the highest quality health and health care for 100 million Americans.

|[ TOP ]|

MARTHA COAKLEY

What principles do you bring to considerations of state revenue and tax reform (individual and corporate)?

Our first priority for growing state revenue should be growing our state economy, which will increase the amount of money reinvested in local businesses and increase state and local tax revenues.

We also need to examine how our state currently allocates its resources and determine if we are addressing our priorities as cost-effectively as possible and, along with that, identify areas where significant cost savings can be achieve. For example, controlling healthcare spending by 1% would save the Commonwealth nearly $140 million dollars, money that could be used to fund critical programs in other areas.

If we determine that it is necessary to raise new revenues in order to accomplish our goals, we need to be sure that we are not increasing the burden on those who can least afford it, especially as our economy is only now beginning to recover and so many in Massachusetts are still struggling to make ends meet.

|[ TOP ]|

Coakley/Related Experience/Record

Our office works closely with the Department of Revenue to ensure that the tax laws are uniformly enforced for both businesses and individuals, and to identify and prosecute instances of tax evasion and other violations.

The Attorney General’s Office is also unique in that it is a revenue generator for the Commonwealth and its citizens. Through our aggressive enforcement actions combating fraud and abuse, our office has recovered literally hundreds of millions of dollars back for taxpayers and the Commonwealth’s general fund. During the last fiscal year alone, our office recovered nearly $10 for every $1 in our budget.

|[ TOP ]|

STEVE GROSSMAN

What principles do you bring to considerations of state revenue and tax reform (individual and corporate)?

I would never rule out seeking additional revenue, as long as it’s coupled with meaningful tax reform that hold harmless low and middle-income families through the uses of expanded exemptions. But first, I would seek to grow the economy by creating jobs and broadening our tax base. Second, I would look to save money just as I have done at Treasury by putting nearly every contract we oversee out to bid and saving the taxpayers more than $20 million. Third, I would ask the business community to participate in public-private partnerships because it’s in their long-term interest to do so.

|[ TOP ]|

JULIETTE KAYYEM

What principles do you bring to considerations of state revenue and tax reform (individual and corporate)?

Our budget is a reflection of our morals. It is where we invest in people through investing in education, workforce training, veterans services and more. That is how I think about revenue and tax reform. We must have a system that pays for the services that our society requires.

|[ TOP ]|

Policies and Proposals

Tax Rates for Upper Incomes

[Question E3] Do you support increasing income taxes on the wealthiest residents of Massachusetts?

• SUPPORT: Berwick
• COAKLEY: As our economic recovery continues, part of building an economy that works for everyone is analyzing the fairness of our tax code. It is unfair if those at the top are paying a lower effective tax rate than many of those at the bottom of the income ladder. I am committed to examining our tax system and exploring all the options we have at our disposal to make it more progressive for everyone. What we cannot be doing is asking those at the bottom, who can least afford it, to be contributing more in taxes.   
• GROSSMAN: I would not rule out seeking additional revenues but I would also insist that any such revenue legislation be coupled with meaningful tax reform that holds harmless low and middle-income families through the use of expanded exemptions.
• KAYYEM: I support having a progressive tax system where everyone pays their fair share.

|[ TOP ]|

Automatic Tax Decrease Triggers

[Question E4] Do you support halting the automatic decrease in state tax when Massachusetts state revenues grow four quarters in a row?

• SUPPORT: Berwick
• OPPOSE: Coakley
• GROSSMAN: I am deeply concerned that we have too many unfunded priorities and continuing to take hundreds of millions of dollars out of our revenue stream will undermine our ability to deal effectively with our critical priorities, however as governor, I would be required to implement the current law.
• No response: Kayyem

|[ TOP ]|

Capital Gains

[Question E5] Do you support increasing the capital gains tax (with safeguards to protect seniors)?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Kayyem
• OPPOSE: Grossman*
• COAKLEY: I am committed to examining our tax system and exploring all the options we have at our disposal to make it more progressive for everyone.
• *GROSSMAN: I strongly opposed the plan to take away protections from seniors in the FY 2014 budget. I strongly believe that short-term capital gains should be taxed at a higher rate than long-term gains, which are a form of economic stability.

|[ TOP ]|

Progressive Taxation

[Question E6]“An Act to Invest in Our Communities” was designed to raise significant revenue while making our tax code more progressive, but it has not passed the legislature. Would you support a renewed effort to pass this or similar legislation?

• SUPPORT: Berwick
• COAKLEY: Again, I believe we need to explore every proposal that would make our tax system more progressive, and fairer, for everyone in the Commonwealth.
• GROSSMAN: I would not rule it out but I would also insist that any such revenue legislation be coupled with meaningful tax reform that holds harmless low and middle-income families through the use of expanded exemptions.
• KAYYEM: As I have said publicly, I supported Governor Patrick’s legislative push and will continue to push similar initiatives. This act was not solely about increased revenue, but a call to invest in transportation, education, and other much needed services. I commit to fighting for these increases, whether through reformed tax code, public-private partnerships, or regional cooperation.

|[ TOP ]|

Corporate Tax Breaks

[Question E7] Do you support eliminating or substantially reducing corporate tax breaks?        

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Grossman, Kayyem
• COAKLEY: Corporations should not be making massive profits while workers still struggle. We need to explore strategies that ensure that everyone pays their fair share in taxes.  
• GROSSMAN: I support reducing unjustified corporate tax breaks, and I strongly believe that any tax break must require a clawback provision along with thorough economic analysis. We also need to grow the economy, and where tax concessions can create jobs we must consider using them.

Do you support repealing or significantly reducing the Film Production Tax Credit?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Kayyem
• OPPOSE: Grossman
• COAKLEY: Again, we need to do a comprehensive review of our tax system to ensure that those at the top do not have unfair advantages, and that the burden is not increased on those in the middle, and at the bottom.

|[ TOP ]|

Clawbacks and Transparency in Corporate Tax Breaks

[Question E8] Do you support increasing corporate tax break transparency and clawback provisions?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem
• GROSSMAN: I have repeatedly called for strengthening them, and I believe that any tax break should have a clawback provision with no exceptions.

|[ TOP ]|

Graduated Income Tax

[Question E9] Would you support a state constitutional amendment creating a Massachusetts progressive income tax?

• SUPPORT: Berwick
• COAKLEY: I am committed to examining our tax system and exploring all the options we have at our disposal to make it more progressive for everyone. What we cannot be doing is asking those at the bottom, who can least afford it, to be contributing more in taxes.   
• GROSSMAN: I would not rule raising revenues but I would also insist that any such revenue legislation be coupled with meaningful tax reform that holds harmless low and middle-income families through the use of expanded exemptions.
• KAYYEM: As I have said publicly, I supported Governor Patrick’s legislative push and will continue to push similar initiatives. This act was not solely about increased revenue, but a call to invest in transportation, education, and other much needed services. I commit to fighting for these increases, whether through reformed tax code, public-private partnerships, or regional cooperation.

|[ TOP ]|

* PDF VERSION: REVENUE AND TAXES EXCERPT

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

Browse other questionnaires from other statewide races: progressivemass.com/2014statewide

|[ TOP ]|

Share, with attribution, and amplify progressives' voices, questions and priorities during the 2014 campaigns. 
SOURCE CITE: progressivemass.com/2014statewide, Feb. 2014. [back] 

SECTION I: QUALIFICATIONS AND VISION

* About the Candidates

• Motivation |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|
• Qualifications |[Conroy ]| |[Finegold ]| |[Goldberg ]|

* Philosophy and Priorities

• Role of Government |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|
• Top priorities |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|

SECTION II: THE ISSUES

* PART A: JOB GROWTH AND THE ECONOMY

Job Growth and the Economy: Statement/Experience

• TOM CONROY / experience
• BARRY FINEGOLD / experience
• DEBORAH GOLDBERG / experience

Job Growth and the Economy:Policy Proposals

• Minimum Wage
• Unemployment Insurance and Minimum Wage
• Earned sick time
• Job Creation and Standards for Living Wage.
• Employee-owned businesses
• Co-ops, benefit corporations, community banks.

* PART B: EDUCATION & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Education & Workforce Development: Statement/Experience

• TOM CONROY / experience
• BARRY FINEGOLD / experience
• DEBORAH GOLDBERG / experience

• Achievement Gaps |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|

Education & Workforce Development:Policy Proposals

• Universal Pre-K
• Universal higher-ed
• Funding structure

* PART C: HEALTH CARE

Healthcare: Statement/Experience

• TOM CONROY / experience
• BARRY FINEGOLD
• DEBORAH GOLDBERG / experience

Healthcare: Policies and Proposals

• Single Payer and Public Option
• Costs and Quality |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|
• Mental Health |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|
  
  Health Disparities |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|
• Implement Standards of Care and Costs Panel
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Bulk prescription programs

* PART D: HOUSING

Housing: Statement/Experience

• TOM CONROY / experience
• BARRY FINEGOLD
• DEBORAH GOLDBERG / experience

Housing: Policies and Proposals

• Housing Authorities |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|
• Affordable Housing |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|
• Temporary Housing Transitions |[ Conroy ]| |[ Finegold ]| |[ Goldberg ]|
• Regulation Reform, Development and Preservation

* PART E: REVENUE AND TAXATION

Revenue & Taxation: Statement/Experience

• TOM CONROY / experience
• BARRY FINEGOLD
• DEBORAH GOLDBERG / experience

Revenue & Taxation: Policies and Proposals

• Tax Rates for Upper Incomes
• Automatic Tax Decrease Triggers
• Capital Gains
• Progressive Taxation
• Corporate Tax Breaks
• Clawbacks and Transparency in Corporate Tax Breaks
• Graduated Income Tax

* ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

• TOM CONROY
• BARRY FINEGOLD
• DEBORAH GOLDBERG

* PDF VERSION: TREASURER'S RACE QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES

CANDIDATES' ORIGINAL RESPONSES: 

• Tom Conroy
• Barry Finegold
• Deborah Goldberg

About the Candidates

[Section I] |[ TOP ]|

Motivation

[Question 1] Why are you running for office?

|[ TOP ]|

Tom Conroy

Why are you running for office?

I am running for state treasurer because I want to lead Massachusetts forward as a commonwealth of opportunity.  I want to improve access to education, jobs, and capital for the people of Massachusetts, particularly for the working poor.  In today’s tough economic times, we need to find a better balance between prudent financial management and helping the most vulnerable in our society.   I want to create a new vision for our state that focuses on economic growth, job training, education, and targeted investments to spur the creation of middle class jobs.

I believe that inequality is the defining challenge of our time.  I want to use the levers and authority of the state treasurer’s office to fight for fairness, economic justice, and opportunity for all.  Our next state treasurer must not only be an expert financial mechanic, but also proactive and focused on the long-term.  We need a leader who will expand the state treasurer’s role, offer creative ideas, conduct new and potent analysis, affect change, and ultimately help more people in Massachusetts who face disadvantages through no fault of their own.  If elected, I will be an active and dynamic treasurer and will offer creative solutions to tackle the tough challenges facing our state and working families throughout the Commonwealth.

|[ TOP ]|

Barry Finegold

Why are you running for office?

I am running to fight for the middle class each and every day. I will make sure more of our money is invested in Massachusetts businesses and communities to strengthen our economy and create jobs. I will protect every dollar of taxpayer money the same way I have worked for my own.

As a son of two school teachers, the public service gene is in my blood. I want to be the next State Treasurer to help ensure everyone in Massachusetts has the same opportunities I had growing up.

|[ TOP ]|

Deborah Goldberg

Why are you running for office?

I am running for Treasurer because for me improving economic security and empowerment for everyone in Massachusetts is more than just a policy; it’s a personal mission.  I believe the office of Treasurer provides a unique opportunity to increase transparency within our government, wage equity within the office and financial literacy for women, our youth and minorities.

|[ TOP ]|

Qualifications

[Question 2] What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

|[ TOP ]|

Conroy

What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

As a four-term state representative, I authored several laws including budget language that has strengthened the state’s credit rating and pension reforms that resulted in reducing the state’s liabilities while persevering benefits for retirees.  This session, I am also leading two major legislative efforts:  crafting a bill to raise the minimum wage in Massachusetts and another to improve our welfare system in order to help the most disadvantaged find new opportunities and jobs.

The combination of my education, management consulting, financial services, and public sector experience makes me uniquely well-qualified to be state treasurer.  My education includes two masters’ degrees, one in international economics, the other an MBA in finance.  As a management consultant with state agencies around the country, I led teams that developed best practices in the areas of budgeting, non-tax revenue generation, and financial management.  Our teams helped states run more efficiently and effectively, and expand budgets without raising taxes.  As a management consultant advising large corporations, I offered guidance on strategy, operations, and financial management to help companies grow.  As a risk management consultant, I helped banks, investment management companies, and insurance firms manage their balance sheets and risks.  

As a state representative, I have served as the Vice Chair of the Health Care Financing Committee, which oversees over a third of the Massachusetts budget.  I have also served on the House Ways & Means Committee, and the Joint Committee on Public Service, which has jurisdiction over the state pension and health care security trust funds.

|[ TOP ]|

Finegold

What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

My combination of public and private sector experience has provided me with the background to be a very effective Treasurer. As a legislator, I have served on the Ways & Means Committee and on the Financial Literacy Fund. Throughout my public service career, I fought to make sure middle class families had more money in their pockets by increasing the minimum wage and passing financial education legislation to help families keep their homes and help our young people make wise financial decisions.

|[ TOP ]|

Goldberg

What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

I believe I can effectively serve the Commonwealth as Treasurer because of my diverse background in both the public and private sectors.
I am a businessperson, who worked at a company that was unusual in its commitment to people. I learned early on that you can run a good business and still make sure that it is about providing equal opportunity for everyone. I worked at Stop and Shop, first as a retail clerk (UFCW 1445), then onto executive positions within the company.
I then served six years on the Brookline Board of Selectmen the last two as its Chair, where I led initiatives to revitalize Brookline’s commercial areas and increase the availability of affordable housing. I was one of the first local leaders to bring policy budgeting to the forefront and led a team to evaluate and institute fiscal policies that helped meet the needs of the schools and all town services.

In addition, I have devoted my time and energy to numerous non-profits and institutions throughout the state, including Adoptions with Love, The Greater Boston Food Bank, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, Boston College, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the Center for Collaborative Education.

I am also the Massachusetts Senate President’s appointee to the Treasurer’s Commonwealth Covenant Fund, providing tuition reimbursement to graduates in need, who attended state colleges and are working in science technology, engineering, and math fields.
As Treasurer, I will use my business skills and finance background to promote policies that are fiscally responsible and economically innovative, protecting taxpayers’ dollars, increasing financial growth, and using the unique opportunities within the Treasurer’s office to promote economic empowerment and economic stability.

|[ TOP ]|

Philosophy and Priorities

Role of Government

[Question 3] What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents’ daily lives?

|[ TOP ]|

Conroy

What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents’ daily lives?

Our state government should ensure economic justice and equality of opportunity for its residents.  Massachusetts should be an opportunity society in which all individuals willing to learn new skills and work hard have a chance to succeed.  The best safety net program for any individual is a steady job with good wages and benefits.  As elected officials, we must ensure that access to quality education, employment, housing, child care, and health care are attainable for working families, and that everyone has an opportunity to achieve the American Dream and create a better life for themselves and their children.  It is vital that we reinvest in those on the edge of poverty who want work but can’t find jobs, or want to work more, but don’t have the support structure to sustain low-wage employment.   

Our government must make investments for the common good, which include improving our infrastructure:  public transportation, water systems, public parks, and the like.  Government must also provide essential services that the private sector will not:  public safety, a judicial system, and a social and economic safety net for those who are facing significant obstacles and challenges each day.  

In short, government helps provide the opportunities, infrastructure, and safety-net programs that keep our society together.

|[ TOP ]|

Finegold

What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents’ daily lives?

Government should be the basic foundation of society, providing safe roads, quality schools, and safe neighborhoods. It should provide everyone with the opportunity to succeed in life, no matter where they live.

|[ TOP ]|

Goldberg

What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents’ daily lives?

I believe that our government should reflect our values.  Core among this, should be to make life easier and provide opportunity to those who need it most.  That is why as Treasurer I will use the bully pulpit of the office to bring about progressive change and a sense of social justice to our business community.  For example, we should invest in socially responsible businesses and use our investment power to elevate more women and minorities onto the boards of these businesses, because, like government, our businesses will be more successful if they represent those they serve.

|[ TOP ]|

Top priorities

[Question 4] If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

Conroy

If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

• Job Creation: Connecting the unemployed and underemployed with the approximately 120,000 open jobs through targeted workforce training would be a top priority.  I would prioritize smart economic and job growth policies.  As treasurer, I would invest more in companies based in Massachusetts with track records of job growth and increase investments in local banks so these banks can loan more to our small businesses, the engines of new job growth.  In the long term, getting more people into good jobs will reduce spending on state-subsidized programs in the areas of child care, public assistance, health care, housing, energy, and transportation, among others.
• Education:  Education is the path to opportunity, the great equalizer, the key to future success.  As Massachusetts’ next state treasurer, I will build upon our state’s commitment to excellence and equal opportunity in our public school system by investing in universal pre-k education, increasing funding for our K-12 schools as chair of the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and expanding the higher education student loan program managed by the treasurer’s office.
• Local Aid:  Massachusetts has the most lucrative and successful state lottery in the nation.  In the past few years, our lottery has generated over $900 million in annual profits, all of which were reinvested in education systems throughout the Commonwealth.  Ensuring that the lottery remains profitable, monitoring the introduction of casinos, and protecting local aid for the 351 cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth would a top priority if elected treasurer.

|[ TOP ]|

Finegold

If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

1. Supporting the building of schools that can provide a 21st century education in a cost- effective manner.
2. Promoting financial literacy.
3. Economic Development in our Gateway Cities.

|[ TOP ]|

Goldberg

If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

The overarching theme of my campaign will be economic stability and empowerment.  My top three priorities that are directly related to this are:

1. To establish a comprehensive and robust financial literacy program to reach those most susceptible to the type of predatory practices that nearly caused our economy to collapse just a few short years ago.
2. Ensuring pay equity and wage equality - This is more than just a fairness issue to me.  It is a family issue and strong families will lead to a stronger Commonwealth!
3. Increase transparency within the Treasurer’s office - We have taken steps within the office, but there is more to do.  Every taxpayer should feel confident that we are investing and spending their dollars openly, honestly and with the utmost professionalism. 

|[ TOP ]|

Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

|[ TOP ]||[ Section Start ]|

TOM CONROY

Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

If elected your next state treasurer, I will lead by example, based on sound principles such as far-sighted financial management and core values such as economic justice and creating opportunities for all.  I will offer compassion for the less fortunate, tempered by the need for responsible and accountable budgeting.  I will respect for the covenant we have made with public sector employees and their retirement benefits, while having the foresight to ensure the solvency of our pension system.  I will encourage a vibrant business community and public-private partnerships, while preserving the rights of employees to earn living wages in stable work environments.
This balancing act between compassion and prudence, between heart and head is critical for our future.  I carry this sense of balance within me each day, and I want to apply it successfully as our next state treasurer.

|[ TOP ]||[ Section Start ]|

BARRY FINEGOLD

Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

In this questionnaire, I focused on the questions that are applicable to the Treasurer’s office. I’d also like to elaborate on some of my positions on issues under the control of the Treasurer:

Lottery [Finegold]

I recognize the importance of lottery funds in bringing back money to our local communities, but believe that we must do all we can to ensure that our state gaming policies do not prey on the poor or the vulnerable. For that reason, I opposed the expanded gaming bill. I do not support expanding keno and lottery sales on line, nor do I support allowing credit card payments for scratch tickets at convenience stores as I believe both would increase addictive gaming behavior in our state. After learning more, I may be open to allowing fantasy sports in a limited fashion. Additionally, I would like to increase funding for resources that deal with addictive gaming behavior.|[ back to Section Start ]|

Pension Fund [Finegold]

I believe that our pension fund should reflect our values. Currently, approximately 2.6% of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT) Core is invested in fossil fuels, totaling approximately $1.4 billion in investments. These investments run counter to our state efforts to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and promote renewable energy and efficiency. It was for similar reasons that the Legislature passed, and I voted for, a law divesting from tobacco-related companies in 1997.

The Asset Owners Disclosure Project, a group that seeks to "protect" funds from the risk of climate change, recently gave Massachusetts pension fund a “D” rating, far below the AAA given to California's state pension fund. Additionally, a recent study conducted by the Associated Press and S&P Capital IQ found a fossil fuel-free portfolio would have outperformed one that included fossil fuel investments over the past 10 years. The study found that a $1 billion fossil fuel-free college endowment would have grown to $2.26 billion over the past 10 years, while an endowment that included investments in fossil fuel companies would have grown to only $2.14 billion. These numbers demonstrate that it is worth exploring whether we can have a successfully performing PRIT while promoting renewable energy and efficiency.

If, and only if, we can do so gradually and in a manner that does not negatively affect returns, I would be open to a divestment from fossil fuels. |[ back to Section Start ]|

Financial literacy [Finegold]

Some of the most important work I have done as a State Senator has involved promoting financial literacy, and it is a mission I want to continue working on as State Treasurer. I serve on the Financial Literacy Trust Fund (FLTF), led by Treasurer Grossman, and recently led the effort to pass legislation in the Senate that would add the FLTF as one of the groups that taxpayers can choose to donate to on their tax forms. Additionally, I filed a successful amendment to the welfare reform bill that required DTA to require TAFDC recipients to participate in a free financial education program to assist in developing their economic independence goals.

Last session, I filed a bill that would have required financial literacy to be integrated into the math curriculum in all Massachusetts schools. Working with stakeholders, we created a pilot program in high schools in 10 Gateway Cities to plan and pilot financial literacy programs. This is a 3-year pilot program and I am hopeful that it will serve as a model for statewide implementation in the future. Between huge student loans and offers of credit cards, our children are now faced with massive financial decisions so early in life that we must equip them with the knowledge to make responsible financial decisions. |[ back to Section Start ]|

Massachusetts School Building Authority [Finegold]

In order to give our kids a 21st century education, we cannot have classrooms from the 60’s and 70’s. I want to build more schools and reduce the long waiting list by expanding the model school building program, because there is a best way to build a science lab and a gym.

Additionally, I would like to explore the possibility of creating a Massachusetts Building Authority in the model of the MSBA in order to help municipalities with funding for non-school buildings such as police and fire stations. |[ back to Section Start ]|

Additional comments [Finegold]

I have taken some tough votes while representing a district that is historically conservative. Votes such as my votes to raise revenue, in support of gay marriage and against the death penalty were often the source of extremely strong criticism in my district, but I always voted my conscience and worked extremely hard to get re-elected each term against formidable Republican challengers. |[ back to Section Start ]|

|[ TOP ]||[ Section Start ]|

DEBORAH GOLDBERG

Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

It is with my values and my experience of how to run a business with a conscience that I bring to the role of Treasurer. I will use my business skills and finance background to promote policies that are fiscally responsible and economically innovative, protecting our state’s resources, our people’s resources, and increasing financial growth, with a strong focus of especially strengthening the retirement security of our seniors. I will also increase investment in local communities by making more state funds available to small business owners throughout the state. And, very importantly, make sure we empower everyone, particularly women, young people, immigrants, and people of color with a robust state-wide financial literacy program which will prepare those most at risk from situations such as the predatory practices of the sub-prime mortgage crisis that nearly caused our economy to collapse just a few short years ago.

I intend to use the role of the Treasurer as a bully pulpit and an example of progressive values. Additionally, not only will I push for the things I believe in, my internal staff will be a reflection of the diversity of our culture, as it should be.

That’s why I’m running for Treasurer of Massachusetts.  It would be an honor to be your Treasurer. But I can’t do it alone.  I hope you will join our team, vote for me as a delegate in June and I would very much appreciate your vote on September 9th in the Democratic Primary.

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* PDF VERSION: TREASURER'S RACE QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES

CANDIDATES' ORIGINAL RESPONSES: 

• Tom Conroy
• Barry Finegold
• Deborah Goldberg

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Share, with attribution, and amplify progressives' voices, questions and priorities during the 2014 campaigns. 
SOURCE CITE: progressivemass.com/2014statewide, Feb. 2014. 

[from Section B of our questionnaire] Public education has always been a gateway to opportunity and mobility for all, regardless of economic circumstances, a cornerstone of the American dream for all residents. However, the soaring price of higher education over the last several decades has made access to this opportunity increasingly out of reach, at the very moment when higher education makes a greater difference to one’s economic future. Meanwhile, powerful corporate interests have been steadily undermining public school teachers and unions and siphoning money from our public K-12 system.

* STATEMENT OF VALUES AND RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

• DON BERWICK
• MARTHA COAKLEY / experience
• STEVE GROSSMAN / experience
• JULIETTE KAYYEM

* Achievement Gaps in Education

• Berwick
• Coakley
• Grossman
• Kayyem

* POLICIES AND PROPOSALS

• Universal Pre-K
• Universal higher-ed
• Funding structure

* PDF VERSION: EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT EXCERPT

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain. 

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

Statement/Experience

[Question B1/B2] Please share your personal values and principles regarding public education and workforce training. SUGGESTED TOPICS: What value does public education and workforce development have in improving our economy as well as in addressing matters of economic justice? What measures should the Commonwealth take on these issues? You might address, for example, charter schools, school vouchers, standardized testing and federal programs like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

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DON BERWICK

Education is the cornerstone for a successful Commonwealth.  No matter what you care most about – health, job growth, civic responsibility, livable communities, or public safety – the cause-and-effect pathways will lead you back to our schools.  And the core moral values that I want to help nurture – social justice, equality, fairness, mutual respect, and compassion – find foundation in the way we educate ourselves and our children.

The key to success in education is clear to me. It is a proud, capable, respected, and fully supported teacher workforce. Teachers want to be agents of improvement, and I will ensure that they have every resource and support necessary to be that.  In health care, commerce, and education, alike, excellence surfaces only in institutional cultures built on teamwork, collaboration, and total involvement, not on “carrot-and-stick” management or enforced compliance with simplistic standards.

Among other initiatives, I have outlined the following specific proposals:

• Universal access to pre-kindergarten: ensuring that children enter school ready to learn.  Early support programs need to be available to every single Massachusetts child who can benefit from them. Research says that such programs, when properly run, return $4 to $9 in economic benefit for every dollar invested.
• Improvement in the preparation of new teachers: strengthening teacher certification programs with strong hands-on components, and stronger teacher preparation models that put beginning professionals in contact with seasoned experts over a multi-year period of apprenticeship.
• Creation of a new, cabinet-level position: to facilitate total cooperation among state agencies, cities and towns, and families in fostering child health and wellbeing to the age of five – the most critical years.
• Finding innovative solutions to raise college completion rates in low income communities—I will implement a program based on best practices from around the nation that provides college counseling in high school and “last dollar” scholarships to college for low income students who work hard and stay in school. Such a program will show low-income students that the promise of higher education is within their reach, provide them the skills and supports they need to succeed in a post-secondary environment, and then deliver on the promise to supply the resources that are not available elsewhere.

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MARTHA COAKLEY

I am proud to be from Massachusetts, where our students routinely lead the world in academic achievement, but there are still far too many young people who are left behind and not given the opportunity to realize their full potential. If we want to ensure the long-term success of our Commonwealth, and give every resident the opportunity to thrive, it is critically important to improve our public education system so that every student has the best possible chance to succeed.  

There are a number of steps we can take to create real improvements in educational outcomes for every student:

• We need to provide universal access to high-quality early education, because we know that the foundation for success is laid early;
• We need to extend the school day and school year, because schools need the flexibility to incorporate more time for targeted instruction, student enrichment, and professional development;
• We need to work together with educators, industry leaders, and non-profits to better align school curricula with workforce needs and give students hands-on experiences; and
• We need to do more to make higher education accessible for every young person.

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Coakley/Related Experience

As Attorney General, we identified unfair and deceptive practices in the for-profit college industry. At a time when students are going further and further into debt, we brought actions against multiple for-profit colleges and proposed regulations to help students receive the benefits of their education that they were promised.
During my time as Attorney General and District Attorney, I have worked closely with coalitions of teachers, principals and school personnel to develop strategies to address bullying and help ensure a safe learning environment for our kids.

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STEVE GROSSMAN

Educational achievement is the pathway to long-term economic growth and security. I will advocate for more funding for K-12 education along with increased funding for public higher education to aid our college students who are drowning in debt. I will also work to reduce class sizes and implement a longer school day for communities that want it. We also need to place greater emphasis on investing in our vocational-technical high schools, which are central to our plan to enhance advanced and precision manufacturing. We need to close the skills gap between our schools, our workforce, and our job market. I will address the challenge that far too often, government stands as a barrier to economic growth because it operates within strict divisions of authority without first trying to build consensus and develop common-sense solutions across multiple agencies.

I will also launch a universal pre-kindergarten program for every four-year-old in Massachusetts, providing all students, no matter where they live and how much money they have, a fair shot at reading by the third grade.

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Grossman/Related Experience/Record

As chairman of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), I recognize the importance of school building needs. Most of the Commonwealth’s vocational-technical regional schools are more than 40 years old, and many lack high quality state of the art programs capable of serving youth and adults in an ever-changing economy.     
In addition to great teachers, students also need great schools with great technology. I want to make every school in the Commonwealth digital learning ready by 2016 to bring every student, in every neighborhood, the 21st century learning environment they deserve.

When I took office as treasurer, we set out to drastically expand the state’s financial literacy program. My colleagues in the legislature created the Financial Literacy Trust Fund in 2011. Soon after, we established a board to leverage public-private partnerships, attract contributions, and advance citizens’ financial empowerment. We’ve set a priority to serve K-12 students, veterans, senior citizens, and low and moderate-income families.

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JULIETTE KAYYEM

Our education system must not only prepare children for college, but needs to push further towards educating them for a career. With over 100,000 available jobs and over 240,000 unemployed residents, it is clear that our workforce is not prepared for the jobs of today and tomorrow. To address public education in Massachusetts I would first work to better align learning objectives by promoting innovative instructional and school management practice, and promoting ambitious school quality standards from Pre-K through post secondary education. In addition to this I would create partnerships between school systems, higher education, business, and civic institutions that move education beyond school walls to create “anywhere, anytime” learning and developmental opportunities for Massachusetts students. Lastly, and most importantly, I would focus on closing the achievement gap (which I describe below).

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Achievement Gaps

[Question B3] What would you do to address persistent racial and economic achievement gaps in education?

Don Berwick

What would you do to address persistent racial and economic achievement gaps in education?

We can be proud of Massachusetts’ high national ranking for performance in education.  But major inequities exist among schools – especially between those in wealthy and disadvantaged communities, and I am committed to closing those gaps.  Education in Massachusetts should be world class, across the board, and accessible to all.

We can’t fire and hire our way out of this. Instead, I am committed to working with school districts and teachers’ unions to invest in the support and continuing education necessary to make our teacher workforce the best in the world.

There are real examples of successful collaboration that led to turnarounds in Massachusetts. For example, through a partnership between the school district and the teachers’ union, the Murkland Elementary School in Lowell transformed from underperforming to a level one school in18 months. By working to nurture such partnerships, we can help struggling schools turn around.

I also support expanding pathways to graduation through vocational and technical education, on-the-job training, and increased access to early college.

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Martha Coakley

What would you do to address persistent racial and economic achievement gaps in education?

In addition to the steps I mentioned above (universal access to early education, extended learning time), I believe it is critical that we provide schools with dedicated support counselors who can help students deal with out-of-school issues that can negatively impact their academic achievement, including hunger, homelessness, and violence.

In places where student achievement consistently lags behind, cities like Springfield, Lawrence, and Fall River, too many students are dealing with challenges associated with poverty and violence that make it nearly impossible to succeed in school. Giving students a resource in school whose only job is to help them deal with the challenges they face outside of school has a range of positive effects: it will enable students to focus more attention on school, it will take the burden off of teachers, many of whom currently serve as de-facto social workers, and it will improve outcomes in other areas, including health and violent crime. 

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Steve Grossman

What would you do to address persistent racial and economic achievement gaps in education?

First, I will launch a universal pre-kindergarten program and provide those children too often left behind – children with a single parent, children from immigrant families, and children from low-income families – with the resources they need to get ahead.

Second, I’ll work to reduce class sizes and recruit talented teachers into our gateway cities, which suffer from low levels of educational attainment paired with high levels of unemployment. I’ll also partner with educational leaders to provide basic financial education to every high school student in the Commonwealth.

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Juliette Kayyem

What would you do to address persistent racial and economic achievement gaps in education?

As a state, we must ensure that all families make living wages and have access to the supports that they need to succeed. In my education plan, Providing Education from Birth to Career, I dive deeply into this issue, and propose several actions to tackle this problem. Below you’ll find a section from my plan where I specifically discuss closing the achievement gap.

• Develop statewide guidelines for local school choice systems and school governance practices to increase equitable access to quality schools and ensure equitable participation by all parents I matters pertaining to their children’s education.
• Support the development of robust summer learning opportunities to stem learning loss and offer families and students a broader spectrum of learning and developmental opportunities than might be accessed during the school year.
• Focus on and improve student attendance by meeting children where they are to incorporate all child and family support systems to immediately and efficiently address truancy problems.
• Offer more support to low-income parents so they can better navigate the services (including government and non-profit) available to them and their children to improve school performance.
• Increase and expand the Innovation Schools program.
• Increase support and provide tailored help for students coring in warning/ failing and needs improvement on the mathematics, English language arts and science/technology and engineering MCAS.
• Expand on the existing Massachusetts Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs, which drives a proactive, collaborative, and comprehensive approach to raising student achievement and enhancing career development for all students.
• Create mandates for shared accountability across school types to promote local education systems that are unified and seamless.

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Policy Proposals

Universal Pre-K

[Question B4] Do you support creating universal, free Pre-K, accessible to any resident of Massachusetts, integrated into the public school system?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Grossman, Kayyem
• COAKLEY: I am steadfastly committed to providing access to high quality pre-k for every child in the Commonwealth. When it comes to pre-K, we should have two primary goals: 1) providing universal access and 2) ensuring a consistent level of quality across all pre-k programs. We need to explore all available options to realize these two goals, including expanding the state voucher program to give the thousands of low-income children currently on waitlists the resources to enroll in high-quality pre-k, developing strategies to better assure the quality of private pre-k programs, and formally integrating pre-K into our public school system.  

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Universal higher-ed

[Question B5] Do you support a program that provides free, publicly funded higher education for every student who wants it?

• SUPPORT: Berwick
• OPPOSE: Grossman
• BERWICK: I will implement a program based on best practices from around the nation that provides college counseling in high school and “last dollar” scholarships to college for low-income students who work hard and stay in school. Such a program would show low-income students that the promise of higher education is within their reach, provide them the skills and supports they need to succeed in a post-secondary environment, and then deliver on the promise to supply the resources that are not available elsewhere.
• COAKLEY: Cost should not be a prohibitive barrier for anyone who wants to go to college. I will encourage proposals about how we could significantly reduce the cost of higher education, or make it free even. I believe, right now, we need to focus on concrete ways of reducing costs, including bringing more transparency to high executive salaries at non-profit colleges and universities, increasing funding for grants and other forms of student assistance, and pushing for federal action to further decrease the long-term costs of student loans. I also believe we should explore programs that provide loan forgiveness for public service.   
• GROSSMAN: Despite its obvious merits, free higher education is not an attainable goal in the foreseeable future. I strongly support funding and policies to ensure that Massachusetts public colleges and universities are as widely affordable and accessible as possible.
• KAYYEM: I support residents having access to affordable higher education. This includes linking high schools to higher education institutions to reduce the need for remedial classes.

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Funding structure

[Question B6] Do you support changes to the Chapter 70 Education formula, including the Foundation Budget, to incorporate proper state funding for ELL students, Special Education students, transportation costs, charter school reimbursements to sending schools, and class size reduction?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Grossman, Kayyem
• COAKLEY: I believe our first priority should be to increase funding for Chapter 70 (the overall pool of money that is distributed to schools and districts based on the formula). I also believe that we need to examine the funding formula, both to make it more transparent and to determine if it still adequately addresses the needs of schools. After all, the formula has not been updated in two decades even though, over that same time period, schools and districts have seen tremendous changes in student demographics, educational requirements, and best practices. We must also work together with teachers, administrators, businesses, and the non-profit community to find other innovative solutions to improve our schools and give them more resources, including realignment of our spending priorities.

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* PDF VERSION: EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT EXCERPT

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain. 

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

Browse other questionnaires from other statewide races: progressivemass.com/2014statewide

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Share, with attribution, and amplify progressives' voices, questions and priorities during the 2014 campaigns. 
SOURCE CITE: progressivemass.com/2014statewide, Feb. 2014. 

[from Section A of our questionnaire] The Massachusetts economy has continued to grow and recover from the Great Recession, but the gains have not been shared equally. Poverty levels continue to increase, while the minimum wage loses value every year. Massachusetts now ranks 8th in the nation for income inequality. 

* STATEMENT OF VALUES AND RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

• DON BERWICK / experience
• MARTHA COAKLEY / experience
• STEVE GROSSMAN / experience
• JULIETTE KAYYEM

* POLICIES AND PROPOSALS

• Minimum Wage
• Unemployment Insurance and Minimum Wage
• Earned sick time
• Job Creation and Standards for Living Wage
• Employee-owned businesses
• Co-ops, benefit corporations, community banks

* PDF VERSION: JOB GROWTH AND THE ECONOMY EXCERPT

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain. 

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

STATEMENT AND EXPERIENCE

[Question A1/A2] Share your personal values and principles on job growth and the economy. POSSIBLE TOPICS: How can we improve the economy and economic security for all people? How do we grow the number of good paying jobs in the Commonwealth? How do you view wealth and income inequality, and what would you do about it, if anything?

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DON BERWICK

Share your personal values and principles on job growth and the economy. .

Any candidate who claims to have a single fix for our economy isn’t being honest. There is no simple solution. We need a systemic approach toward job creation, including an education system that prepares graduates for the jobs of the 21st century, a robust transportation system, and a health care system that is sustainable. I believe that the best way to create jobs is to develop and nurture communities where people want to be, where they want to live, work, and grow a business.

I understand that for many Massachusetts families, economic security is simply not attainable in current conditions. I will work with the Legislature to ensure Massachusetts workers have the right to a livable wage and access to paid sick time.

Those steps will help address economic security, but will do very little to address the underlying problem of economic inequality. That’s why I will work with the Legislature toward an income tax system in which people with higher incomes pay higher rates, and people with lower incomes pay lower rates. We also need to hit the reset button on loopholes and exemptions. I will order a comprehensive and transparent review of all tax breaks – if an exemption helps to create jobs or strengthen the safety net, I will support it; if not, I will work to end it. There is no place for tax breaks that benefit only the wealthy and well connected.

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Berwick: Related experience/record on job creation

As a pediatrician with the Harvard Community Health Plan, I spent years serving kids and families from some of Boston’s most underserved communities. That experience and the belief that strong, healthy communities are key to social and economic success helped shape the trajectory of my career. To that end, I led projects in all 50 states and around the world to strengthen communities. I have also led by example, initiating and growing over two decades a non-profit organization with a global mission, employing over 125 individuals and engaging hundreds of experts on improvement throughout the world.

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MARTHA COAKLEY

Share your personal values and principles on job growth and the economy.

Rising income inequality is one of the greatest challenges facing our Commonwealth today. Inequality robs people of hope, for themselves and their children, and deprives too many of the opportunity to build a better life. And it’s not just the gap that exists today, it’s that it has been getting progressively worse; in the last 30 years, those at the top in Massachusetts have seen their incomes grow more than 100%, while those at the bottom have seen no growth whatsoever.

Addressing the growing problem of inequality begins with raising the minimum wage for every worker in Massachusetts. Currently, we are asking full-time, minimum wage workers to survive on less than $17,000 per year; that is wrong. We need to raise the minimum wage, on its own, and we need to do it now. It also means providing earned sick time so that workers don’t lose their jobs or critical wages because they are ill or have to take care of a sick family member.

In the longer term, ensuring broad-based economic prosperity in Massachusetts means creating good jobs and giving workers and young people the skills to fill not only new jobs, but also the thousands of jobs currently going unfilled in Massachusetts. This starts with making our business environment more competitive, including reducing high health care and energy costs, in order to attract and retain good jobs in the Commonwealth. It also means doing a better job aligning curricula our K-12 system, voc. tech. schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities with workforce needs to give workers a clear path into the middle class.

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Coakley: Related experience/record on job creation

As Attorney General, I have worked to ensure every worker gets a fair wage for a day’s work by enforcing our wage and hour laws. Overall, our office has recovered more than $30 million back for workers in wages they were rightfully owed.

I also worked to level the playing field for businesses by creating the first division in the Attorney General’s Office specifically designated to support the needs of the business community and help them navigate the regulatory landscape, an effort that has empowered businesses to grow and create thousands of good jobs.

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STEVE GROSSMAN

Share your personal values and principles on job growth and the economy.

I believe rampant income and economic inequality is the most serious challenge we face as a Commonwealth. Unless we deal decisively with this inequality, the American Dream will remain out of reach for too many citizens who feel left out and left behind. The gap between our educational attainment and our economic growth is tangible, and it’s hurting our people and our economy. Families continue to struggle in search of economic opportunity and economic mobility.

First, increasing the minimum wage for the working poor, who haven’t seen a pay increase since 2008, will invest in our people, boost family spending, and spur job creation. Second, we need to create 50,000 new precision and advanced manufacturing jobs over the next five years, mostly in our older, industrial cities by investing in our vocational-technical schools, surveying employer needs, and training our workers. Third, we need to invest in our children by launching a universal pre-kindergarten program for every four-year-old in Massachusetts, providing all students, no matter where they live and how much money they have, a fair shot at reading by the third grade. Fourth, we need to thoroughly explore the option of facilitating public-private partnerships by incentivizing developers to sell or lease public land virtually for free, provided they guarantee to build affordable housing for low and middle-income families.

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Grossman: Related experience/record on job creation

I have a proven track record as a progressive job creator. I spent more than 35 years as CEO of Grossman Marketing Group, a union shop for 62 years, creating jobs and economic opportunity for my colleagues. We paid our workers 30 percent higher than competing companies and provided earned sick time for more than 25 years, while simultaneously growing the business eight-fold. I was also proud to be the first business owner in Massachusetts to testify in favor of earned sick time in 2006. Treating your colleagues with dignity and respect is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also good business.

To increase access to capital for small businesses, I also launched the Small Business Banking Partnership, which has moved more than $350 million of our reserve deposits back from banks in Europe, Australia, and Asia and into 53 Massachusetts community banks. Those banks have in turn made nearly 7,000 loans, many in our gateway communities, with a value of more than $1 billion. To level the playing field, a principal focus of the program is to generate loans to businesses owned by women, minorities, immigrants, and veterans to create jobs in every region of Massachusetts.

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JULIETTE KAYYEM

Share your personal values and principles on job growth and the economy.

We must expand opportunity through job growth today and in the future. We need to focus on jobs that stay and grow here, as well as jobs that we can lure here. We have the capacity to bring sustainable and vibrant jobs to this state and to prepare our workforce for them. We can see this in examples through jobs in the clean tech industry, which is on an upward trend, which are jobs that employ skilled labor, such as solar panel installers. We must invest in this and other industries in innovative ways, such as motivating private investment through Green Banks.

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Policy Proposals

Minimum Wage

[Question A3] Do you support:

Raising the minimum wage to at least $10.50/hour:

• SUPPORTS: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem

Indexing automatic yearly increases to inflation:

• SUPPORTS: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem

Increasing tipped wages to 60% of the minimum wage:             

• SUPPORTS: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem

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Unemployment Insurance and Minimum Wage

[Question A4.] As of January 2014, the legislature is negotiating a bill that would pair an increase in the minimum wage with cuts to unemployment insurance. Do you oppose this effort?

• OPPOSES LINKING: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem

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Earned sick time

[Question A5.] Do you support requiring businesses with more than 11 employees to provide earned, paid sick time to their employees?

• SUPPORTS: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem

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Job Creation and Standards for Living Wage

[Question A6.] A “Job Creation and Quality Standards Act” would require corporations that receive any kind of public benefits (grants, tax expenditures procurement contracts) to, in turn, pay a living wage ($15 per hour plus benefits) to full-time employees. Do you support such legislation?

• OPPOSES: Grossman
• BERWICK: I am generally favorable toward this legislation, and would welcome further study.  Over time, I believe we should continue to increase income security toward a living wage, but that is not a one-step process.
• COAKLEY: I support businesses paying their employees a living wage; at this point, our focus should be on raising the minimum wage for everyone in Massachusetts. Going forward, I will consider support for any proposal that will help us eliminate income inequality.
• No Response: Kayyem

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Employee-owned businesses

[Question A7] Do you support legislation to foster and develop employee ownership of businesses in Massachusetts?

• SUPPORTS: Berwick, Grossman, Kayyem
• COAKLEY: I am supportive of this concept, and will review any proposed legislation when I am Governor.

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Co-ops, benefit corporations, community banks

[Question A8] Do you support legislation that would encourage the formation of cooperatives and/or benefit corporations and the development of community banks?

• SUPPORTS: Berwick, Grossman, Kayyem
• COAKLEY: I am supportive of this concept, and will review any proposed legislation when I am Governor.

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* PDF VERSION: JOB GROWTH AND THE ECONOMY EXCERPT

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain. 

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

Browse other questionnaires from other statewide races: progressivemass.com/2014statewide

|[ TOP ]|

Share, with attribution, and amplify progressives' voices, questions and priorities during the 2014 campaigns. 
SOURCE CITE: progressivemass.com/2014statewide, Feb. 2014. 

[from Section C of our questionnaire] Massachusetts has led the way in providing near universal health care insurance coverage. However, we still spend an oversized portion of public and private money on health care, without necessarily achieving better health outcomes.  

* STATEMENT OF VALUES AND RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

• Don Berwick / experience
• Martha Coakley / experience
• Steve Grossman
• Juliette Kayyem

* POLICIES AND PROPOSALS

• Single Payer and Public Option
• Costs and Quality: |[ Berwick ]| |[ Coakley ]| |[ Grossman ]| |[ Kayyem ]|
• Mental Health: |[ Berwick ]| |[ Coakley ]| |[ Grossman ]| |[ Kayyem ]|
• Health Disparities: |[ Berwick ]| |[ Coakley ]| |[ Grossman ]| |[ Kayyem ]|
• Implement Standards of Care and Costs Panel
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Bulk prescription programs

* PDF VERSION: HEALTHCARE excerpt

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain. 

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

STATEMENT & EXPERIENCE

[Questions C1/C2] Please share your personal values and principles regarding health care insurance, delivery and outcomes.

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DON BERWICK

Please share your personal values and principles regarding health care insurance, delivery and outcomes.

Massachusetts should be proud to be the first state in the nation to make health care a human right, but we have not gone nearly far enough to curb the cost. In the Massachusetts state budget, almost every key line item has gone down in real terms since 2000 except health care, which has gone up by 59%.

What we need to achieve is better care, better health, and lower cost through improvement – all at the same time.  Our 2011 cost-containment law, Chapter 224, was a step in the right direction, but we will need to be even more aggressive to make sure that the needed transformation in health care delivery takes place.

The current payment system pays hospitals and doctors for how much they do rather than how well patients do. And, it is not sufficiently focused on the prevention of disease. The results are high costs without sufficiently high value. Those high costs come out of wages and rob both government and families of opportunities to use their hard earned income for other important purposes. We must move our state away from fee-for-service payment and from fragmented delivery into coordinated, team-based, integrated care.  For patients and families, this will lead to care that is more responsive, helpful, and respectful. Outcomes will be better and costs will fall significantly.

If results from Chapter 224 lag behind, I will work with the Legislature within my first 100 days to craft a new wave of stronger legislation to incentivize increased transparency, payment changes, and care reorganization. It is also time to seriously explore a single payer system in Massachusetts. The complexity of our health care payment system adds costs, uncertainties, and hassles for everyone – patients, families, clinicians, and employers, and we must find ways to simply it.

I will personally lead a statewide initiative to make Massachusetts the healthiest state in the nation, through smoking cessation, obesity reduction, and specific programs to curb domestic and physical violence. And I will assure that mental health care is incorporated into the center of our health care system. We will reduce substance abuse and suicide rates by 50% in Massachusetts in the next decade.

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Berwick: Related Experience/Record in Health Care

I have devoted my life to improving health and health care for communities around the world. I started my career as a pediatrician serving low-income families at the Harvard Community Health Plan. I quickly found that caring for children also meant improving the hospitals, health systems and communities that families depend on. In 1991, I founded the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a small non-profit dedicated to improving complex healthcare systems to eliminate medical errors, improve patient experience and lower health care costs. Over 25 years, IHI grew into a world leader in health care improvement with a budget of $40 million and over 125 employees. We launched scores of successful campaigns and projects, including a project credited with saving tens of thousands of lives.

In 2011, President Obama asked me to serve as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency with over 5,000 employees and a budget larger than the Pentagon’s.  Republicans threatened to filibuster my nomination, but President Obama installed me using a recess appointment. I served as Administrator for 17 months. In that time, we worked to implement major provisions of the Affordable Care Act: we kept children on their parents’ insurance until the age of 26; we ensured that children with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied the care they need; and we increased transparency for insurance company rates. My time in Washington gave me the opportunity to serve 100 million of the most vulnerable Americans – children, seniors, the sick, needy and disabled – the people who need government the most.  I am excited to continue that work as Governor of the Commonwealth.

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MARTHA COAKLEY

Please share your personal values and principles regarding health care insurance, delivery and outcomes.

Massachusetts remains a national leader in health care access and quality; as a result of the Commonwealth’s first-in-the-nation health reform legislation, 98% of Massachusetts’ residents have health insurance, people come from all over the world to be treated at our hospitals, and we are on the cutting edge of medical research.

However, we still face challenges. Health care costs are too high for families and businesses in the Commonwealth, and they continue to grow, although we are bending the cost curve. Costs associated with health care consume nearly half of our state budget, dramatically reducing the funding available for critical programs in other areas. And barriers to access remain, especially for those struggling with mental and behavioral health problems.

Government needs to work with our partners on the federal level, the business community in Massachusetts, non-profits, and consumers, as it did in passing our landmark health reform, to develop strategies for reducing costs while improving health outcomes and maintaining access for everyone. 

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Coakley: Related Experience/Record in Health Care

When I took office, I created the Health Care Division in the Attorney General’s Office in order to help our office advance the mission of promoting quality, affordable health care.

Our office undertook the first investigation of its kind to understand the cost drivers of health care in the Commonwealth. Our report demonstrated a clear link between the market power of providers and high costs, and that report helped shape the Commonwealth’s health care cost containment legislation passed in 2010 and 2012.

We also have been aggressive in ensuring that insurers offer mandated coverage to all our citizens, including behavioral health treatment.

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STEVE GROSSMAN

Please share your personal values and principles regarding health care insurance, delivery and outcomes.

Health care and life sciences are a lynchpin of the Massachusetts economy, directly or indirectly responsible for at least one of every six jobs in the Commonwealth. We must ensure that policy changes allow enough transition time for the institutions to adapt and preserve jobs.

Our shared goal is for quality care to be delivered at the lowest cost setting possible, and we need to seek ways to shift care to our community hospitals and our community health centers. Particularly in rural areas on the state, we need to address the shortage of primary care doctors and nurse practitioners. We also need to lower the skyrocketing cost of pharmaceutical drugs. Lastly, we need to incentivize and encourage employers to invest in wellness programs, which create a dramatic return on investment.

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JULIETTE KAYYEM

Please share your personal values and principles regarding health care insurance, delivery and outcomes.

Healthcare is a right that every individual in Massachusetts must have access to. While we have 98% of residents covered we still have work to do. We have made legislative strides through the Affordable Care Act, but we must ensure that implementation improves. Improvement in implementation and focusing on lowering costs must be the goals of the next Governor.    

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Policies and Proposals

Single Payer and Public Option

[Question C3] Do you support moving Massachusetts to Single Payer insurance?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Kayyem
• OPPOSE: Coakley (“Not at this time”)
• GROSSMAN: I am proud that our state is the national leader on health care reform. As governor, I would work to ensure the continued success of Massachusetts’ pioneering state level reform laws around access and cost, and their successful integration with the federal Affordable Care Act. Looking down the road a bit farther, yes, I do believe that a public option, or single payer system, could be part of the ultimate solution and I will be watching Vermont very closely. I have publicly put single payer on the table as a viable option to consider as governor.

What role might a Public Option play, in your view?

• BERWICK: It is time to move toward a single payer system in Massachusetts. The complexity of our health care payment system adds costs, uncertainties, and hassles for everyone – patients, families, doctors, and employers.  I will work with the Legislature to assemble a Single Payer Advisory Panel to investigate and report back on whether and how Massachusetts should move towards a single payer option. I suspect that the Panel will find that single payer would be an attractive option, as it has been in numerous health systems that have better outcomes at far lower cost.  I will also form a consortium of states interested in the option so that we can make progress and learn together. 
• COAKLEY: no response
• GROSSMAN: I believe that a public option will be a viable option to consider as governor.
• KAYYEM: no response

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Costs and Quality

[Question C4] What steps would you take to lower health care costs while maintaining or improving health outcomes?

Berwick

What steps would you take to lower health care costs while maintaining or improving health outcomes?

The current payment system pays hospitals and doctors for how much they do rather than how well patients do. And it is not sufficiently focused on the prevention of disease. The results are high costs without sufficiently high value. Those high costs come out of wages and rob both government and families of opportunities to use their hard earned income for other important purposes. We must move our state away from fee-for-service payment and from fragmented delivery into coordinated, team-based, integrated care.  For patients and families, this will lead to care that is more responsive, helpful, and respectful. Outcomes will be better and costs will fall significantly.

As Governor, I will convene a summit of all stakeholders to conduct a top to bottom review of the 2011 cost containment law, Chapter 224, and develop an action plan to ensure it is taking meaningful steps towards reduce costs. If results lag behind, I will work with the Legislature within my first 100 days to craft a new wave of stronger legislation to incentivize increased transparency, payment changes, and care reorganization. It is also time to move toward a single payer system in Massachusetts. The complexity of our health care payment system adds costs, uncertainties, and hassles for everyone – patients, families, doctors, and employers.  I will work with the Legislature to assemble a multi-stakeholder Single Payer Advisory Panel to investigate and report back within one year on whether and how Massachusetts should consider single payer. I suspect that the panel will find that Single Payer is an attractive option to reduce costs while maintaining health outcomes.

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Coakley

What steps would you take to lower health care costs while maintaining or improving health outcomes?

Our first priority should be making the strategic investments in prevention and primary care that will save money and lives in the long-term.

Today, the United States spends hundreds of billions annually to treat preventable diseases; for example, health care costs associated with smoking, hypertension, and diabetes totaled nearly $150 billion last year alone. Despite this, only about four cents of every dollar we spend on health care goes towards public health and prevention. By increasing our investment in proven prevention strategies, we can dramatically lower long-term health care costs while improving health outcomes.

In addition, we need to bring more transparency to our health care system and reduce waste, fraud and abuse.

As Attorney General, I have a record of working on both of these issues. For the last three years, my office has released an annual report on health care expenditures, which allows consumers and policy makers to make more informed decisions about cost-effective health care. And, by tackling fraud and abuse in our Medicaid system, our office has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for Massachusetts’ taxpayers.

Finally, we need to increase the use of tiered and limited networks. We have begun that process and the next Governor must continue that important work.

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Grossman

What steps would you take to lower health care costs while maintaining or improving health outcomes?

I believe that Chapter 224 represents a model approach to curb the rising costs of health care by tying it to growth of the state economy. But we do not yet know the full impact of this law. To make health care more affordable, we need to shift care from our acute care, teaching hospitals into our community hospitals and our community health centers. I also believe that investing in wellness programs, mental health, behavioral health, and substance abuse programs can save us significant resources in the long term.

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Kayyem

What steps would you take to lower health care costs while maintaining or improving health outcomes?

Massachusetts has some of the leading healthcare facilities in the nation. Unfortunately, we also have some of the highest healthcare costs. To stem the rising costs of healthcare in Massachusetts we must explore alternative payment strategies, coordinate care among providers and manage cases more sensibly.  As Governor I will work to implement alternative payment strategies such as episode of care and bundled payment that better align the economics of healthcare with the outcomes. I will work with our hospital systems so that they coordinate care in a way that makes the most sense for the patient, so that patients get the care they need in the least intense medical environment. And I will encourage the creation of outpatient medical homes that will lower the extraordinary expenses associated with frequent Emergency Room trips by high risk patients through constant care provided by qualified nurse practitioners in a low-cost setting. Reducing healthcare costs boils down to creating smarter ways to pay for more sensibly given distributed care, while providing extra preventative care to those most likely to use the system.   

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Mental Health

[Question C5] What steps would you take to address the gap in affordable mental health services?

Berwick

What steps would you take to address the gap in affordable mental health services?

As a doctor, I know that mental health must be incorporated at the center of any successful health care system. Through major investment in treatment programs, we will ensure that all residents have access to high quality and affordable mental health services. But providing care is not enough. We must also support efforts the end the stigma around seeking help for mental illness. By fostering partnerships between the public and private sectors, and by finding, adapting, and adopting best practices from around the world, we can reduce substance abuse and suicide rates by 50% in Massachusetts in the next decade.

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Coakley

What steps would you take to address the gap in affordable mental health services?

Access to quality mental health care is an issue that is deeply personal to me. My brother Edward suffered from depression for most of his life, but he was reluctant to seek treatment because he thought it would lead people to stereotype him. Because he wouldn’t seek treatment, he was unable to hold a job or carry on a relationship, and he committed suicide in 1996, when he was 33.

The first priority in Massachusetts needs to be making sure that there is parity in insurance coverage for individuals with mental health needs. We have begun to implement this here in Massachusetts, but our next Governor will have to continue to shine a spotlight on this issue and ensure that insurance companies are not unfairly discriminating against those with mental health issues.

We also need to eliminate the stigma around mental health, and empower people with mental health issues to speak up and seek needed treatment without the fear of losing their job, being ostracized from their community, or otherwise being unfairly discriminated against. This starts with having a Governor who continually brings mental health care into the discussion about how we improve health care, generally, here in Massachusetts; I will do this.

Finally, we need to do more to identify children with mental health issues earlier. Research has shown that 50% of chronic, adult mental health disorders present before the age of 14. Working with schools and health care providers to improve early detection will allow us to connect those in need with critical care much sooner.

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Grossman

What steps would you take to address the gap in affordable mental health services?

I’m deeply disturbed that we have cut our funding for mental health services more than any other New England state since 2009. As governor, I will be an unwavering advocate to increase this funding and ensure our Commonwealth invests in its most vulnerable citizens during times of urgent need.

While Massachusetts has parity in the legal sense, we still do not yet have true mental health parity. Patients in an acute psychiatric emergency spend hours, sometimes days waiting in emergency rooms for the care they need. Outpatient mental health clinics are not paid adequately, and the result has been a reduction in service. In the face of financial challenges, psychiatric units of community hospitals face being closed. Long-term care patients remain stuck in state hospital beds after they are ready to return to the community, because there are no community placements for them.

My administration will commit the funds to ensure a robust community mental health system, and eliminate the systemic obstacles to ensuring that mental health consumers are able to receive services at the appropriate level of care. My administration will also bring together the health plans, public and private sector providers, advocates, and consumers to make sure that the health care system works as well for those with mental illness as it does for those with any other medical illness.

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Kayyem

What steps would you take to address the gap in affordable mental health services?

Addressing the gap in mental health and substance abuse services are a critical piece of ensuring every resident of Massachusetts is able to belong. It is imperative that we increase funding for these types of programs, which sadly, have seen a significant decline for funding over the years. One specific component to address is mental health in relation to veterans. Veterans who suffer from mental health problems, often as a result of the unfathomable trauma they experienced while in service or difficulties reintegrating when they return, are disproportionately represented within the criminal justice system. Left untreated, mental health disorders and/or related substance abuse can lead individuals into the criminal justice system.

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Health Disparities

[Question C6] What steps would you take to reduce racial and income disparities in health outcomes?

Berwick

What steps would you take to reduce racial and income disparities in health outcomes?

As a pediatrician, I learned that the health of children is determined by far more than the medical treatment they receive; it is determined by the food they eat, the air they breathe, the streets they walk on, and the educational support they benefit from. To truly address disparities in health, we must address the root causes of poverty, violence, and injustice. Health care is a human right, and disparities based on race or income level are unacceptable. We must make narrowing these gaps a top priority through targeted, community-level investment to encourage healthy lifestyles and communities. To achieve these aims, I would consider steps such as partnering with the private sector to increase the value of EBT cards at farmers markets.

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Coakley

What steps would you take to reduce racial and income disparities in health outcomes?

The tremendous progress Massachusetts has made in increasing access to quality health care sometimes obscures the fact that certain segments of the population still face barriers to care and experience depressed health outcomes. There are a number of changes we can make to achieve parity in health outcomes for everyone in Massachusetts:

• Increase access to primary care providers, particularly in low-income communities, and increase the percentage of primary care providers accepting subsidized insurance, like MassHealth.
• Support prevention programs targeted at the health concerns of specific communities.
• Increase public awareness about the existence and root causes of health disparities.
• Address the social and environmental conditions that lead to health disparities, including the availability of safe, clean housing, access to fresh, healthy food, proximity to parks and other open spaces, and differences in air quality.
• Encourage our non-profits to address this in their community benefits.

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Grossman

What steps would you take to reduce racial and income disparities in health outcomes?

By shifting care into community health centers and investing in preventive services, including wellness programs, substance abuse programs, and behavioral health programs, we can ensure that all residents, regardless of where they live, have access to quality care. Investing in these community health centers will require public-private partnerships, as Chapter 224 seeks to create.

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Kayyem

What steps would you take to reduce racial and income disparities in health outcomes?

Community health centers are one of the greatest tools we have for healthcare in Massachusetts, and one that we must empower and strengthen to help decrease health disparities we see across the Commonwealth. One incredible example of the success of community health centers can be seen with the Dimock Center in Roxbury. The Dimock center, overseen by President Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, provides help for those with mental health and substance abuse and is also the largest employer in Roxbury, with over four hundred staffers.

Community health centers like Dimock do more than just provide quality healthcare, they connect how they treat their patients back to the community, understand different demographics, and have developed the ability to properly treat new patient populations (impoverished specifically) in ways that we need to introduce to our other hospitals and health care facilities. We should treat Dimock as the model other community health care centers should look to for guidance. In addition to empowering our community health centers, we also need to grow partnerships between community health care centers and hospitals. Doing this will allow hospitals to adapt policies to properly accommodate changing populations, such as the impoverished.

If we empower community health centers, and establish partnerships between them and hospitals, we can correctly address health disparities in the Commonwealth.

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Implement Standards of Care and Costs Panel

[Question C7] Do you support establishing a state panel of experts (such as the Affordable Care Act’s IPAB/“Independent Payment Advisory Board”) to recommend high-value and cost-effective services?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem
• COAKLEY: I believe it is always important to draw on expert knowledge when tackling complex challenges like health care. As a result of the health care cost containment bill passed in 2012, there are already agencies, both independent and within state government, whose mission it is to advise the Governor on health care policy issues, including the Health Policy Commission and the independent Center for Health Information and Analysis. I would continue to work with these agencies and seek their input as we develop strategies to improve health care in Massachusetts.

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Pharmaceutical companies

[Question C8] Do you support prohibiting pharmaceutical companies from including direct-to-consumer drug advertising as tax-deductible expense?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Kayyem
• COAKLEY: As Governor, I would review this.
• GROSSMAN: We should explore either prohibiting or severely limiting these tax-deductible expenses.

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Bulk prescription programs

[Question C9] Do you support establishing a bulk prescription drug program that would provide lower cost prescription drugs for public employees?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem,

Do you support establishing this same program for all Massachusetts residents?

• SUPPORT: Berwick, Coakley, Grossman, Kayyem

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* PDF VERSION: HEALTHCARE excerpt

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain. 

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

Browse other questionnaires from other statewide races: progressivemass.com/2014statewide

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Share, with attribution, and amplify progressives' voices, questions and priorities during the 2014 campaigns. 
SOURCE CITE: progressivemass.com/2014statewide, Feb. 2014. 

[Section I and Section IV, excerpted from our questionnaire]

* ABOUT THE CANDIDATES

• Motivation |[ Don Berwick ]| |[ Martha Coakley ]| |[ Steve Grossman ]| |[ Juliette Kayyem]|
• Qualifications |[ Berwick ]| |[ Coakley]| |[ Grossman ]| |[ Kayyem ]|

* PHILOSOPHY AND PRIORITIES

• Role of Government |[ Berwick ]| |[ Coakley ]| |[ Grossman ]| |[ Kayyem ]|
• Top priorities |[ Berwick ]| |[ Coakley ]| |[ Grossman ]| |[ Kayyem ]|

* ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

• DON BERWICK
• MARTHA COAKLEY
• STEVE GROSSMAN
• JULIETTE KAYYEM

* PDF VERSION: VISION, QUALIFICATIONS, FINAL COMMENTS EXCERPT

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

[Section I of our questionnaire]

Motivation

[Question 1]Why are you running for office?

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Don Berwick

Why are you running for office?

I have never held elected office and have spent my career outside politics, focused, instead, on innovation and executive leadership. I founded and led for 19 years the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), which became one of the world’s largest nonprofits focused on health system improvement. President Obama then asked me to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington – an agency with a budget larger than the Pentagon’s, with responsibility for leading health care reform in our nation.

I am running for Governor because – with the gridlock in Washington and public trust near all-time lows – this nation needs a beacon to show the rest of the country that bold, progressive leadership can work and deliver for the people. Massachusetts can and should be that beacon. We are a state that has compassion. We made health care a right in 2006, eight years before the rest of the nation. We were the first state that said you can marry the person you love. And we have the best energy policy in the nation

We need a government that fights for social justice, equality, compassion, and an economy that allows everyone to thrive.  As Massachusetts Governor, that will be my fight.

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Martha Coakley

Why are you running for office?

I am running for Governor because I believe we are at a critical time here in Massachusetts. As our recovery continues, we have the opportunity to build an economy in the Commonwealth that is better for everyone, not just those at the very top. We already have some of the best public schools in the world, but we have the opportunity to give every child an even better chance to reach their full potential by expanding access to early education and better aligning instruction with workforce needs. And we must continue our work on health care, to improve accessibility and affordability; especially to high-quality mental health care, which is so important to so many families here in Massachusetts.

We need a strong, Democratic leader in the corner office to help our state seize the opportunities that are laid out before us. As Attorney General, I took on the challenges that were important to people in Massachusetts, from opposing DOMA to helping keep thousands of families in their homes by taking on the big banks. My record of leadership on critical issues, and my clear vision for our state, give me the skills and drive to tackle the challenges we will face in the next eight years, both those we can anticipate and those we can’t, and to continue to build on the remarkable progress we have made together.

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Steve Grossman

Why are you running for office?

I am running for governor because I believe the people of Massachusetts want proven leadership that leaves no one behind. At a time when 250,000 of our fellow citizens are out of work, 800,000 are on food stamps, and nearly 1 million people lack a single hour of earned sick time, rampant income and economic inequality is the defining challenge we face as a Commonwealth and as a nation. When I’m governor, I’ll change that. I’ll work tirelessly to ensure that all residents, no matter which city or town they live in, have a fair shot to get ahead and create a brighter future.

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Juliette Kayyem

Why are you running for office?

We have to solve our challenges with bold, innovative ideas. Without these ideas and a real plan for progress we cannot utilize government’s capacity to help people when they need it most. We cannot let the tired ideas of the past slow us down, because the challenges are too great. There are too many of us in Massachusetts who feel like they don’t belong, too many who can’t afford college, too many remain unemployed or underemployed, and too many of our young people are relegated to a life in and out of prison. I am not saying that tackling these issues will be easy, they are not. But we can tackle the tough issues; we can bring jobs to Massachusetts that are sustainable and that will make Massachusetts competitive in the increasingly complex world we live in. We can ease the burden for everyone in Massachusetts so people are not so worried about putting their children through school and about finding a lasting job. We can close the income inequality gap to ensure that no family struggles to put food on their table. We can expand universal Pre-K and after school programs to help young children, and dramatically reduce the number of young people put in jail for non-violent crimes.

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Qualifications

[Question 2] What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

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Don Berwick

What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

While much of my background is in health care, most of my professional career has been focused on improving large systems and organizations. As a non-profit executive, I grew a small seed grant into one of the largest organizations in the world focused on health care improvement, with a $40 million annual budget and projects throughout the world and in every state in the union. Even during the most recent recession, we froze executive pay and bonuses, and never laid off a single employee.

In government, I led Medicare and Medicaid – the largest agency in federal government, with a budget larger than the Pentagon’s – during the early implementation of the most significant health care reform since the creation of Medicare. I am proud of my role in implementing the Affordable Care Act; we were able to ensure that young people can stay on their parents’ plans until the age of 26, children with preexisting conditions can no longer be denied the care they need, and insurance company rates are now subject to new levels of transparency.

My experience in innovation, executive leadership, and breakthrough improvement, coupled with my progressive vision for our Commonwealth, prepare me to serve as our next Governor.

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Martha Coakley

What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

As I mentioned briefly above, I have spent my life in public service. Shortly after I graduated from law school, I joined the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, where I ran the Child Abuse Unit and developed strategies to better address domestic violence; I was then elected District Attorney myself in 1999. In 2006, I had the tremendous honor to be elected the first female Attorney General in Massachusetts, and to be reelected in 2010.

I am proud of the work I have done throughout my career to address the important issues facing people in Massachusetts. From recovering millions of dollars from contractors involved in the Big Dig and taking on banks that knowingly sold risky loans, to holding the EPA accountable for enforcing greenhouse gas regulations and working to better address bullying in our schools, I have worked to make our state a place that is more equal, more fair, and where everyone has the opportunity to build a better life.

I could not have done it alone, however, and my time as AG has shown me the importance of articulating a vision and then building the best team, and working with partners across the state, including local government, businesses, non-profits, and individuals, to achieve our shared goals. This inclusive approach to leadership is even more critical as Governor, because government cannot hope to tackle the major challenges we face alone; I will bring a proven record of inclusiveness to the corner office to help harness all of our collective energy and ideas.   

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Steve Grossman

What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

I am the only Democratic candidate for governor who has spent a lifetime creating jobs and economic opportunity. First, I’ve created jobs for more than 35 years at our family business, a union shop for 62 years that has never once had a matter go to arbitration and has had earned sick time for more than 25 years. Second, I’ve created jobs as state treasurer, where we launched the Small Business Banking Partnership. I’ll bring to the Corner Office a proven track record of building consensus and collaboration among my colleagues to implement common-sense solutions that can change peoples’ lives and create widely shared economic opportunity.

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Juliette Kayyem

What prepares you to serve in this capacity?

I worked for President Clinton and Deval Patrick at the Justice Department, where I took on institutional discrimination. I advocated through federal authority to have one of the first anti-bullying complaints resolved. When military institutions denied women equal access to education, I was a part of the team that fought and won them their rights at the Virginia Military Institute, and at the Citadel. When I was a columnist for the Boston Globe, I took on an administration I had personally worked for when I called on the Pentagon to end its female combat exclusion rule. My work was affirmed when the Pentagon decided to lift the prohibition in recognition of women’s contribution to the war effort.

When Governor Patrick asked me to be the first Under Secretary for Homeland Security, I took on Beacon Hill to implement the first interoperability plan for our first responders. When President Obama asked me to manage the clean up of the Gulf Coast after the BP oil spill, I knew lives and livelihoods, not to mention our environment, were on the line. Engaging over 60 federal agencies, five states, and numerous local partners we were able to turn around one of the worst environmental disasters in history.

I am the only candidate in this race to have executive leadership experience at both the state and federal levels, and I have made government work in some of the most difficult situations. I worked across the aisle, and beside people that I didn’t politically agree with, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, and Haley Barbour to name a few; however, when crises happen we must put ideological differences aside to solve whatever problem we face. I have made my career managing crises and finding solutions for the most difficult challenges our state and nation have been forced to face.

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Role of Government

[Question 3] What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents' daily lives?

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Don Berwick

What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents' daily lives?

Government plays an essential role in helping us create the communities we want to live in.

I am a progressive. I believe that government can and must play a positive role in the lives of our citizens, and especially in the lives of the most vulnerable among us. I believe that we have a moral obligation as a society to help those who need help. Throughout my campaign, I have been inspired by the words of Senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who said:

"The moral test of government is how it treats people in the dawn of life – the children, people in the twilight of life – the elderly, and people in the shadows of life – the sick, the needy, and the handicapped."

I believe that compassion is not a luxury, but a core value for proper government. If government does not show compassion – most crucially in helping the least fortunate in our communities – the damage to our social fabric is profound. I have never heard a better description of such compassion than Humphrey's words.

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Martha Coakley

What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents' daily lives?

Government plays a vital role in the life of every resident of Massachusetts. From the day-to-day responsibilities like repairing roads and ensuring public safety, to taking on the critical challenges of our time including climate change, inequality, and public health.

Government should be there to ensure that everyone is treated equally, that there is a basic level of fairness, and that everyone has the best possible chance to succeed. And we must allow our businesses to grow and incentivize innovative solutions to our greatest challenges, but also make sure competition is encouraged and consumers are treated fairly.  

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Steve Grossman

What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents' daily lives?

Faced with the worst economic crisis our country has ever seen, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt rebuilt our middle class and restored the confidence of the American people. Seventy seven years ago, in his second inaugural address, Roosevelt said, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those  who have too little.” Right here in Massachusetts, far too many of our fellow citizens still have too little to make ends meet – too little education, too few jobs, too little healthcare, too little hope, and too little dignity. I believe the role of government is to level the playing field for all people and create equality of opportunity.

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Juliette Kayyem

What do you think is the proper role of government in Massachusetts residents' daily lives?

Government has the capacity to do good, but I know that it can do better. The political establishment says that not everyone belongs in this conversation. I disagree. We need a conversation that solves the problems of our time with a sense of urgency, but we must also do so in a way that is the right solution for the long-haul, that demonstrates a real plan for progress, that brings people in and keeps them there.

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Top Priorities

[Question 4] If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

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Don Berwick

If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

First, as a father, grandfather, and pediatrician, I put great stock in the wellbeing and future of our children.  We do well by Massachusetts children in many respects, but I want to raise the bar.  I want us to be an example for the world of a total community dedicated to the development and wellbeing of its children. We should promise every child under five years of age – and the families that nurture them – the support and environment that assure that they will enter lives that are safe, emotionally enriching, and healthy, and that allow them to develop their skills and talents to the fullest extent possible.  As Governor, I will organize and personally lead a statewide, community-by-community effort to coordinate public and private services that guaranty success and readiness for kids under five, and for their families (of any structure).  I will help Massachusetts communities that want to join in that endeavor to do so together, through cooperation, learning and continual sharing of best practices.

Second, I believe that income inequality will be the issue that defines the next decade. In recent years, incomes for the wealthiest among us have increased dramatically, while middle and working class wages have remained stagnant at best. I will aggressively move toward polices that increase upward mobility, and that create opportunities for everyone to benefit from participation in an economy that is growing and thriving.

Third, the next Governor will need to control the cost of health care. Chapter 224 is a good start, but if we don't see serious cost reduction on an aggressive schedule, we need to be ready to act, and act quickly. That's why I am the only candidate in the 2014 Governor's race to put the possibility of a single payer health care system on the table. The complexity of our health care payment system adds costs, uncertainties, and hassles for everyone – patients, families, doctors, and employers, and single payer is one way to remedy that.  Equally, we need to work to transform our health delivery system into one focused on teamwork, continuity, prevention, and wellness.  The Triple Aim – better care, better health, and lower cost through improvement, which I have worked toward for three decades – will be the constant focus of my agenda in health care.

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Martha Coakley

If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

1. Building an economy that creates good-paying jobs and that works for everyone, across every region of the Commonwealth, not just those at the very top. And implementing strategies to reduce the high level of income inequality in Massachusetts, including raising the minimum wage and providing for earned sick time.
2. Improving our public education system to give all children, regardless of their income bracket, the best possible chance to reach their full potential.
3. Controlling the cost of health care, while maintaining our first-in-the-nation levels of access and quality, and decreasing stigma while improving access to high-quality mental and behavioral health care.

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Steve Grossman

If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

1) Within the context of creating between 75,000 and 100,000 jobs annually, I’ve set a goal of creating 50,000 new manufacturing jobs over the next five years mostly in our older, industrial cities by investing in our vocational-technical schools and closing the skills gap.
2) My education plan includes fully funding a universal pre-kindergarten program for every four-year-old in Massachusetts, providing all students, no matter where they live and how much money they have, a fair shot at reading by the third grade.
3) I will advocate for a comprehensive initiative with respect to climate change and reducing our carbon footprint that will build on Governor Patrick’s successes in renewable energy, expand our commitment to electric cars, and allocate 1 percent of our state budget to environmental programs to ensure the successful implementation of our priorities.

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Juliette Kayyem

If elected, what would be your top 3 priorities?

Every person who is running to be the next Governor has to be focused on education, infrastructure and job creation. But if we want to continue to push for government to do good we must focus on more than a silo view of policy. As Governor Patrick has done we must have a view that is both for fixing the problems of today with an eye towards the future. In this respect we must reform our criminal justice system, reduce and prepare for climate change, and ensure equality for all especially women.  

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[Section IV] Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

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DON BERWICK

Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts, or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

I believe that the most important foundation for success in any organization, community, or political entity rests on shared values.  When values are weak, strategy cannot work; and when values are strong, successful strategy will almost inevitably emerge.  This nation is at serious risk today because of a growing failure among our leaders to articulate the very values that have allowed America to be a moral leader and the engine of democracy throughout the world.  The silence has been filled too often by voices of self-interest and “win-lose” theories of predatory markets as some sort of route to excellence.

The values for our community and Commonwealth that I hold most dear are these: social justice, equality, and compassion.  I want us to be a state that evinces every day in our public action the same commitments that will characterize the community I want to live in – a community where we can count on each other, act on our most generous and loving instincts, and protecting those among us who, without that protection, would suffer.  To get there we need to reestablish, without apology or fear of being called naïve, the moral vocabulary of a truly great nation.  That means a renewal of our faith in ourselves and of our commitments to each other, and of government’s essential role in acting on that.  Let Massachusetts lead the way in that for a nation that badly needs to find its compass again.

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MARTHA COAKLEY

Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts, or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

No response

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STEVE GROSSMAN

Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts, or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

I have championed many progressive policies throughout my lifetime and long before it was politically popular to do so.

On equal justice for all, my wife Barbara and I have stood shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT community for the past 15 years. As chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) under President Bill Clinton, I re-established the DNC’s gay and lesbian caucus and hired the DNC’s first full-time director of gay and lesbian outreach.

On economic fairness, beyond simply supporting an increase in the minimum wage to $11 an hour, I have taken a further step and said that as governor, I would veto any bill that cuts unemployment benefits.

On reducing our carbon footprint, in 2007, our family business Grossman Marketing Group replaced the carbon-based fuel it had been using with 100 percent certified wind power.

On criminal justice reform, I strongly believe we must overhaul mandatory minimum sentences for low-level offenders.

On civil rights and civil liberties, I’m deeply concerned about the erosion of privacy. I support smart policing, in which the expansion of wiretapping is reserved for investigation of specified crimes, not fishing expeditions from authorities that seek to gather as much data as possible regardless of its relevance to criminal investigations.

On financing our robust transportation agenda, I’m strongly in support of indexing the gas tax to inflation and oppose efforts to repeal this legislation.

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JULIETTE KAYYEM

Use this space to add any other issues important to your vision for Massachusetts, or any other matter you think progressive voters should know about your candidacy.

You will see that I omitted or did not answer yes or no on some questions. I strongly believe in governments’ ability to do good, but believe it can always do better. Governor Patrick has demonstrated a political compass that continues to push progressive values. To continue this push we need bold and innovative solutions to solve the problems of today with an eye towards the future. This means not being theoretical in ideas, but putting forth plans that can work to lift up every resident so they have a feeling of belonging. This campaign must be about those ideas, as we as candidates need to use the campaign to be a better Governor, not use it as a way to make promises that we cannot keep.

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* PDF VERSION: VISION, QUALIFICATIONS, FINAL COMMENTS EXCERPT

Candidates' original responses are here: progressivemass.com/2014govmain. 

BROWSE MORE OF THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES' QUESTIONNAIRE: 

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

Browse other questionnaires from other statewide races: progressivemass.com/2014statewide

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