Healey, Patrick get testy

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, trailing her Democratic rival in the polls, zeroed in last night on Deval L . Patrick by painting him as a lavish spender of tax dollars who is beholden to State House special interests.

In the fourth televised debate among the candidates, Healey for the first time did not accuse Patrick of being soft on crime, choosing instead to highlight what she called "very stark" differences with him on taxes, spending, and immigration.

"Deval, you know that all around the State House this week there's just been a buzz, which is -- we're so excited that Deval Patrick will be our next governor because he's going to be a rubber stamp for every single spending proposal that we have," Healey said. "He's going to fulfill our agenda. He's going to do what we want [him] to do. I've been up here long enough so that I know what they want to do is spend taxpayers' money without regard to the work that went into every single dollar."

Patrick agreed that the state should help strapped taxpayers, but by first paying for crumbling bridges and roads and state programs in order to nurture economic expansion, not by rolling back the state income tax rate to 5 percent. Healey wants to cut the rate immediately.

"It's their money," Patrick said of the taxpayers. "It's also their broken roads and their overcrowded schools. It's their broken neighborhoods and broken neighbors."

Patrick also pushed back with strong denunciations of the Healey-Romney administration on issues of education and taxes and for failing to enforce immigration hiring laws.

But he also offered praise for several of Healey's proposals, including pension reform and the expansion of drug addiction treatment programs.

Testy exchanges between Patrick and Healey highlighted the hourlong debate broadcast by CBS4. Healey is seeking to gain some traction after a Suffolk University-7News poll released Tuesday showed Patrick leading her by 27 percentage points, 53-26, with less than two weeks to go before Election Day on Nov. 7.

She appeared tired at times, but asked aggressive questions of Patrick during a portion of the debate that allowed the candidates to engage one another directly.

The two major party candidates, along with independent Christy Mihos and Green-Rainbow Party nominee Grace Ross, also answered questions on issues that have received less attention during the campaign, including gun control, the right of self-defense in one's home, and the legalization of marijuana.

Mihos, who has been tough on Healey in past debates, turned his sights on Patrick, accusing him of taking campaign donations from special interests and Big Dig contractors.

"These are the special interests that you and the Republican s are taking money hand over fist . . . whether it be Big Dig contractors or their lobbyists, you name it," Mihos said. "It's going to be very difficult for you to do anything different than any one of them if you're elected governor."

Patrick replied, "Name one Big Dig contractor I've taken money from."

Mihos, referring to a firm headed by Thomas P. O'Neill III, said: "Tom O'Neill and Associates is a lobbyist. They've represented the Big Dig."

Patrick said: "Name one Big Dig contractor I've taken money from. . . . You haven't named one yet."

The firm, which represents the Big Dig's major contractor, Bechtel Parsons/Brinckerhoff, sponsored a Patrick fund-raiser last month that netted more than $20,000. Patrick has insisted that he received no money from any Big Dig firm.

"I've taken no money from any Big Dig contractor, and I won't," Patrick said. "The reason I won't is because Bechtel and the whole cadre of contractors -- and we agree on this -- have got to be held accountable. There is entirely too many interrelationships politically and personally between the folks whose jobs it is to oversee this project and the folks who are responsible for billions of dollars of cost overruns and shoddy workmanship."

Healey asked the candidates if they had voted for or against the 2000 ballot question that called on the state to roll back the income tax rate to 5 percent. Patrick, who has not voted in at least six elections over the last decade, said he could not remember how he voted on the 2000 state tax rollback; records indicate that he did cast a ballot in the November 2000 general election. Mihos said he voted for it and supports an immediate cut, Ross said she voted against and opposes it.

At another point, Healey chided Patrick for expensive campaign promises, saying it would cost $8 billion to implement his spending proposals. He tried to turn the tables on her, arguing that her proposals would also cost taxpayers.

"Lieutenant Governor, when you're talking about a balanced budget, you're talking about a $700 million income tax rollback," Patrick said. "You're talking about $114 million in forgone tolls. You're talking about all kinds of [campaign proposals], many of which require new spending. That is what you are putting on the table as a way forward. . . . And it doesn't add up. It does not balance."

On immigration, Patrick sought to deflect Healey's repeated attacks on him for advocating driver's licenses and in-state college tuition rates for illegal immigrants. He accused her and Governor Mitt Romney of allowing state contractors to hire undocumented workers.

"We have public information that your own government, your own administration, has been giving millions of dollars of government contracts to construction companies who do this very thing, and the question, I think, is: Who's in charge? When are you going to take responsibility for that?" Patrick asked Healey.

"We're not an investigatory agency; it's the attorney general's job," Healey shot back.

"Why don't you just stop writing those checks," Patrick said. ". . . Debar those construction companies. Use the levers you have."

The contentious issue of crime, which Healey had made a central part of her campaign, was all but missing at the debate, although the lieutenant governor had the opportunity to raise the issue early on when moderator CBS4 political analyst Jon Keller asked the candidates their position on the use of self-defense when an intruder enters someone's home.

Polls indicate her attacks on Patrick over crime have hurt her standing with voters. Healey never mentioned convicted rapist Benjamin LaGuer, whom Patrick had once recommended for parole. She has highlighted his support of LaGuer in two controversial television ads.

Patrick, Healey, and Mihos all opposed any decriminalization of marijuana, even for just a small amount. Ross never answered the question directly, but said the more important issue is expanding treatment programs for drug addicts.

The final debate among the four candidates is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 1, at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall.