Senate candidates vie to show their green credentials

Alan Khazei may have topped them all with a story about his young daughter’s reaction when he told her he was running for US Senate.

“Daddy, if you’re senator, you can help me get my gas-free, battery-powered scooter built,” he said. “So I’ve got a 7-year-old environmentalist at home.”

The candidates have differed on few issues during the US Senate Democratic primary, which has less than three weeks remaining before voters head to the polls on Dec. 8, and today’s forum offered few distinctions.

They all supported a wind farm in Nantucket Sound, a significant departure from their predecessor, Edward M. Kennedy, who vociferously opposed the plan to install wind turbines in federal waters off the coast of Cape Cod.

The candidates differed slightly on how they would vote on a climate change bill, even if it included provisions that provided incentives for nuclear power and off-shore drilling. All four candidates said they opposed offshore drilling; Coakley was the only one open to providing federal subsidies for nuclear power, saying “nuclear can’t be off the table.”

Pagliuca said he would vote against it, because he doesn’t approve of federal subsidies for nuclear power and offshore drilling. Coakely didn’t answer directly, and Capuano said, “I would have to see what’s in the whole bill.”

Khazei said he would vote in favor of the legislation, noting, “If Senator Kerry and Senator Reid and President Obama said this is the best we can do, I will vote for it.”

That approach prompted criticism from Capuano, who said, “You would vote for any bill that the president told you to vote for, it doesn’t matter what it is? You have no free will on this issue whatsoever?”

Khazei repeatedly chastised Coakley and Capuano for taking campaign donations from lobbyists and political action committees. He brought the issue up so many times that at least twice he apologized for mentioning it yet again.

At one point, in the most heated exchange of the forum, he looked to his right at Coakley.

“I’m curious Martha, I have a question for you,” Khazei said before audience members started hissing. “Do you think that the big oil industry lobbyists that are raising money for your campaign and contributing to you will expect you to side with them, or the citizens who want climate change?”

“I’ve always disclosed where I get my money from,” Coakley responded. “And I’ve always made my decisions based upon the merits of the issue.”

Several minutes later, Khazei suggested that he wouldn't meet with any lobbyists, if elected.

“I’d just like to ask a question,” Capuano said, looking at Khazei. “Does that include the lobbyists for the Sierra Club?” Khazei paused briefly before answering, “Yes.”

After the forum, Khazei confirmed that he had meant that he would never meet with a lobbyist.

But about three hours later, Khazei sent out a statement saying his comment that he wouldn’t meet with lobbyists “was a mistake on my part” and that “I should have said that I will be open to hearing all views.”

The candidates were also asked if they would loosen federal protection of seals. Populations of the animals, once considered such pests that Massachusetts placed bounties on them, has again surged. Fishermen complain that the seals are gobbling up all the fish, and the seals are camping out on beaches and some say may one day threaten tourism dollars.

“I like seals,” Khazei said. “The answer is no...I’m for seals.”

Capuano said that while he’s not yet in favor of allowing seals to be killed, “fisherman are an endangered species.”

“As someone who can’t kill a fly, I think I would have a hard time killing a seal,” Pagliuca said. “But maybe we could bring sharks in.”

Capuano and Coakley both said they drive a Ford Escape. Khazei said he drives a 15-year-old Toyota Corolla wagon, and Pagliuca said he has a Lexus hybrid, as well as a 10-year-old Lexus he’s hoping to soon replace.

They were also asked who their environmental hero was.

“I don’t know,” Capuano said. “John Audubon? I haven’t got a clue.” When a panelist pointed out that Audubon also shot birds, he quipped, “They wouldn’t sit still to be painted, what can I tell you?”

Coakley picked James R. Milkey, an environmentalist who is currently a Massachusetts appellate judge. Khazei said Rachel Carson and Al Gore. Pagliuca, the last to answer, had written Gore down on a piece of paper, knowing someone else would mention him.

None could define the term ocean acidification (though Pagliuca tried unsuccessfully to explain it and the crowd groaned). For the curious, it is a decrease in pH levels that harms the ability of many organisms from building shells and skeletal structures.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.