Governor candidates seek to move beyond controversy

Independent candidate Timothy Cahill, who last week filed a lawsuit against former aides, accusing them of colluding with the Republican Governors Association to aid his Republican rival, Charles Baker, was asked first about the hubbub. He saidhe felt he was being sabotaged by the Republicans.

Baker stressed his campaign had no part in any strategy devised by Cahill’s former aides, and said Cahill’s former running mate, Paul Loscocco, had called him to offer his support.

When asked by Oakes how voters should judge his character for standing with Loscocco at a press conference the day Loscocco defected from Cahill's campaign, Baker said they should judge him for his pledge to cut taxes and rebuild the economy, the reasons Loscocco decided to support him.

Governor Deval Patrick drew the only applause of the morning, in what turned out to be a mostly mild debate, when he denied that his office or the Democratic party was involved in any collusion with Cahill, as Loscocco has claimed.

“That charge is nonsense, no one has provided a lick of proof for it, and I deny it categorically,” Patrick said, huffing that the focus instead should be on schools and healthcare, pension and lobbying reform.

“They talk about it, but we do it,” he said. “We need to talk about what we’re going to do in the second term, and not this sideshow.”

The fourth candidate, Jill Stein, the Green-Rainbow Party nominee, said the back-and-forth represented the political backstabbing that voters come to think of when they think of Beacon Hill.

During the rest of the debate before the business crowd, the candidates differed on tax policy, health care reform, and state regulation, and what it will take to lure more businesses to Massachusetts.

Baker said the state will need to cut taxes and reduce spending to lure big businesses here, while Patrick said that executives look at factors beyond taxes, such as infrastructure and whether a workforce is properly trained.

Cahill, noting that he started a small business decades ago, proposed tax relief for small businesses in the first three years they are trying to develop.

During a lightning round session, in which the candidates were required to give 10-second answers to questions, Cahill and Baker said they opposed the Cape Wind project because the energy would cost too much, while Patrick said the state has to take into account the development of new, green energy in deciding what projects to support. Stein said she would look at the project and energy contract to find ways to reduce costs.

All four of the candidates also said they would vote against a ballot question that would repeal the Chapter 40B affordable housing law, though they agreed the law should be restructured.