Four Democrats vie for open Senate seat

WEST MEDFORD -- State Representative Patricia D. Jehlen was knocking on door after door, searching for committed voters home on a stunning summer morning this week, when a worried neighbor issued a complaint.

He doesn't want the Green Line extended through Somerville into West Medford, he said, because commuters will flood his leafy neighborhood looking for convenient places to park. ''It's only so the Winchesters can get a better place to ride into Boston," he griped.

''I know people are worried about that, but I don't feel any consensus at all," Jehlen responded.

Such is the dilemma of a candidate trying to appeal to the voters of the Second Middlesex District. Spanning the congested, urban streets of Somerville; moderate, blue-collar Medford; the broad lawns of conservative Winchester; and a sliver of working-class Woburn, the district tosses together communities with clashing identities and sometimes opposing interests.

In Tuesday's special primary election, four Democrats are vying for the state Senate seat of Charles E. Shannon Jr., who died at 61 in April.

Jehlen, 61, a onetime schoolteacher who has represented Somerville in the House since 1991, has collected endorsements from liberal and labor organizations including the Sierra Club, the Boston Teachers Union, and MassEquality, which advocates for gay marriage.

Jehlen's predecessor in the House, Joseph Mackey, 54, also lives in Somerville and has worked as an organizer of youth sports leagues. The lawyer, who has been out of office for 15 years after running an unsuccessful race for district attorney, picked up endorsements from the Boston Globe, Somerville Journal, Somerville News, and Shannon's widow, Dorothy.

Also running is Medford's Michael Callahan, 61, an old-school member of the Governor's Council who focuses on local issues, such as getting more police and firefighters. Callahan was endorsed by the mayors of Medford and Woburn and several unions, including the National Association of Government Employees.

Paul Casey, 44, a Winchester state representative, touts his fiscal conservatism and economic development incentives and is the only contender who opposes gay marriage. He was a loyal committee chairman under former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran.

The winner of Tuesday's primary will face William A. White Jr., a Somerville alderman and a Republican, in the Sept. 27 general election.

The district is heavily Democratic, but Shannon ran as a Republican in 1989 and defeated a Democratic incumbent, before switching parties seven years later.

With the special election scheduled Tuesday, before many people return from summer vacations, turnout is expected to be low, so the campaigns trained their sights on dedicated voters and deluged them with phone calls, mail, and doorstep visits.

In interviews with the Globe, and in a televised debate with CBS4 political analyst Jon Keller, the candidates expressed their views on issues important in the district.

TaxesNone of the candidates favors the income tax rollback that Governor Mitt Romney has repeatedly proposed. Casey called it a ''pie-in-the-sky political maneuver," and Callahan said it would be a ''disaster." All call for restoring local aid that was cut in recent state budgets.

''I know two people that died because of budget cuts," said Jehlen, who blamed the lack of available beds at Somerville detoxification centers. ''No more tax cuts of any sort."

When asked during the Keller debate whether they would like to make it easier for towns to override Proposition 2 1/2 tax limits, which restrict growth in towns' revenues and tax rates, Jehlen and Mackey both called on the governor to tap recent budget surpluses to restore local aid, rather than cut taxes.

''The state has to shoulder its fair share," said Mackey. ''The communities we want to represent have lost 20 percent of funding since 2002. We have to reverse that trend."

Callahan said that instead of encouraging towns to override tax limits, the state should boost local aid and let more lottery revenue flow to city and town budgets. ''All that money was supposed to go to cities and towns," he said during the debate. ''Take the cap off the lottery."

Casey, a former chairman of the House tax committee, said municipalities should soon benefit from the state's sound fiscal planning and savings, but he urged restraint at all levels of government.

''You can't spend money like a drunken sailor," he said.

Slot machinesThis fall, the Legislature is expected to consider a measure to place slot machines at racetracks. Callahan, a former assistant state racing commissioner, favors the idea and said his research shows that two-thirds of the district's voters do, too, if the tax revenue goes to specifically dedicated programs.

Callahan, who cared for his late mother for 15 years as she struggled with a form of dementia, proposes to use a portion of slot machine revenue to help families dealing with such crises.

''We would like to keep the flow of the money in Massachusetts," said Callahan, who said Massachusetts residents are now gambling in Connecticut or Rhode Island.

Casey also supports slot machines, but said the legislation must be carefully crafted, so that the state reclaims more than 60 percent of the revenue. Though he does not worry that slots would compete with the state lottery, he said racetracks should compete to have the machines.

Jehlen and Mackey both oppose slot machines out of concern that they would siphon gambling dollars from the lottery or drain gamblers' bank accounts.

''I would listen to the arguments on existing horsetracks, but I've got some serious concerns even there," Mackey said.

HealthcareNo candidate embraces Romney's healthcare proposal that would make individuals responsible for carrying their own insurance.

''You're just going to have the burden on people who really can't afford healthcare and somebody has to pick up the slack," Casey said.

Instead, he said, he would pursue single-payer healthcare by incrementally expanding state coverage for children, senior citizens' prescriptions, and senior healthcare, arguing that the gradual approach would place less stress on the budget.

Mackey advocated the same incremental approach during the Keller debate. His campaign calls for expanding senior assisted-living facilities as one way to trim the expense of nursing care.

Asked by Keller whether they would support mandatory taxes on businesses that do not provide their own healthcare, only Jehlen said yes.

She said exemptions and caps on extraordinary expenses could help small businesses absorb the costs.

The other three said they feared that the burden would be too heavy on small businesses.

Debate slated

Four Democratic candidates for Tuesday's special Senate election face off in a televised debate on CBS4 tomorrow at 8:35 a.m. Polls are open Tuesday between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. in the Second Middlesex District, which includes Medford, Winchester, one ward in Woburn, and most of Somerville. The winner faces Republican William White, a Somerville alderman, in the Sept. 27 general election.