Candidates asked to address state’s toughest social woes

Representatives of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, a group of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders with a stated mission of fighting social ills including economic inequality, pressed the candidates on several hot-button issues at the meeting held at Temple Israel of Boston.

The organization does not endorse candidates, but prefers to start a dialogue with all of them, said Abby Flam, co-vice president. “We want to build a relationship with the next governor,’’ said Flam, a member of Temple Emmanuel in Newton.

The Rev. Hurmon Hamilton of Roxbury Presbyterian Church said during early remarks that “in God’s political calculation, God takes the poor, those at the bottom, and raises them’’ as well as the middle class, prompting applause from the crowd of more than 1,500 in attendance.

Republican Charles D. Baker, independent Timothy Cahill, Democratic incumbent Deval Patrick, and Jill Stein of the Green-Rainbow Party were asked about their strategies for helping the downtrodden and those harmed by what the organization views as abusive banking practices, such as arbitrary interest rate hikes and unlawful home foreclosures.

All of the candidates pledged that, if elected, they would help Haitian refugees displaced by the Jan. 12 earthquake find work and adequate housing, dedicate $8 million in their first budget proposal for jobs to combat youth violence, and press state authorities to move public funds out of four large banks until they demonstrate clearly that they are following state usury laws.

However, they disagreed on the methods for achieving those ends.

Baker and Patrick, the two front-runners, who are in a very tight race according to recent polls, took occasional jabs at each other.

Baker said expanding the number of charter schools would help disadvantaged youth succeed and turn away from violence. But, he said, the current waiting list for charters is too long.

“Anybody who has ever watched a family or a child sit through a [charter] lottery . . . knows exactly what I’m talking about,’’ Baker said.

Patrick said his administration has raised the state cap on charters, but those schools alone cannot close the achievement gap.

“We can talk all day long about charter schools,’’ he said. But problems will persist “if we don’t get the district schools right,’’ he said.

Patrick and Baker also took what appeared to be swipes at Cahill’s performance as state treasurer.

On the banking question, Baker said he supported state investment in community banks that help small businesses, adding, “this is more of a treasury issue than a governor’s issue.’’

Patrick said that officials should closely examine the quasi-public agencies that invest in large banks.

“Because that’s where a lot of the cash is,’’ he said.

Cahill, who as treasurer heads such an agency, the Massachusetts School Building Authority, said that under his leadership, the state has divested funds from several large banks and is working with another to ensure that the bank is not harming borrowers.

He urged those in attendance to “keep the pressure’’ on the next governor to continue to repair aging schools — which, he said, the authority has done under his watch.

Stein, who is running a distant fourth in most polls, said in her responses that as governor she would fight for equity in education funding, lower health care costs by trimming administrative budgets, and fund more youth programs by cutting tax incentives for large developers, among other priorities.

“With business as usual, we’re seeing the fortunate few become even more fortunate,’’ she said.

All four candidates also signed a pledge to oppose two referendum questions on the Nov. 2 ballot: Question 2, which would repeal the state’s affordable housing law, and Question 3, which would cut the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent.

But Cahill and Baker both support Question 1, which would repeal the state alcohol tax that pays for several addiction treatment programs.

That divide was not lost on the Rev. Burns Stanfield of Fourth Presbyterian Church in South Boston, who thanked Patrick and Stein for their opposition to the measure, which he said would harm addicts.

As a pastor, he said, “I’ve seen the devastation of alcoholism.’’

The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization members also urged those in the audience to take steps on their own to help the state.

Rev. Rosemary Lloyd of First Church in Boston, Unitarian Universalist, said attendees should open accounts in community banks.

“We can send a message to those big banks that enough is enough,’’ she said.

While the candidates were not directly asked how they would protect religious freedom if elected, one of last night’s speakers, Nancy Khalil of the Muslim American Society of Boston, spoke about how intolerance has affected her. She said a man at a coffee shop recently told her that “not all Muslims are killers, but all killers are Muslims,’’ prompting gasps from the crowd.

Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com.