Beyond the debate
IF THE CENTRAL question in last night's gubernatorial debate was how to stop Massachusetts' population loss and put the state back on a positive economic track, the answer was far from comprehensive.
Little attention was given to lowering the high cost of housing -- a major deterrent to locating here, especially close to Boston. And the four candidates who appeared on the New England Cable News debate offered varying views about the role that taxes, regulation, education, and transportation should play.
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly continued to argue that the state has enough money to roll the income tax back to 5 percent from its current 5.3 percent, as voted by the public in 2000. But no one countered effectively by pointing out that major state responsibilities, including public higher education, aid to cities and towns, and state parks, are still funded far below 2000 levels.
Deval Patrick, a former assistant US attorney general, showed some breadth of vision by linking his response to the housing crisis with transportation and regional planning issues, but the debate format allowed little room for detail. Patrick, the only candidate to support the Cape Wind project, made sure to remind viewers of that stand. But he lost points for ducking the question on whether New Bedford officials are right to challenge the MCAS graduation requirement for high schoolers.
The third Democrat, Chris Gabrieli, an entrepreneur and candidate for lieutenant governor four years ago, was effective in pulling public education into the debate and emphasizing his considerable work to extend the school day. He also defended his proposal for state support of stem cell research, saying California and New York could suck that industry out of the state, although this seems doubtful with Harvard committed to building a major stem cell research facility in Allston.
The former Republican running as an independent, Christy Mihos, struggled to explain how the state could meet basic responsibilities if it enacted all the tax and toll cuts and additions to local aid that he proposes.
As usual, the absent suffered the worst slings, including Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, the Republican candidate, and Governor Mitt Romney, who was jabbed by Gabrieli for telling a national television audience he was protecting the flooded North Shore from looting, when there was none.
Overall, though, the decorum was improved from the first debate, leaving a hope for deeper focus on the state's health in future sessions. 