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As Election Day approaches, most voters will see the candidates for governor in tightly structured settings, such as television commercials, formal debates, and staged photo-ops. But this summer the editors and publishers of CommonWealth put the gubernatorial candidates on the spot, asking them questions related to MassINC’s four initiatives: Economic Prosperity, Lifelong Learning, Safe Neighborhoods, and Civic Renewal. Complete transcripts of these hourlong interviews can found on MassINC’s Web site (Read the transcripts).
“This project allows voters to go beyond sound bites and campaign ads,” says Tripp Jones, executive director of MassINC and publisher of CommonWealth. “We asked the candidates to talk to us about specific ideas and solutions.”
Democrat Shannon O’Brien, Republican Mitt Romney, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein were among the candidates who visited MassINC’s headquarters. Topics included housing affordability, MCAS testing, the roles of charter schools and community colleges, criminal recidivism and post-release supervision, and government reform.
Asked how he would improve economic conditions in the western part of the state, Romney touted his business background and pledged to take an active role in attracting new employers to the region. “I see myself working tirelessly as the state’s number-one salesman,” said Romney. The Republican nominee voiced support for the MCAS test as a prerequisite for a high school diploma. He also supported the expansion of charter schools but said that state government should not give up on underperforming public schools: “More important than just being able to allow a parent to get their child out of the neighborhood school that’s not working is to fix the neighborhood school that’s not working.”
Democratic nominee O’Brien also said that the MCAS requirement should be retained in the long run, but she voiced concern about the high number of students who are still failing the exam and may not graduate next year. “At least for a short period,” she said, “we should look at granting some sort of a certificate of attendance.” Currently serving as state treasurer, O’Brien proposed four-year budget planning, saying that such a long-range outlook would “allow us to restore some sense of sanity to the budgeting process and help us avoid the boom/bust mentality that we’ve seen over the course of many years in state government.”
Stein, of the Green Party, called for transition to a “new energy economy” as a way of encouraging economic development in the western part of the state, adding that the manufacture of high-tech electronics and hydrogen fuel cells, among other products, can create jobs and conserve natural resources. She also said a major goal of hers as governor would be “to take lobbyists and insiders out of the business of writing policy and dividing up our political agenda.”