Issue Position: The two most important issues facing our Commonwealth and our nation today are jobs and the economy.

Issue Position

Even as Massachusetts begins to recover from the current economic crisis faster than forty-eight other states, we are nowhere near out of the woods. Despite having enacting pension, transportation and ethics reforms we have much work to do in saving valuable taxpayer dollars. We must enact a second pension reform now in order to take advantage of short term savings and look toward long-term savings that will save our residents hundreds of millions of dollars. The Municipal Reform Act that we are currently considering does not sufficiently tackle early retirement and out of control spending, promote regionalization, deal with school transportation and special education costs and address healthcare costs that drive municipal budgets into the ground. The Legislature should go further than the bill proposed by the Governor and provide sufficient tools for cities and towns and I will continue to maintain my support for stronger legislation for our cities and towns.
This year, the House budget included no new revenue. In addition to declining tax increases, the Legislature has said no to new fees and would eliminate no tax exemptions or credits. We have chosen not to draw from the state's dwindling rainy day fund. Despite the layoff of 5,000 plus state employees, consolidation of major transportation agencies and major debt restructuring, we still made major cuts to all areas of government. Those reductions included devastating cuts of human services programs, rollbacks on public safety agencies, limitations on healthcare spending and curbing of local aid and a hit to investment aimed at job creation. Every cut in funding causes a cut in services and we must work our hardest to find the delicate balance required to serve the most residents. As we continue to come through this fiscal challenge, we need leaders who do not make pie in the sky promises they can't keep. Any individual who proclaims they possess the ability to single handedly cut taxes, fix the economy, and reduce state spending while either maintaining or increasing services is not telling the truth.
We must do more and we must do better to streamline services and create a state government free of repetition and redundancy. We have taken steps in that direction, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to find every dollar to put back into the pockets of our taxpayers. These things cannot be fixed over night and we must persevere to find the best solutions that we can.
Our residents deserve a responsive, responsible legislator. My record demonstrates my willingness to take prudent, reasonable and innovative measures regardless of which party proposes an idea, and I will continue to work tirelessly to find the most effective solutions to address the difficult challenges we face. We need leaders who understand harsh reality and won't point fingers who collaborate with others to find plausible, common sense solutions to the challenges we face.

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