Deval Patrick in MA gubernatorial debate on CBS4 news

On Education: Veto moratorium, but cap charters until funding is reformed

PATRICK: Chris, you’re wrong that I don’t support charter schools. As important as charter schools are and as helpful as they are, we need to come up with a different and better funding mechanism before we raise the cap.

REILLY: Deval, if there was a moratorium proposed by the legislature, to curb any growth in charter schools, would you sign that legislation? I wouldn’t. I think Chris would veto it.

GABRIELI: I would veto it.

REILLY: Would you veto it?

PATRICK: Yes, but listen, we’ve got to be serious about funding. The formula works in theory, but in real life, there are real tensions between real families and that is not community building and that is not advancing ed reform.

REILLY: It’s a matter of giving parents choice, give them a choice.

On Energy & Oil: Make Massachusetts a global center for alternative energy

On Health Care: Pursue cost-savings ideas within new health reform mandate

PATRICK: I think we need to be managing down the cost of healthcare for everybody. We have an opportunity--and indeed a mandate--with that new health reform bill. Some of the ideas that I want to pursue are:

• How we make uniform the forms for reimbursement. Every payer has a different protocol.
• How we use our technology to maintain patient records. Within a hospital, they manage and move the records around electronically but they don’t have the capability yet to talk to providers outside that bubble.
• How to be smarter about purchasing strategies for prescription drugs.

On Local Issues: Big Dig cost overruns are why people question taxes

REILLY: Well, Deval, you should say there’s a lack of curiosity to the people of my staff who are working around the clock, night and day, to get to the bottom of this, going through hundreds of thousands of records. They are making progress, substantial progress. The Big Dig, and the problem with that, is a series of Republican governors who have tied my hands. But despite that, we have recovered and saved $75 million of tax-payers’ money, plus six people under criminal indictment.

On Principles & Values: Brings leadership and grassroots power to Beacon Hill

PATRICK: I think first of all, the point about the clarity of ideas, and the depth of them. I want to point out that we’ve put out ideas over the last year, very specific plans for how to move Massachusetts forward. But the edge I think that I bring is leadership that includes government, but also business also non-profits, and also community groups. I’ve gotten results in every one of those contexts and no one else in this race has this range of leadership experience. That’s one difference. Another difference is that I run a campaign that is about inviting people who have checked out to check back in, whatever their political philosophy and wherever they are in the commonwealth. And I think that brings a different kind of power, a people power, a grassroots power to Beacon Hill. Unless we change that culture with that kind of power, all bets are off.

On Tax Reform: Cut the property tax, not the income tax

PATRICK: Small wonder people say, give me my money back. But the tax to cut, is the property tax. That’s the one squeezing people, and the only way to do that is to that is to restore state aid to cities and towns. And the only way to do that is to postpone the income tax and invest in ourselves.

REILLY: No one has a right on taxes to substitute your judgment for the will of the voters.

GABRIELI: I disagree with Deval [as saying] “here’s what you can’t do.” I’ve put forward a can-do plan: We can cut the income tax by taking 40% of income growth [towards tax cuts], and leave 40% in there for continuing local aid and investments. But I can hold down the property taxes just as well. I don’t think we should ignore the voters.