Sentinel & Enterprise Staff
THE TOPIC of recreational marijuana proved to be one of the only clear points of disagreement between Natalie Higgins, the Democratic nominee to represent the 4th Worcester District, and former candidate Richard Marchand, and it may have served as a tipping point during Thursday’s primary election.
When the question of where each candidate stood on the issue of legalizing recreational marijuana came up during Tuesday’s City Hall debate, Marchand wanted to make his feelings very clear.
“The vote that I will cast on Nov. 8 is a giant, solid, convinced and confident ‘no.’ An absolute no,” he said.
“Why was Colorado the No. 1 state in the United States of America for college applications this year? They don’t have crime, the people are all stoned,” he said.
Marchand added that much of his opposition is due to his belief that marijuana is a gateway drug and that legalizing it would lead to an increase in crime. During the debate he also said that marijuana contains three times the number of carcinogens than the amount found in a single cigarette.
In response to her opponent’s claims, Higgins said: “I would love to see the research Mr. Marchand is referring to.”
When results started coming back on election night in Higgins’ favor, Marchand’s supporters did grumble to themselves about the impending loss. Even Marchand would mutter to himself from time to time, but it was never about the two candidates’ differences over the “Fair Share” proposal, tax-free weekends or tax increases.
There was only one word that kept getting repeated at the Marchand camp as the loss inched nearer, and that word was “marijuana.”
WHILE THE debate between Higgins and Marchand was largely a civil affair, there was one slightly tense moment during an exchange about each candidate’s view on the “Fair Share” tax proposal.
When Higgins challenged Marchand’s opposition to the possibility of raising taxes on the state’s richest residents, one of Marchand’s supporters spoke out saying that she shouldn’t be “rude.”
IF YOU’RE someone who likes choices, Thursday’s state primary elections may not have been for you.
Two months remain before the general election, but more than 70 percent of the races for the state Legislature have been settled, five of nine Congressmen and women are assured a return to Capitol Hill and only three members of the Governor’s Council have opposition in the fall.
One hundred and twenty-six state lawmakers went into Thursday with nothing to worry about, running unopposed for re-election, while another 17 legislative contests were essentially decided because primary winners face token opposition, or none at all.
INCUMBENTS HAD it relatively easy as a group on Thursday, but that was cold comfort to Cambridge Rep. Tim Toomey and Lawrence Rep. Marcos Devers. They found themselves on the losing ends of their primaries and will not be returning with their colleagues in January.
THE PROGRESSIVE youth movement could be in full effect with younger, liberal-leaning Democratic candidates enjoying a good deal of success in primary contests that they will look to carry over into November.
In addition to watching for more incumbents in trouble in the general election and how the matchups for six open House seats and three open Senate seats play out, another interesting sidebar to the presidential election in November will be the comeback bids by at least three, and maybe four, former representatives jonesing to get back to Beacon Hill.
Former Rep. Matt Patrick and current Rep. David Vieira will square off in a rubber match for the 3rd Barnstable District seat after the two split a pair of previous decisions. Patrick defeated Vieira in 2000 only be knocked off a decade later by the Falmouth Republican.
While Patrick went the traditional route of qualifying for the ballot with signatures and winning his primary, three others have taken more unconventional paths.
Rosemary Sandlin of Agawam lost her seat in 2010 to Republican Rep. Nick Boldyga, but ran a successful write-in campaign Thursday to become the Democratic nominee in November for a rematch with Boldyga.
Former Worcester Rep. John Fresolo also ran a successful sticker campaign, but for the United Independent Party nomination as he attempts a comeback after resigning in the midst of an ethics probe. Fresolo’s presence on the ballot as one of the few UIP candidates does not excite the new party’s leader, Evan Falchuk, who said he hopes Fresolo loses.
And then there’s former Rep. Paul Gannon, who lost a special-election primary for state Senate earlier this year, and ran another unsuccessful sticker campaign in the primary after Joan Meschino switched gears to focus on an open House seat. Meschino, however, still won the two-way Senate primary on the South Shore Thursday and will decline the nomination, giving Gannon hope that the Democratic Party will pick him to carry the flag into November.
MUCH LIKE rain, tax revenues are in shorter supply than officials would hope at this point in the year.
Department of Revenue Commissioner Mike Heffernan released August figures reflecting collections that came in $42 million below benchmark for the month and now trail estimates by $36 million for the fiscal year after two months.
The modest 1.3 percent growth in revenue so far in fiscal 2017 leaves Gov. Charlie Baker with just one more month of returns to turn the tide before he has to make a decision. On Oct. 15, the administration must choose whether to leave the revenue estimate used to build the budget intact, or lower projections and perhaps make the necessary budget cuts to keeping spending in line with revenue sources.
While there are differing opinions among economists about whether the revenue trend is an aberration or reflective of something more sinister going on in the economy, legislative leaders are not yet flipping the panic switch.
“While it is early in the fiscal year, it is important that we continue to monitor revenue collections closely. I am confident that we will work with our partners in the Senate and the Baker-Polito administration to ensure fiscally responsible decision making,” House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey said in a statement to the News Service.
One thing that would help the budget picture long term would be to find a way, after considerable efforts already, to control the growth in health-care costs. Spending on health care in Massachusetts climbed to $57.2 billion in 2015, according to the Center for Health Information and Analysis. And though the rate of growth slowed from 2014, it still eclipsed by three-tenths of a percent the benchmark set by a 2012 cost-containment law that called for growth to be limited to 3.6 percent.
A NEW commission led by Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez and Sen. James Welch will get to work this week on trying to solve an aspect of this problem — health care pricing — but whether they will be able to make progress or simply tread familiar ground remains to be seen.
WHENEVER THE high cost of health care in Massachusetts comes up, a discussion of energy prices in the Northeast usually isn’t far behind. The success, or failure, of offshore wind to deliver clean, reliable power at affordable prices will fuel discussion for years.
Massachusetts was once thought to be the frontrunner to host the nation’s first offshore wind farm, but as Cape Wind has sputtered new projects have taken its place. Massachusetts is now looking to follow Rhode Island into the market.
The New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal was once supposed to be the staging area for Cape Wind. After his predecessor, Deval Patrick, built up that facility with Cape Wind in mind, Baker was in New Bedford last week to announce interest in using the terminal from three offshore wind developers expected to compete for contracts with state utilities.
The New Bedford announcement preceded a visit from U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to visit the five-year-old Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Wind Technology Testing Center on Friday. The Obama Cabinet officials were in town ostensibly to recognize a wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island, as the nation’s first offshore commercial wind source.
Once upon a time, that could’ve been for Massachusetts.
Contributors to the Sunday Notebook included Sentinel & Enterprise staffers, Anna Burgess, Peter Jasinski, Joe Atmonavage and State House News Service reporter Matt Murphy.
