ASHFIELD — State Senate candidates Christine M. Canning and Adam G. Hinds squared off Thursday night in their first and likely their only Franklin County debate in Ashfield Town Hall.
Lanesborough Republican Canning, a 47-year-old educational consultant and Pittsfield Democrat Adam Hinds, the 40-year-old executive director of Northern Berkshire Community Coalition in North Adams, are vying for the Berkshire-Hampshire-Franklin-Hampden Senate seat being vacated after 10 years by Sen. Benjamin Downing, D-Pittsfield.
But the 40 or so people who attended heard more agreement than differences between the two candidates, both of whom have backgrounds working abroad, particularly the Middle East.
Both candidates agreed on supporting the Fair Share or “millionaire’s tax” Amendment, encouraging renewable energy development and opposing natural gas pipelines, favoring a $15 minimum wage as something to “work toward,” encouraging agriculture and the importance of getting broadband to towns in the district.
Both agreed on a need to change the public school funding formula and to get full regional school transportation reimbursements.
They also agreed on supporting single-payer health care, would encourage communities to work together on regional solutions and favor taking steps to see that doctors and insurance companies help the state deal with the opioid crisis through more careful monitoring of prescriptions and reducing delays and shortened stays for treatment, respectively.
Where they differed was over charter schools, with Hinds saying he opposes ballot Question 2 to lift the current cap on schools, because it would hurt public schools in the largely rural district, and Canning saying, “I’m divided,” in part because there are failing public school systems in eastern Massachusetts where more charter schools are needed.
The two candidates also differed on the ballot question to legalize marijuana in the state, with Hinds saying he opposes it over concerns about the effect on impaired driving, edible products and the effect on developing brains, and Canning favoring legalized marijuana, in part as an economic development tool. She pointed to the benefit to agriculture if marijuana and hemp could be grown legally for the pharmaceutical cosmetic industry.
They also differed on Attorney General Maura Healey’s ruling on assault weapons, with Canning — a member of the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners Action League — accusing her of “overstepping her reach.” Hinds, who said he supports the public’s right to have weapons, said, “It should be a deliberate conversation,” and agreeing, “Should Maura Healey have taken a more deliberate public process and worked with the Legislature? Yes. … You can make sure she’s working through the context in which cops are not shot in Massachusetts.”
They differed also in emphasis over how to deal with an aging population in the district, with Hinds pointing to the need to assure affordable housing, better transportation and helping lower prescription drug costs, and Canning pointing to what she said is waste in the state budget that needs to be redirected to providing for seniors.
Asked how they would turn their personal passions into legislation priorities, Canning — who has been a whistleblower in the Pittsfield and Holyoke schools — said she would work on anti-discrimination, added domestic violence protection and a reform measure to hold teachers or school committee members responsible if they cover up wrongs that hurt a child’s health or safety.
Hinds said he would favor educational reform and educational funding reform measures as well as fighting poverty through criminal justice reform and other measures.
The 52-community district includes Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Buckland, Charlemont, Hawley, Heath, Rowe and Monroe in Franklin County.
Canning, who is completing an educational policy doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, owns two educational consulting businesses —Boston Manhattan Group Inc. and New England Global Network LLC — and has taught in the Pittsfield, Springfield and Holyoke public schools as well as in the United Arab Emirates.
Hinds, who grew up in Buckland and graduated from Mohawk Trail Regional High School as well as from Wesleyan University and Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, has worked for the United Nations as a negotiator in the Mideast. He has also administered a Pittsfield gang-prevention program targeting at-risk youth before being hired to head the North Adams-based coalition providing family and child support services.
Thursday’s two-hour forum, moderated by Ashfield Town Moderator Buz Eisenberg, included questions fielded by four panelists as well as well questions from the audience.
Falls Cable TV, which recorded Thursday’s debate, plans to make it available for viewing on many formats, including on www.recorder.com.
Thursday’s forum was sponsored by the Ashfield Council on Aging, the Northampton Area League of Women Voters, Falls Cable TV, WHMP, The Recorder, and Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Future debates are scheduled in Pittsfield, Great Barrington and Adams.
You can reach Richie Davis at rdavis@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 269