With his campaign for governor in its final weeks, Democrat Jay Gonzalez this week continued to stress the need for more state revenues, and criticized incumbent Charlie Baker over one of his supposed strengths, fiscal management.
On a recent visit to Northampton, Gonzalez also proclaimed support for a single-payer health care system and said he backed Question 1 on the ballot, which would set strict patient limits for registered nurses.
Gonzalez began the conversation talking about his family backstory, sharing how his mother returned home from a foreign exchange trip to Spain married to his 19-year-old father and pregnant with him.
“I love telling the story to parents who have kids going on foreign exchange programs,” he said.
Gonzalez served as the Secretary of Administration and Finance under former governor Deval Patrick, and he expressed a faith in government as a force for good.
“Government is the one institution that represents all of us,” he said. “I have always loved the role government plays in our lives as the big positive force for change.”
Gonzalez criticized Baker’s campaign for saying the sun is shining brighter in Massachusetts.
“It depends who you are,” said Gonzalez. “It’s shining on some but it’s not shining on most.”
He also repeatedly hit Baker on the issues, asserting that Baker’s reputation as a good fiscal manager is not well earned.
“The truth is he’s a terrible manager,” he said.
He noted that Massachusetts’ bond rating was downgraded under the Baker administration.
“He’s setting us up for a fiscal crisis,” said Gonzalez, asserting that not enough money is being put into the commonwealth’s rainy day fund.
Asked about the deficit left by the Patrick administration, Gonzalez said he left his position there two years before the former governor’s exit, and he said the state got the highest bond rating in its history during his tenure.
On transportation, Gonzalez noted the importance of regional transportation authorities.
“I want to fix our broken transportation system,” he said. “Not just the T, but everywhere, including in this area.”
He also said that he didn’t just want to be the governor for the greater Boston area.
“I want to be the governor of the whole state,” he said.
Addressing the perception that Baker is an overwhelming favorite for re-election, Gonzalez noted surprise outcomes in recent elections, including that of Ayanna Pressley in this year’s Democratic primary for Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District.
“Polls aren’t deciding these elections,” he said.
He also said that people are just beginning to pay attention to the governor’s race, and that the campaign has been gaining momentum over the past few weeks.
On health care, Gonzalez said he is a former health insurance CEO who wants to do away with health insurance companies and move to a single-payer health care system, which he said would realize savings by eliminating waste and inefficiencies.
“Most of what we did was valueless,” said Gonzalez, speaking of his former company.
Gonzalez also said he supports a Yes vote on Question 1, which would impose patient limits for nurses, although he said he wished the issue had instead been addressed in the Legislature.
“I think we need to lean toward patient safety,” he said.
On transgender rights, Gonzalez hit the governor for being slow to come around to anti-discrimination protections for the transgender community, saying that Baker chose to sign a 2016 bill prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity in public accommodations behind closed doors.
Gonzalez also said that Baker campaigned against transgender rights in his first campaign for governor in 2010.
Gonzalez emphasized the need for higher state revenues for education and transportation. He said he supported the Fair Share Amendment, which would apply an additional tax on income above $1 million in Massachusetts, but which was taken off the ballot by the Supreme Judicial Court. Gonzalez said it would have raised $2 billion a year in revenue.
The question won’t return to the ballot until 2022 at the earliest, but in the meantime Gonzalez is proposing a 1.6 percent tax on the endowments of the state’s wealthiest private universities. Gonzalez said such a tax would still allow the endowments to grow at more than the rate of inflation, and that it would raise $1 billion a year in revenue.
“I am going to ask the wealthy to pay more,” he said.
He also said that his plans contrast with Baker, who he said has no plans for new taxes and the revenue they would bring.
Providing affordable child care and debt-free public college were areas that Gonzalez gave for new spending, as well as in infrastructure.
Gonzalez said he supports lowering the age to vote in municipal elections to 16 statewide, and that he opposes natural gas pipeline expansion and supports an east-west rail project between Boston and Springfield.