Blue Mass Group | UMass US Senate Candidates Forum

heartlanddem | Sun, Nov 8, 2009 3:45 PM EST

The League of Women Voters and NPR affiliate WFCR sponsored the Massachusetts Senate candidate forum last night at UMass Amherst.

The Daily Collegian had this write up.

I jotted a few notes below and will search for video.

Health Care

Pags- Public Option component of cost reduction. Admin costs need to be reduced through centralized data.

Brown – goes after Capuano (who sweated the week out in DC fighting not talking about health care reform – my edit)

If you have Medicare “you should be scared” if you have Cadillac coverage “you should be very worried”. Why should we want to subsidize other people’s health care? You can go to jail if you don’t take the plan they want you to take.

Robinson – 12 pt plan jackerobinson.com ”Romneycare” in Massachusetts highest premiums in the country – Scott voted for that plan.

No medicare cuts because my 84 year old mother would never let me. Public option – one of the worst bills in history.

Khazei – family health care providers. HC is a right not a privilege. Rolling out a health care plan in western MA tomorrow. Khazei wants to tax the CEO health care plans, we should not subsidize them…people who can;t afford it should be subsidized. Bangs on the lobbyists and health insurance industry 6 lobbyists for every Congress person. Only candidate from purely citizen contributions.

Ok R’s how do you feel about the AMA endorsing the public option?

Brown – we have great plans in MA. We should not subsidize other states…doesn’t answer the question. Dr.s in MA are against the public option according to Brown. The executives work hard and deserve to not be taxed on their plans.

Robinson – we have not solved univeral coverage at a low cost. Romneycare too expensive….Scott is enamored with Romneycare.

Khazei – (difficult to hear) – he needs to speak more forcefully. Has mastery of the subject…citing studies in other regions of the country. Medicare costs 3%, Private 15%-30%, so we need the public option to bring down costs.

Pags – talks about his experience with health care system. Tort Reform needed. Best practice sharing and uniform plans. Time’s up.

I’m going to sign off and hope folks are watching.

Congressman Capuano returned from voting in DC on Health care and excused himself from the forum prior to the end.

Coakley had another commitment.

Discuss

7 Comments . Comments are closed.

DailyCollegian gives us the run down - Coakley absent
Massachusetts Senate candidates square off in Bowker Auditorium Sunday night
By: Sam Butterfield | November 09, 2009
On a night filled with spirited dialogue, one voice was noticeably absent from the League of Women Voters senate candidate forum held Sunday in Bowker Auditorium on the campus of the University of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, often called the frontrunner in the special election race to fill the senate seat left vacant by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, was the only candidate who did not appear at last night's forum, and the rest of the candidates appeared to take note.
City Year founder and Democratic candidate Alan Khazei several times took aim at Coakley, calling for weekly televised debates leading up to the Democratic primary Dec. 8 and suggesting her refusal to debate could be because of her connections to lobbying interests.
Khazei was not the only one who called for more discourse. Recent entry to the race and Republican dark horse candidate Jack E. Robinson called for a Republican-only forum, criticizing opponent Scott Brown for refusing to debate him individually.
The forum, hosted by the Massachusetts League of Women Voters and in cooperation with Amherst National Public Radio affiliate WFCR, was marked by a civil tone, as the candidates took no serious personal jabs at each other beyond policy challenges.

Does anyone know what Martha's prior commitment was?

Is it true that Coakley has refused an opportunity to participate in weekly debates? If it is. the other candidates should have the debates without her.

neilsagan @ Tue 4 Dec 7:00 PM
- LOL
  Calling Robinson the "dark horse candidate" really cracks me up.
  
  doubleman @ Tue 4 Dec 7:00 PM
  - $quot;the senator$quot;
    at http://www.kennedyseat.com has a roundup:
    
    Coakley's absence also highlighted the growing frustration among the other Democratic candidates about the dearth of debates. Capuano told the Globe's Matt Viser he would debate "5 times a week," while Steve Pagliuca and Alan Khazei are reportedly offering to help TV stations pick up the cost of production for two more statewide debates. Viser writes:
    "Coakley's campaign says she will agree to one more televised debate, but has yet to say when or where that might be and has not accepted invitations from two groups trying to pull together such events."
    
    --Khazei called Coakley out in Amherst:
    "I think it's too bad that Attorney General Coakley decided not to join us tonight and the League of Women Voters here in Western Massachusetts, this is a big senate seat there are critical issues facing you the citizen voters of Massachusetts, I think Attorney General Coakley should be here, I hope she'll take up the challenge, we should have four more televised debates."
    
    neilsagan @ Tue 4 Dec 7:00 PM
- Heh...
  From the files...
  
  sabutai @ Tue 4 Dec 7:00 PM
$quot;I've been dying for debates. I'll do five a week.''
Love that quote from Capuano, who then apparently couldn't even finish one debate before bizarrely walking out in the middle.

rupert115 @ Tue 4 Dec 7:00 PM
- Congressman Capuano
  Was working for us in DC with the biggest legislation on health care in 50 years. Made it to Western MA to participate. Exhaustion was real and earned.
  
  Scott Brown was there missing his daughter's birthday.
  
  Where was the AG??? See graph above...thanks sabutai
  
  heartlanddem @ Tue 4 Dec 7:00 PM
  - Coakley had a prior committment
    Does anyone know what that prior commitment was exactly?
    
    neilsagan @ Tue 4 Dec 7:00 PM

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