By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — It didn’t take long for the Massachusetts State Senate candidates to go after each other in their only debate before the November election.
Republican challenger Edward Dombroski painted incumbent Democrat Sen. Jason Lewis as a “far-left, progressive ideologue,” while Lewis accused Dombroski of being slow to stake out any positions on issues important to the district.
Winchester resident Jason Lewis has represented the 5th Massachusetts State Senate District since 2014 and is now seeking a fifth term. The district includes Wakefield, Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham and Winchester.
Dombroski, a family law attorney, is in his second term as a Wakefield Town Councilor. Prior to that he served on the Wakefield Finance Committee.
He criticized Lewis for supporting the so-called millionaires’ tax, which is the subject of a state-wide ballot question.
“My opponent has never met a tax that he doesn’t want to impose upon you,” Dombroski said. “We have a legislature that can’t even find ways to spend the money it already has.” He questioned whether the money raised would really go towards education and transportation as advertised, calling it “a blank check for the legislature.”
Lewis acknowledged that the state is currently in a good fiscal position. He accused Dombroski of parroting “the lies and fear-mongering of the billionaires” who are spending millions to oppose Ballot Question 1.
JASON LEWIS
Lewis maintained that Question 1 would “place a modest 4 percent added income tax only on household incomes over $1 million.” He insisted that the revenue raised would in fact be used to fund schools and transportation.
The candidates were asked about the fact that Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursement rates have not kept up with inflation, resulting in towns like Wakefield having to shoulder a higher percentage of the cost of building new schools.
Lewis said that he was proud of having helped towns like Wakefield and Stoneham get into the MSBA funding program. He said that hundreds of millions more in funding is needed to help support these school building projects. He insisted that the strong relationships that he has built in the State Senate and with the MSBA placed him in a good position to help secure those funds.
“I’m confident that I will find a solution,” Lewis said. “My opponent will have no credibility on this.”
But Dombroski said that Lewis has been silent on the “very outdated MSBA funding formula” during his time in the legislature.
“You are a career politician who will say the things you think people want to hear but you don’t deliver.”
Dombroski also maintained that Lewis has failed the communities that he represents with regard to Chapter 70 funding for education. He cited the $54 million in Chapter 70 funds that Malden received compared to $104 million for Chelsea, which has fewer students.
“Senator Lewis has had 13 years to do better and he’s failed,” Dombroski said.
EDWARD DOMBROSKI
Lewis disagreed. He cited his role in passing the 2019 Student Opportunity Act, which he said has helped each community in the district. He noted that Malden got an additional $3 million in Chapter 70 funds as a result, and Wakefield and Melrose each got a $1 million-boost in Chapter 70 funding.
Dombroski also hit Lewis on the issue of gender equality. He claimed that after Lewis’s former Chief of Staff resigned when she became pregnant, Lewis replaced her with a man who was hired at a 37 percent higher salary.
Lewis called Dombroski’s raising the personnel issue “disgraceful.” He maintained that the two individuals had very different qualifications and educational levels, which he suggested was the reason for the salary difference.
On the subject of transparency, Lewis claimed that he has always been willing to state his positions clearly on topics like reproductive rights, voting rights, gun safety and other contentious issues.
He suggested that Dombroski has been less than transparent, claiming that his opponent over the course of seven months of the campaign “didn’t bother to put a single policy position on his web site.”
Dombroski denied the charge, saying that his priorities were listed on his web site from the first day of the campaign. He maintained that Lewis was “one of the most secretive people on Beacon Hill,” claiming that Lewis voted against additional time to review legislation and voted against public participation in legislative processes.
The debate was produced by Wakefield Community Access Television and broadcast from the Galvin Middle School’s Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Wakefield Daily Item editor Bob Burgess and former Town Councilor Ann Santos served on the panel posing questions to the candidate. Wakefield Town Moderator William Carroll moderated the debate.
