Published in the September 28, 2018 edition

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD – Candidates for the Fifth Middlesex Senate seat wasted little time on niceties during an hour-long televised debate last week, attacking each other on issues ranging from taxes and school funding to immigration and transgender rights.

Incumbent Democrat Jason Lewis and Republican challenger Erin Calvo-Bacci, a Reading business owner, responded to questions from Weekly News Editor Bob Burgess and debate moderator Bill Carroll.

Lewis went on the attack first, labeling Calvo-Bacci as someone who “has very right-wing positions” and “puts profits over people.” He cited as examples her opposition to recent legislation raising the minimum wage and guaranteeing paid family medical leave.

He questioned how the latter would work in the confectionery business that Calvo-Bacci owns.

FIFTH MIDDLESEX District State Senate debate between Democratic State Senator Jason Lewis and Republican challenger Erin Calvo-Bacci in Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Galvin Middle School, Wakefield on September 19. (David Watts, Jr. Photo)

“To think that workers would come to work coughing and sneezing and sick when they’re making food that’s going to be sold to the public is pretty unfortunate,” Lewis said. “I would think that my opponent would know better.”

But Calvo-Bacci countered that the big difference between her and Lewis was that she is a business owner.

“When I go to work, I want to make sure that my employees are taken care of,” she said. “That is my job as the business owner, not the government’s job.”

Calvo-Bacci said that she had seen first-hand what happens when the minimum wage goes up, causing other costs, like daycare, to also rise. She added that she offered paid sick leave to her own employees because it gave her an advantage when hiring. She noted that she had also hired vulnerable people like teen moms and helped them get the services they needed.

“The way to fight hardship is with opportunity,” she said. “I’m there at the grass roots level, making sure this gets done.”

On the subject of Chapter 70 state funding to public schools, Lewis pointed out that it was his legislation that created a bipartisan commission that came out with strong recommendations on reforming the Chapter 70 foundation formula.

Lewis said that he was also “willing to be honest” and admit that making Chapter 70 work for all schools would require new revenue. That was why, he said, he had supported the so-called Millionaires Tax that would have increased taxes on those earning $1 million a year or more.

“My opponent,” he asserted, “wants to cut corporate tax rates and give tax breaks to big businesses.”

But Calvo-Bacci pointed out that the courts had ruled the Millionaires Tax unconstitutional. Lewis, she asserted, wanted to waste more time and money on an unconstitutional measure that if enacted would drive job-creators out of the state.

Along with the state legislature fixing the Chapter 70 formula, she added, the legislature should “stop burdening the schools with unfunded mandates.”

The candidates were asked about Question 3 on the Nov. 6 ballot, which would repeal legislation guaranteeing equal rights to transgender individuals in public places like bathrooms and restaurants.

Calvo-Bacci said that she didn’t think people were well-informed about Question 3.

“We have been going to the bathroom with transgender people for years,” she said, “so I found it interesting that this was something that was put to the ballot.” Calvo-Bacci, who has three daughters, said that initially her kids were concerned that they might be going to the bathroom with males.

“It’s really something that I would want to have more education on,” she said, adding that she was concerned about people voting on this measure without having the right information.

Lewis suggested that Calvo-Bacci was being evasive in her answer.

“I’m going to be clear which side I stand on,” Lewis said. “I stand on the side of our LGBTQ friends and neighbors. This is a basic human rights issue and civil rights issue.”

Lewis maintained that transgender people face some of the worst discrimination and highest suicide rates. He accused Calvo-Bacci of “fear-mongering” by bringing up her daughters’ concerns about sharing the bathroom with males, calling it “disgraceful.”

The candidates also differed on the idea of lowering the state sales tax from its current 6.25 percent back down to 5 percent.

Lewis said that he would oppose any effort to reduce the sales tax. Doing so would mean $1.2 billion less in the state budget, he said, and would result in severe cuts that would hurt people who depend on programs like MassHealth as well as seniors and school students.

Calvo-Bacci said she supported a sales tax rollback. She said that it was interesting to hear Lewis talk about the people that would be hurt.

“Did you think about how much you hurt people when you take a pay raise?” she asked Lewis, referring to the legislature voting to increase members’ salaries.

“We are losing business to New Hampshire and the internet,” she said, arguing that reducing the sales tax back to 5 percent would be one way of bringing those dollars back to Massachusetts.

On the subject of illegal immigration, Lewis pointed out that he was born in South Africa and spent part of his childhood there before immigrating to the United States with his family.

“Immigration has made this country great,” Lewis said, adding that he supported the Safe Communities Act, which would prevent local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities and forbid local police arresting or detaining a person solely for immigration enforcement purposes or even inquiring about an individual’s immigration status.

Calvo-Bacci said that she supported legal immigration and lowering the “staggering” cost of achieving legal citizenship. She noted the most of the workers she employs in her business are immigrants.

But Calvo-Bacci said that she would “absolutely not” support Massachusetts becoming a sanctuary state.

“We need to enforce our laws,” she said.

Lewis and Calvo did agree on some things. Both said that they would be voting “No,” on Question 1, which seeks to mandate nurse staffing levels in hospitals.

They also agreed that the state should do more to encourage “green” business practices as well as “smart development” in local communities.

The debate was sponsored by Wakefield Community Access Television and can be viewed online at wcatwakefield.org.