WEST MEDFORD State Representative Patricia D. Jehlen was knockingon door after door, searching for committed voters home on a stunningsummer morning this week, when a worried neighbor issued a complaint.
He doesn't want the Green Line extended through Somerville intoWest Medford, he said, because commuters will flood his leafyneighborhood looking for convenient places to park. 'It's only so theWinchesters can get a better place to ride into Boston,' he griped.
'I know people are worried about that, but I don't feel anyconsensus at all,' Jehlen responded.
Such is the dilemma of a candidate trying to appeal to the votersof the Second Middlesex District. Spanning the congested, urbanstreets of Somerville; moderate, blue-collar Medford; the broad lawnsof conservative Winchester; and a sliver of working-class Woburn, thedistrict tosses together communities with clashing identities andsometimes opposing interests.
In Tuesday's special primary election, four Democrats are vyingfor the state Senate seat of Charles E. Shannon Jr., who died at 61in April.
Jehlen, 61, a onetime schoolteacher who has represented Somervillein the House since 1991, has collected endorsements from liberal andlabor organizations including the Sierra Club, the Boston TeachersUnion, and MassEquality, which advocates for gay marriage.
Jehlen's predecessor in the House, Joseph Mackey, 54, also livesin Somerville and has worked as an organizer of youth sports leagues.The lawyer, who has been out of office for 15 years after run ning anunsuccessful race for district attorney, picked up endorsements fromthe Boston Globe, Somerville Journal, Somerville News, and Shannon'swidow, Dorothy.
Also running is Medford's Michael Callahan, 61, an old-schoolmember of the Governor's Council who focuses on local issues, such asgetting more police and firefighters. Callahan was endorsed by themayors of Medford and Woburn and several unions, including theNational Association of Government Employees.
Paul Casey, 44, a Winchester state representative, touts hisfiscal conservatism and economic development incentives and is theonly contender who opposes gay marriage. He was a loyal committeechairman under former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran.
The winner of Tuesday's primary will face William A. White Jr., aSomerville alderman and a Republican, in the Sept. 27 generalelection.
The district is heavily Democratic, but Shannon ran as aRepublican in 1989 and defeated a Democratic incumbent, beforeswitching parties seven years later.
With the special election scheduled Tuesday, before many peoplereturn from summer vacations, turnout is expected to be low, so thecampaigns trained their sights on dedicated voters and deluged themwith phone calls, mail, and doorstep visits.
In interviews with the Globe, and in a televised debate with CBS4political analyst Jon Keller, the candidates expressed their views onissues important in the district.
Taxes
None of the candidates favors the income tax rollback thatGovernor Mitt Romney has repeatedly proposed. Casey called it a 'pie-in-the-sky political maneuver,' and Callahan said it would be a'disaster.' All call for restoring local aid that was cut in recentstate budgets.
'I know two people that died because of budget cuts,' said Jehlen,who blamed the lack of available beds at Somerville detoxificationcenters. 'No more tax cuts of any sort.'
When asked during the Keller debate whether they would like tomake it easier for towns to override Proposition 2 1/2 tax limits,which restrict growth in towns' revenues and tax rates, Jehlen andMackey both called on the governor to tap recent budget surpluses torestore local aid, rather than cut taxes.
'The state has to shoulder its fair share,' said Mackey. 'Thecommunities we want to represent have lost 20 percent of fundingsince 2002. We have to reverse that trend.'
Callahan said that instead of encouraging towns to override taxlimits, the state should boost local aid and let more lottery revenueflow to city and town budgets. 'All that money was supposed to go tocities and towns,' he said during the debate. 'Take the cap off thelottery.'
Casey, a former chairman of the House tax committee, saidmunicipalities should soon benefit from the state's sound fiscalplanning and savings, but he urged restraint at all levels ofgovernment.
'You can't spend money like a drunken sailor,' he said.
Slot machines
This fall, the Legislature is expected to consider a measure toplace slot machines at racetracks. Callahan, a former assistant stateracing commissioner, favors the idea and said his research shows thattwo-thirds of the district's voters do, too, if the tax revenue goesto specifically dedicated programs.
Callahan, who cared for his late mother for 15 years as shestruggled with a form of dementia, proposes to use a portion of slotmachine revenue to help families dealing with such crises.
'We would like to keep the flow of the money in Massachusetts,'said Callahan, who said Massachusetts residents are now gambling inConnecticut or Rhode Island.
Casey also supports slot machines, but said the legislation mustbe carefully crafted, so that the state reclaims more than 60 percentof the revenue. Though he does not worry that slots would competewith the state lottery, he said racetracks should compete to have themachines.
Jehlen and Mackey both oppose slot machines out of concern thatthey would siphon gambling dollars from the lottery or draingamblers' bank accounts.
'I would listen to the arguments on existing horsetracks, but I'vegot some serious concerns even there,' Mackey said.
Healthcare
No candidate embraces Romney's healthcare proposal that would makeindividuals responsible for carrying their own insurance.
'You're just going to have the burden on people who really can'tafford healthcare and somebody has to pick up the slack,' Casey said.
Instead, he said, he would pursue single-payer healthcare byincrementally expanding state coverage for children, senior citizens'prescriptions, and senior healthcare, arguing that the gradualapproach would place less stress on the budget.
Mackey advocated the same incremental approach during the Kellerdebate. His campaign calls for expanding senior assisted- livingfacilities as one way to trim the expense of nursing care.
Asked by Keller whether they would support mandatory taxes onbusinesses that do not provide their own healthcare, only Jehlen saidyes.
She said exemptions and caps on extraordinary expenses could helpsmall businesses absorb the costs.
The other three said they feared that the burden would be tooheavy on small businesses.
SIDEBAR:DEBATE SLATEDPLEASE REFER TO MICROFILM FOR CHART DATA.
