The following is a list of questions The Republican/MassLive.com sent to each candidate running to be the next state treasurer this election season, with their responses, verbatim, as submitted. This posts and the others like it are part of the news organization’s collective intention to further deliver the candidates straight to the voters to help inform their decisions on election day.
The following is the response of Mike Heffernan, the founder of a mobile technology company.
Springfield will be the host city for MGM’s resort casino, unless the state’s gambling law is repealed. How will you vote on the ballot question that would repeal the state’s casino gambling law?
I support the economic development casinos will bring to the most economically disadvantaged areas of Massachusetts, and I will vote against repealing the law. MGM has committed nearly $1 billion to developing downtown Springfield, an unprecedented level of private investment. A resort casino adjacent to I-91 in Springfield will help boost the economy of the Pioneer Valley and bring much needed jobs and tourism to the area.
Any public official or candidate for office who supports repealing the law owes it to the people of Greater Springfield to put forward a $1 billion development plan to replace the investment that will be lost if voters reverse course on resort casinos. If the casino law is repealed, as treasurer, I will work immediately to formulate such a plan.
If lottery revenues are hurt by casino gambling, will you do anything to shore up the lottery and ensure cities and towns still get adequate local aid money?
With more than 7,400 Lottery retailers across the state, it should not be automatically assumed that casino gambling will significantly impact Lottery revenues. As treasurer, I will work with the casino operators to explore ways to strengthen and grow the Lottery through cross-marketing opportunities. The lottery and casinos can and should drive more total local aid to cities and towns across the Commonwealth. In Pennsylvania for example, the state lottery has seen continued growth in ticket sales since the introduction of casinos.
The real threat to local aid is not casinos, but the cuts to funding for cities and towns made by the Legislature. Since 2009, unrestricted state aid to towns and cities has been cut by $400 million while the overall state budget has grown more than $6 billion. That’s 8 elementary schools we are not building each and every year. If we are able to grow our economy and create jobs, like casino gambling will do, the state should see an increase in tax revenues. Those revenues can then be used to restore aid to cities and towns and offer relief from upward pressure on local property taxes.
Unemployment continues to be a problem in the western part of the state. What would you as treasurer do to help businesses and create jobs in Western Massachusetts?
Massachusetts has created virtually no net new jobs since 2001. The unemployment rate in communities outside of 495 remains far too high. At the crossroads of two major transportation corridors, Mass Pike and I-91, Greater Springfield should be thriving. Yet, Springfield, the Pioneer Valley and all of Western Massachusetts continues to lag behind Greater Boston. Boston is now an innovation hub.
We need to make scaling businesses in Western Mass a priority. In addition to driving more local aid and educational dollars into the region, I will overhaul and expand the Small Business Banking Partnership. Today, the program has only $350 million deposited in our local banks, but we should work to increase these assets and expand the program to more Massachusetts-based banks by reducing fees and expenses. In addition, this program should increasingly focus on the most disadvantaged parts of the state.
I will also work with the Pension Reserve Investment Management Board, which oversees the state’s pension funds, to increase investments in Massachusetts to create both jobs for our citizens and returns to the pension system. Attracting and keeping talent in the Commonwealth is a great investment.
Finally, I will work with the next governor and Legislature to eliminate the inventory tax and regulatory burdens that put our state at a competitive disadvantage and keeps crossroads, such as Springfield, from becoming hubs for materials handling and manufacturing. Our goal in state government should be a lower, less complex tax structure and regulatory business climate to attract new, scalable businesses creating jobs and opportunity across the commonwealth.
Under what, if any, circumstances should divestment of the state’s pension fund be used as a moral statement, for example to divest from the fossil fuel industry?
As treasurer, I will propose adoption of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing. This is a comprehensive commitment to environmental and socially responsible investing without unduly reducing fund performance. With 30 years of experience working with and advising pension funds and other professional investors, I believe the current fossil fuel divestiture legislation is a material risk to performance and an unworkable administrative burden that is nearly impossible to implement. This legislation could cost the taxpayers billions. The pension system is an obligation, a fiduciary responsibility. It should not be used as an expensive political sound bite.
Does anything need to be changed about the state’s procurement or contracting policies to avoid problems like those with the state’s failed health insurance exchange website?
It remains an open question as to whether the problems with the health insurance exchange website were contractual or managerial. Nonetheless, I would support the Attorney General’s Office having a formal role in reviewing procurement contracts, and I would support an increased role for the independent Office of the Inspector General in reviewing and approving procurement of goods and services for the state and its quasiindependent authorities.
The Legislature continues to write legislation exempting certain agencies from both procurement and public disclosure laws. I will use the full power of my office, including refusal to issue related debt to bring a consistently higher level of transparency and accountability to state government.
Whether we are saving and investing taxpayer money, or spending it on goods and services, I will do it wisely, ensuring we are getting the biggest bang for our buck. It’s not the state’s money, it’s the taxpayers’
money.
Is there anything additional the government should be doing to increase transparency related to government spending?
As Treasurer, I will expand the state’s online checkbook to include more information about how much was spent and for what purpose. I will use the full power of the treasury to promote and protect transparency. For example, the Democrat controlled Legislature recently passed and Governor Patrick signed the $1 billion legislation to expand the convention center in Boston.
Buried in that legislation is language that grants special exemptions to the public records law. The state agency in charge of the convention center is protected from disclosing financial information that would be available at other state agencies. In addition, the law weakens the power of the independent Office of the Inspector General, which usually has authority to review and approve certain methods of buying goods and services. When it comes to the convention center, the Legislature and governor have instructed the IG that he can review, but cannot prohibit procurement practices he deems to be improper.
There is no good public policy reason for changing the laws regarding transparency in operating the convention center, and as treasurer, I will stand up to efforts to undermine transparency in government.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I love Massachusetts and I am proud to have been born here and to raise my three teenagers here. Yet it’s becoming more and more difficult for our children to have a future here.
Currently, the Commonwealth is leading in all the wrong categories. We are leading the nation in debt per person. Our pension system is considered both woefully underfunded and the most structurally unsound in the country. We are now ranked 47th in fiscal condition. It is no wonder we are 45th in projected job growth and that nearly 1 in 7 adults who want to work full time can’t find that job. Massachusetts has one
of the highest rates of homelessness in the nation.
I believe in a smarter, smaller and more effective government. We can do better. Massachusetts can be a leader again. Massachusetts voters are socially progressive and fiscally conservatives — these goals are not mutually exclusive. Massachusetts has voted down progressive taxation, a rollback of the income tax to 5% and voted in prop 2 ½.
The good news is that Massachusetts is a wealthy, educated state. Our future is bright, if we show discipline now. Our problems are too big for the public sector alone. We need to bring the private and the public sector together to solve our most pressing issues – debt – jobs – education – poverty.
I view the treasurer’s role as public service, not politics. I bring 30 years of direct financial and investment leadership experience, my role is to protect your pocketbook, not ask for your checkbook. The treasurer manages the Commonwealth’s credit and cash, helps deliver and protect pension benefits,builds better schools and supplies local aid through the Lottery, I want that job.