Democratic Mass. Governor contender Warren Tolman
Published on February 27th, 2002
STONEHAM, MA–This is week two of The Stoneham Independent’s continuing series of interviews with the candidates for Governor of Massachusetts. Last week Libertarian Carla Howell spoke to the readers. This week Democrat Warren Tolman introduces himself. Each week another candidate will appear on our pages. A question and answer format will follow brief personal introductions. Months before the September primary elections, our informed readers will have met all eight candidates.
WARREN TOLMAN Democratic Party candidate
Warren Tolman is a Watertown townie with statewide credentials. The 42-year-old lawyer married his Watertown High School sweetheart, Carolyn, and they’re raising three little Red Raiders of their own.
But Tolman has also spent time on Beacon Hill, representing his Watertown district as a State Representative from 1991 to 1995 and a State Senator from 1995 to 1999. Tolman ran and lost the race for Lt. Governor on the 1998 Democratic ticket with gubernatorial candidate Scott Harshbarger.
Tolman’s path to political service began as the seventh of eight children of a union railroad conductor. After graduating from Watertown High in 1978, Tolman earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Amherst College in 1982. Following a stint as a UPS driver and substitute teacher, he graduated from Boston College Law School in 1986. Tolman has worked in several Boston firms but is running as a full-time candidate.
Tolman calls himself a reformer. His message blends the classic reformer’s mantra with the traditional economic perspective of the Democratic Party: cutting waste and corruption from state government budgets will free up money to create opportunities for the people.
In his time at the State House, Tolman criticized the lack of accountability on the Big Dig project, helped to defeat a proposed cutback in state funding to the MWRA that would have led to a rate hike, and often voted against Democratic Speaker Thomas Finneran’s positions. One particularly relevant example of Tolman’s tangles with the Speaker is the Clean Elections Law, the law that calls for a system of public financing for state candidates who agree to fund-raising and spending restrictions. The Legislature has not appropriated funds for the law, which voters approved on the 1998 general election ballot. Tolman, who sued the State for his funding, argues that the law is needed to excise the cancer of special interest money from the electoral process. Whether the State must fund the program was at issue before the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) last week; the resolution of this question may determine the fate of Tolman’s campaign.
If elected Governor, Tolman says he can win the important battles to get Massachusetts back on track. Does he have the right answers, and is he the man to implement them? Read on, and see what you think...
Question: Mr. Tolman, you have a voucher for $811,000 for Clean Elections Funding. Do you expect to receive those funds?
Tolman: Yes I do. The SJC gave a strong opinion on Jan. 25 that the Legislature’s actions are a violation of either state law or the State Constitution. Based on that I expect them to say, ‘Fund it.’
Late breaking Editor’s note: The SJC ruled on Monday, after this interview, that Tolman can get his money from an account set aside to pay settlements against the State. Other qualified candidates must also sue to get their money. The settlements account has $1.5 million in it, but John Bonifaz, lead attorney for the Clean Elections plaintiffs, told the AP that funds could also be drawn from the State’s $1.4 billion stabilization fund.
Late breaking question: The Elections Desk called Mr. Tolman back and asked for his reaction to the SJC ruling.
Tolman: This is a victory for the rule of law, for the 67 percent of the voters who approved Clean Elections and for cleaner, fairer elections... There’s an old saying that money is the mother’s milk of politics. A lot of people had told me they liked my ideas but were worried whether I could afford to get my message out. Now, with the money, I can. Up until now I had been playing the game with one hand tied behind my back.
[As to how the State Legislature will react,] nothing would amaze me.
Editor’s note: Several of the following questions deal with how Tolman would proceed without Clean Elections money. He appears to have the money in hand, but remember, nothing would amaze him.
Question: If the Clean Elections Law is not funded, will you withdraw from the race?
Tolman: No. I’ve raised money the old-fashioned way and been successful, but I don’t want to go back to a system that I’m fighting to change. If I don’t get the Clean Elections funding, I’ll have difficult choices, but if the people want a Clean Elections candidate, I would stay. Whether I would be viable is another question.
Question: Would you consider not running as a Clean Elections candidate?
Tolman: If I’m not viable, I’m not going to just bang my head against the wall.
Question: Would you support an amendment to the Clean Elections Law that would provide state funding for candidates for Governor and the other Constitutional offices but not for the State Legislature?
Tolman: No. This race is more than about me. One point one million people, 67 percent of the voters in the ‘98 election, wanted to change the system. Massachusetts is second only to Arkansas in the lack of competition in the Legislature. Seventy-one percent of incumbents had no opposition in 2000.
I first talked about the idea of Clean Elections in 1990. I have never taken money from political action committees or lobbyists. I worked on getting the Act for Accountable Politics passed that lowered the amount of money lobbyists can contribute. I collected signatures and reviewed drafts of the Clean Elections Law.
Question: Your opponent, Senate President Thomas Birmingham (Democrat), says he supports Clean Elections. Has he done enough to support the law?
Tolman: Tom Birmingham, one and a half years ago, tried to kill Clean Elections, to repeal it and change it so that you would be subject to Clean Elections fund-raising restrictions only during the final six months of the campaign, but not the 18 months before that. This is not frankly what I believe to be the best way to implement the will of the voters. His State Senate chairmen and his Majority Leader voted to repeal Clean Elections. Birmingham seems to have more influence over them on things he cares about.
Question: What is the most important issue facing Massachusetts, and what would you do about it as Governor?
Tolman: I’m glad you asked because it’s not Clean Elections. Clean elections are important to the process, but there are other big issues: to grow the economy and create jobs and increase the commitment to education, early childhood education particularly. We should move toward full-day kindergarten statewide and also universal pre-school.
To fund these programs we should first make the appropriate cuts. Governor Jane Swift has 75 press secretaries. A Pioneer Institute study indicates $50 million in possible cuts. An example is the specific judiciary positions created by the Legislature that the Judiciary did not ask for. This is pure patronage. The Mass Pike costs almost two and a half times more to maintain than the New York State freeway. It shouldn’t. If two planes hadn’t crashed into the World Trade Center, we wouldn’t have known about how bad the patronage is at Massport. Also, look at the $5 million bailout of the racetrack industry last year. Who wanted that?
Question: What is your position on rolling back the state income tax to five percent of personal earnings as voted by the people on the 2000 general election ballot?
Tolman: I favor the rollback as voted by the people.
Question: Where do you stand on the issues of the death penalty and abortion?
Tolman: I am against the death penalty. I’m pro-choice; I support the laws on the books now.
Question: What about healthcare? Is a single payer system the answer?
Tolman: If I could wave a magic wand over the state and get just one provider, I’d do it and eliminate the administrative costs, which are 10 to 18 percent. I also recognize that any changes will face formidable, entrenched interests. The fastest growing Medicaid expense is prescription drugs. Insurers are paying more for prescription drugs than in-patient care. We need to take on the pharmaceutical industry. They spent close to a million dollars lobbying in Massachusetts. I’m not taking their money. I don’t owe them anything. The State must force costs down through bulk purchasing and anti-detailing efforts – using the generic brands instead of marked up brand names of the same drugs.
Question: If elected, what would you do about the Big Dig?
Tolman: I was pushing for oversight since 1993. The first thing I would do is take those tens of thousands of dollars of change orders. Editor’s note: Change orders are requests from contractors to spend more than specified in their bids because of allegedly unforeseen circumstances. Those orders are being rubber-stamped; I’d take out the microscope. Remember Big Dig contractors and Mass Highway employees were the number one contributors to the Cellucci campaign in 1998.
Question: How many committed delegates to the June Democratic State Convention do you have at this time, and do you think you’ll reach the 15 percent threshold to get on the September primary ballot?
Tolman: We’re not at 15 percent yet. We have around 200. We spent $500 on the caucuses. Other candidates spent six figures, so we’re not surprised. But we’re not worried. Editor’s note: The required 15 percent would be almost 750 delegates.
Question: How is your campaign going: how many bodies and bucks do you have?
Tolman: We have tons of volunteers and seven paid people. Since last April we have raised $250,000 all in contributions of $100 or less from 12,000 contributors in 300 of the approximately 350 cities and towns in Massachusetts. The campaign account at this time has $10,000 in it.
Question: Are you backing anyone for Lt. Governor?
Tolman: Sure. You want the exclusive?.. Hah! Just kidding. Editor’s note: He got me. No, the Mass voters will pick the candidate just like they picked me in 1998.
Question: Why are you a Democrat?
Tolman: Democratic programs and initiatives afford people opportunities to get ahead. My parents lived in a federal housing project when they were first married. I went to public schools, which Democrats have stood behind, and I went to college on student loans and work-study, Democratic initiatives that Reagan tried to cut and Tip O’Neil fought for. The Democratic Party makes a difference in people’s lives like it did in mine.
Question: Why should the voters elect you?
Tolman: Today the Massachusetts Democratic Party stands for big special interests. That’s not the party of my ancestors. I want to change that. If the people want a reformer with a record, they should vote for me.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!