“My name is Robert Cabral, I have signed my nominations papers and am officially a candidate for City Councilor Ward 3. I will appear on the ballot on January 24th, 2023.

This is my first attempt at a public office, and I am so excited to have this opportunity to potentially represent the constituents of Ward 3. My 40-year background as an entrepreneur, manager, and leader makes me the dynamic choice to take charge of all the very important projects that will be happening over the next few years in our Ward.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. I was commissioned as an officer in the Massachusetts Army National Guard at 19-years old – 8 months after being given an opportunity to enter Officer Candidate School, earlier than is normally required.

This impacted me greatly, helping me to become a good leader – one who values subordinate input while analyzing information to make informed decisions. I started and owned ‘Ash Away Hearth and Chimney,” a multi-store retailer that also was involved in construction services for over 30 years before handing it over to my son Kevin.

In the past year, I have worked with homelessness in New Bedford and used my background to come up with a robust 25-page plan to address homelessness in our city. I look forward to getting a serious and raw discussion going on homelessness and its relation to substance use disorder and especially the public mental health crisis we currently face.

The following is my platform for running for this position of public trust. I will encourage all Ward 3 residents to call me to discuss any issues they have both while as a candidate, and if I am lucky enough to win, as your Councilor.

I do not plan on being an absentee Councilman. I will put in the time required and more. Should the residents of Ward 3 see it fit, I will immediately immerse myself into the office, and hit the ground running.

1) My number one priority will be customer (constituent’s) service. After 40 years of doing what is right for the customer and putting them first, I will easily be able to handle constituent needs in a timely and professional manner. My phone, 508-441-1248. is always on. I will respond to your inquiries.

2) Transparency: My very first motion will be to live-stream all City Council meetings. In a post COVID world, there is no excuse for this to not be happening now. A large group of people no longer have cable access. The constituents will know how I voted and why I voted the way I did. All major votes will be posted in a manner to be determined.
I will establish an advisory committee made up of people from all parts of the ward, to keep my pulse on constituent desires. I will attempt to grow involvement in Ward 3 Community Groups, to communicate as much as possible with the group.

3) Provide strong, active leadership and organizational skills required to help successfully implement the major projects coming to the ward, i.e. Hicks-Logan project, the Advanced Manufacturing Campus at the Golf course, the Rail Station, and many more. My experience will allow me to look for missed opportunities, as well as overcoming obstacles as they occur.

Hicks-Logan redevelopment was designed in 2008 yet remains stalled. I will work aggressively to get that project funded. It is an “untapped” jewel, that if done correctly, could solidify New Bedford as a destination city.

4) Strive to achieve consensus amongst the council members. A divided council does not do the will of the people effectively. The best deals are those in which neither side is content. There must be vigorous, respectful debate, and compromise. Every effort must be made to work with whoever is Mayor in the same manner, to maximize constituent benefit.

5) Work to clean up the Weld Square area and fix up some of the roads around there. Contact the new sheriff to see if we can reinstitute the “Inmate Community Service Volunteer Program” to clean up our streets. I will look into a community service program for the long term.

6) Support all City of New Bedford employees. We cannot succeed without our teachers, police, fire, EMS, DPI, and othercity workers. Without good quality people, no entity can be effective. They are critical in providing the valuable services our citizens deserve. I do not support protecting people who do not effectively serve the people. We are all accountable, myself included.

7) Use my financial experience to look for both wasteful spending and budgetary shortfalls that need to be addressed. Ensure there is integrity in the process, and that the needs of the people influence my decisions.

8) Immerse myself in our school system, to the extent possible. I have heard strong opinions from the parents of our children in Ward 3 pertaining to our effectiveness in educating our children. We must all strive to support our students and our teachers. Parents need to actively participate to influence their children’s education.

9) Commission a traffic study to determine the feasibility of implementing a traffic light at the corner of Hathaway Rd and Rockdale Ave, as well as the cost of an additional 5 to 10 crosswalks in the ward.

10) Work to sell, demolish, or repurpose all the abandoned properties within ward 3 that are owned by the city. Work with the building and health departments as required, to ensure that absentee landlords maintain their buildings so our citizens can safely inhabit them.

11) Ensure diversity so that the people that make up our beautiful community are represented equally and all have a voice.

12) Work with businesses to bring more jobs to tMobile
he city, provide tax relief to homeowners, and work to increase assessed values of Commercial Properties, instead of just increasing taxes. This will increase the tax base while allowing businesses more access to much needed capital through credit institutions.

13) Work to provide 24-hour shelters with wraparound services provided by our nonprofits. This will increase the speed in getting clients the help they need faster. I have a working plan that I would provide to anyone interested. We need to get into a serious and raw discussion about homelessness, substance use disorder and our public mental health crisis. My past year working with the homeless will provide the much-needed insight to stimulate conversation.

If given the opportunity to represent Ward 3, I will do so in a professional manner and with integrity. My decisions will be based on my desire to do what is right for the Customer; our citizens.

Thank you for your consideration on January 24th. Please get out and vote. Your vote most certainly matters.
Robert Cabral.”

Robert Cabral
Phone: (508) 441-1248
Email: ashawaybobcabral@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087404783696

Troy Sargent, 38, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced today in the District of Columbia to 14 months in prison for felony charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, civil disorder, and four related misdemeanor offenses. Sargent pleaded guilty on June 27, 2022 to all six charges against him.

His and others’ actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

According to court documents, Sargent was part of a crowd of rioters illegally on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. At approximately 2:30 p.m., he stepped forward from the crowd and swung his open hand towards a U.S. Capitol Police Officer, making contact with the officer. Immediately afterward, another officer instructed Sargent and others, “Do not start attacking people.” Thirty seconds later, at approximately 2:31 p.m., Sargent again advanced toward the front of the crowd and swung his open hand towards the same officer; this time, he made contact with someone else in the crowd. In this second incident, Sargent intended to make contact with the same officer. In a social media message later, he wrote to another person, “I got two hits in on the same rookie cop …”

Sargent was arrested on March 9, 2021, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In addition to the term of incarceration, he was ordered to complete two years of supervised release and to pay $500 restitution and a $285 special assessment.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

The FBI’s Boston Field Office investigated the case, with valuable assistance from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department

In the 23 months since Jan. 6, 2021, approximately 900 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 280 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

By Colin A. Young
State House News Service

Out in New Braintree, nearly 50 people are in the midst of the second week of training as part of the inaugural class of the Massachusetts State Police’s Cadet Program, established under the 2020 policing reform law in hopes of encouraging young people from diverse backgrounds to pursue a career in law enforcement.

The 47 cadets going through the four-week academic and physical training course at the State Police Academy have made a one-year minimum commitment and will afterwards move into a series of eight-week rotations through barracks and specialty units, where they will work administrative shifts as civilian employees. Participants who successfully complete the program and pass the Civil Service’s State Trooper Exam will receive preference for appointment to the State Police Academy.

The policing reform law that Gov. Charlie Baker signed at the end of 2020 authorized the creation of the cadet program as an alternate route to the State Police Academy that his administration believes can broaden the pool of recruits. It was funded in 2021. The State Police said the program is “designed as a recruitment strategy to broaden the diversity of the applicant pool and provide hands-on training while offering a paid, benefitted, and full-time civilian position within the Department as a Cadet.”

Of the 47 inaugural cadets, 25 (53 percent) are people of color and 13 (27 percent) are women, the State Police said.

“Our administration proposed the launch of a cadet program at the Massachusetts State Police several years ago, and the training of this inaugural class represents a significant step forward in implementing the Commonwealth’s landmark police reform law,” Baker said. “This initiative will strengthen recruitment and help build a diverse and capable next generation of law enforcement officers across the Commonwealth. We are grateful to Colonel [Christopher] Mason and the leadership team at the Massachusetts State Police for their efforts on this and many other initiatives which will improve the Department and its ability to effectively serve the Commonwealth for years to come.”

The 47 cadets in the first class were selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants after an entrance examination, submission of a detailed application with personal statements and letters of reference, participation in an interview with members of the MSP’s Selection Committee, passage of a full background check conducted by the MSP’s Certification Unit, and medical and psychological screenings. The program is open to Massachusetts residents aged 19 to 25.

Mason addressed the cadets on their first day of training, Nov. 28, and said that the participants “bring diverse backgrounds, skills, and experiences to our agency and will gain firsthand experience and a deeper understanding of the critical ways we protect and serve the citizens of Massachusetts.”

After they complete the month-long training course, the cadets will be issued uniforms (the State Police said they will “clearly denote them as Cadets”), identification cards, ballistic vests and flashlights. The cadets will not have any statutory powers or authority reserved for sworn law enforcement officers.

They will rotate through barracks and specialty units of the State Police, spending eight weeks at each stop. The rotations will continue for up to two years, depending upon the timing of the next State Police Recruit Training Troop. Throughout their time as cadets, the participants will be expected to study up on the MSP’s rules and regulations, policies and procedures, and other materials. They must also spend one hour each day in physical training.

The cadet program falls under MSP’s Division of Administrative Services and is led Det. Lt. Sharon Maher.

“Carmen Amaral announced on December 2, 2022 that she is running for New Bedford City Councilor of Ward 3. This ward includes parts of the city’s north and west ends. The preliminary for this special election is on January 24, 2023.

Amaral is an educator, non-profit leader, and longtime resident of New Bedford. She has had a twenty-year career in public schools as a classroom teacher and educational leader. Amaral also serves as a board member and officer within local organizations. Across leadership roles, Amaral has brought expertise in advocacy, policy creation, coalition building, and budget management.

After immigrating to the city from the Azores as a child, Amaral was educated within the New Bedford Public School system and earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Bridgewater State College in Biology and Chemistry and a Post Baccalaureate in Secondary Education. Later, Carmen earned Master’s of Art in Teaching from UMass Dartmouth and an Education Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership from Bridgewater State University.

Amaral is running to build responsive constituent services, strengthen public infrastructure, and promote safety and wellness.

“As an immigrant who moved to this city at a young age, was educated in our schools, and utilized community assistance to thrive here, I understand the importance of accessible community leaders who know New Bedford and all it has to offer,” she stated.

Amaral understands the complexities of the ward and is able to draw on more than personal experience. “Because of my education and professional experience in schools and nonprofits, I am confident in my ability to identify issues and work collaboratively with diverse groups to develop solutions.” She adds, “There is a lot of work to be done in Ward 3. I am excited to bring my passion for advocacy, critical knowledge, and leadership skills to the city council.”

Voters seeking more information about Amaral’s background and platform or how to get involved in her campaign can visit her website at carmenamaralnb.com. She can also be found on Facebook at “Carmen Amaral for Ward 3 City Councilor” and Instagram @carmenamaralnb. Ward 3 residents are also encouraged to contact her directly at carmenamaralnb@gmail.com.”

“Schedule announced for Ward 3 Preliminary and Special Election.

The Board of Election Commissioners is advising the public that nomination papers are now available for the Ward 3 Preliminary Special Election.

Candidates can pick up their nomination papers, election calendar, and information packet at City Hall located at 133 William Street Room 114 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Before issuance of nomination papers, candidates must sign a statement containing the person’s name, address, and the office the person intends to seek. Anyone other than the candidate must present a signed authorization to secure papers on their behalf.

Candidates must obtain at least 50 certified signatures to be eligible to appear on the preliminary ballot scheduled for Tuesday, January 24, 2023. In the Preliminary Special Election, New Bedford Ward 3 voters will be casting their votes for Councilor for the remainder of Councilor Hugh Dunn’s term.

The last day to submit nomination papers to the Board of Election Commissioners is December 6, 2022, at 5 p.m.

The Board of Election Commissioners has released the schedule lining up for the Ward 3 Special Election that will be held on Tuesday, February 28, 2023.

Schedule:

DECEMBER 6, 5:00 PM: Last day and hour to submit nomination papers to the Board of Election Commissioners for the certification of signatures.

DECEMBER 20, 5:00 PM: Last day and hour to officially accept nominations once signatures are certified with the Board of Election Commissioners.

DECEMBER 22, 5:00 PM: Last day and hour for filing withdrawals or objections to nomination papers with the Board of Election Commissioners.

JANUARY 13,5:00 PM: Last day to register to vote for the Preliminary Election.

JANUARY 17, 5:00 PM: Last day and hour to apply for a mail-in or absentee preliminary ballot.

JANUARY 21, 9:00 AM TO 12 Noon Saturday Absentee Voting, City Hall, Room 114

JANUARY 23, 12:00 PM: Last day and hour to apply for an in-person absentee preliminary ballot.

JANUARY 24: PRELIMINARY ELECTION – POLLS OPEN 7:00 A.M. – 8:00 P.M.

JANUARY 31 at 5:00 PM: Last day and hour to file recount petition with Board of Election Commissioners.

FEBRUARY 17 at 5:00 PM: Last day to register to vote for the Ward 3 Special Election.

FEBRUARY 21 at 5:00 PM: Last day and hour to apply for a mail-in or absentee election ballot.

FEBRUARY 25, 9:00 AM-12 PM (NOON): Absentee Voting, City Hall, Room 114

FEBRUARY 27: Last day and hour to apply for the in-person absentee election ballot.

FEBRUARY 28: Ward 3 Special Election – Polls open 7:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M.

MARCH 10: Last day and hour to file for a recount for the Election 5:00 P.M.” -City of New Bedford.

Colin A. Young, State House News Service

Stepping onto a stage that he usually shuns, outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker recently invited CNN to his State House office so he could share his thoughts on the midterm elections and the direction of his Republican Party.

In the interview that aired Monday on the national network, the two-term governor said his party needs to realize that “voters want collaborative elected officials.”

“I think the biggest issue that played out in the midterms is something that I’ve talked about a lot over the course of the past eight years, which is voters, generally speaking, especially in battleground states aren’t interested in extremism. They just aren’t,” Baker said in the interview with Jake Tapper. “They want people who they believe are going to be reasonable, who are going to be collaborative and who represent sort of the fundamental tenet of democracy that it’s supposed to be a distributed decision-making model and you’re supposed to be OK with that.”

Though they may still end up with control of the U.S. House, Republicans took a drubbing in last week’s midterms. What was forecast to be a “red wave” ended up being the best midterms for a sitting president’s party in decades as Democrats retained control of the U.S. Senate for the rest of President Joe Biden’s term. Baker, a Republican who has at times been the “most popular” governor in America, will be replaced in the corner office by Democrat Maura Healey, and Baker did not campaign for her defeated GOP rival, Geoff Diehl.

As he introduced the pre-taped interview with the outgoing governor, Tapper said that “Baker rarely does national TV interviews but he invited me to his office in the State House for an exclusive one-on-one because he was seemingly so distressed about where the Republican Party is headed.”

Baker said the Republican Party feels “significant influence from the former president,” referring to Donald Trump, and said Trump’s influence “probably hurt the party and hurt the party’s chances on Election Day, not just here in Massachusetts, in Maryland, but in many of those other battleground states.”

“The big message coming out of Tuesday, and I would argue the big message voters are going to send going forward, is you need to demonstrate in word and deed that you believe this is always going to be about more than just your party and you’re partisans,” Baker, who only endorsed one Republican candidate running statewide here this year, said.

The governor, who often deflected questions about politics before last week’s elections, opted against seeking a third term and furthering his own politics of bipartisanship. His like-minded lieutenant governor, Karyn Polito, also chose not to run for governor, leaving the Trump-backed Diehl to try to hold the office for the GOP.

The governor then touched upon some of what he talked about when he gave a lecture at Harvard’s Institute of Politics earlier this month. Millions of people every year give up on political parties and become independent or unenrolled voters, Baker said.

“That’s a big statement that people are making about what they think about the narrowness of the vision and the attitude of the parties,” he said.

In that speech at Harvard, and again on CNN, Baker recounted how David Bowie in 1999 was already talking about how dramatically — for good and ill — the internet would change society. Baker said the iconic artist was right in many ways.

“There will be certain things the internet will do that will be wonderful and amazing, and that’s absolutely the case. But he also said it would create tremendous disruption and this capacity for a very dark side to find itself and to leverage it and to make it something where truth would be defined by the users and the producers,” Baker said. “And I think in some ways he was right. And he was the only one who was talking about this back then, I give him huge credit.”

Asked why he hasn’t more outspoken against President Trump, despite being billed as an anti-Trump Republican, Baker retorted that he has not “been shy about my point of view on this stuff, I’ve just chosen to make the way I govern and the way we get things done a statement about how I think this should work.” Baker also mentioned that he did not vote for Trump either time the former president ran for office.

Tapper asked the governor why Republicans weren’t “running to you” for a White House run, given Baker’s “most popular governor” status.

“Well first of all, I’m a northeast Republican, which looks and acts a little different than many of the Republicans around the country,” Baker responded. “It’s a 50-state country and that’s part of what makes it beautiful and gorgeous and also what creates a lot of the noise that goes on at the national level.”

He added that Republicans need to broaden their horizons beyond the party’s core to reach out to independent voters if they want success on the national scale.

Earlier this year, when Baker was participating in a CNN-hosted conference in California, Harvard professor David Liu tweeted that Baker told attendees he would be ‘in the picture’ in the 2024 election.

“I am not, nor will I ever be — OK? My wife is standing right back there and she will be the first to vouch — a candidate for national office,” Baker said in July 2015.

Baker is spending the early part of this week in Florida for meetings of the Republican Governors Association, a group dedicated to electing and reelecting GOP governors.

By Sam Doran
State House News Service

It was a nail-biter of a night for several close county-level races in Massachusetts, with one district attorney’s office appearing to hold for the state GOP, and a DA’s office and a sheriff’s seat appearing to flip for the Democrats.

In one of only two district attorney contests Tuesday, Republican Tim Cruz, Plymouth County’s top prosecutor for more than two decades, held a commanding lead over ACLU attorney Rahsaan Hall, a Democrat, after 1 a.m. — 111,585 to 59,551 — with 75 percent of precincts reporting.

“I think that we really found out exactly what it is the people in Plymouth County want,” Cruz said on WATD Radio earlier in the evening. “They want to be safe in their homes, they want to be secure in the street. I think they’re happy with the work that we’ve been doing here, and we’ll go forward from there and continue to do that job.”

The veteran prosecutor said his opponent “wanted to either defund or abolish the police” and said there were major cities elsewhere in the U.S. that elected “progressive” district attorneys and saw escalating numbers of violent crimes.

“And they don’t want that here, and I don’t blame them,” he said of Plymouth County voters.

Cruz is set to become the only Republican prosecutor in Massachusetts.

Longtime Cape and Islands DA Michael O’Keefe did not run for reelection this cycle — and Democrats were able to flip that office for the first time in decades.

While the AP had not called the close race Wednesday morning — it stood at an 11-point margin with around three quarters of precincts reporting — WCAI reporter Eve Zuckoff wrote at 11:08 p.m. that Republican Dan Higgins had conceded to Democrat Robert Galibois.

The candidates are both Barnstable residents and both had experience as assistant district attorneys in the DA’s office; Galibois was a Cape and Islands prosecutor before opening his own private practice.

Among the several uncontested DA races, Rep. Paul Tucker of Salem was elected as top prosecutor in Essex County, where he will replace retiring DA Jonathan Blodgett. Former prosecutor and defense attorney Timothy Shugrue, who knocked off incumbent Berkshire County DA Andrea Harrington in the Democratic primary, also coasted to election unopposed.

In a bitter contest for Bristol County sheriff, Democrat Paul Heroux, the mayor of Attleboro, declared victory over Republican incumbent Thomas Hodgson in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, WJAR-TV’s Jodi Reed reported after 1 a.m.

Hodgson has served as sheriff for a quarter century. He was appointed acting sheriff by Gov. William Weld before winning his first election to the post in 1998. A Trump-aligned Republican, he also scored the endorsement of moderate Gov. Charlie Baker.

The AP was reporting Heroux, a former state representative, ahead of Hodgson by around 3,300 votes at 1:30 a.m. with around 67 percent of precincts reporting.

On Cape Cod, the open race for sheriff of Barnstable County was stuck in a single-digit margin between Republican Rep. Tim Whelan and Democrat Donna Buckley, a former general counsel in the sheriff’s office.

Around 20 minutes to midnight, WCAI’s Ryan Bray reported that Whelan “says the race continues” while awaiting results from three towns.

Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis, a Republican who previously served in the House, was fending off Democratic challenger David Fontaine by more than 35,000 votes early Wednesday morning, with results still being tabulated.

And Nantucket Sheriff James Perelman, a Democrat, brushed off a challenge from independent David Aguiar with nearly seven times his opponent’s vote count.

The eight-member Governor’s Council, an elected body that has final approval power over the governor’s judicial and quasi-judicial appointments, is poised to remain all-Democrat when the Healey administration takes office in January.

The four incumbent Governor’s Council members facing Republican challengers — Councilors Robert Jubinville of Milton, Christopher Iannella Jr. of Jamaica Plain, Eileen Duff of Gloucester, and Paul DePalo of Worcester — all held sizeable leads early Wednesday morning, although the AP had only called a victory in Iannella’s race.

The closest of those contests seemed to be Duff’s and DePalo’s.

Duff was nearly 40,000 votes ahead of Michael Walsh, a Republican attorney from Lynnfield who represented MassGOP Chairman James Lyons and others in their court challenge of the new mail-in voting law earlier this year. And DePalo was more than 38,000 votes ahead of Sturbridge businessowner Gary Galonek.

Democrat Tara Jacobs, a North Adams School Committee member, held a nearly 45,000-vote lead over former welfare fraud investigator John Comerford of Palmer, a Republican, in the race to fill the open Western Massachusetts seat that retired judge Mary Hurley is vacating.

Councilors Joseph Ferreira, Marilyn Pettito Devaney and Terry Kennedy were all unopposed Tuesday.

“Mayor Jon Mitchell has made several appointments to local boards.

William Comeau, who was named this year’s Grand Marshall of the City’s Veterans Day Parade, has been appointed to the Veterans Advisory Board. Comeau is a United States Army Vietnam veteran. He was awarded a combat infantry badge, the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service for his service in Vietnam from 1966-1967, the Presidential Unit Citation for his participation in the Battle of Suoi Tre in March 1967, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the National Defense Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Unit Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross.

He serves as the president and newsletter publisher of ‘Alpha Assocation,’ a veterans’ organization of soldiers who served in his company in Vietnam. He also is a 10-year office holder at both the Acushnet VFW and the New Bedford Regional DAV Chapter, and recently published a book called, ‘Duel with the Dragon at the Battle of Suoi Tre,’ which recounts his history in New Bedford, his entry into the U.S. Army, and the history of the men with whom he served.

The Mayor has also appointed James Gagnon to the Veterans Advisory Board. Gagnon is a U.S. Airforce Vietnam veteran and a member of several groups including the Vietnam Veterans of America CH 499, VFW Freetown Post 6643, American Legion Acushnet Post 265, Patriot Guard Riders, and the New Bedford Disabled American Veteran CH 7.

Pamela Kavanaugh, previously the Compliance Director at the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center before she retired in December 2021, has been appointed to the Board of Health.
She will replace Dr. Patricia Andrade, who earlier this year stepped down after a long term on the board. Kavanaugh was previously responsible for Federal, State, and local COVID-19 tracking and reporting, participated in the Mayor’s COVID Task Force, and was responsible for the planning, development, and execution of programs and services including the Dental Center, Pediatric and Adult Obesity Programs, Radiology Unit, Laboratory Services, Smoking Cessation Programs, and the Pharmacy Assistance Program.

She is currently still a member of the People Acting in Community Endeavors (P.A.C.E) Head Start Program and the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) of the Southeastern MA Advisory Board.

All appointments are subject to the approval of the New Bedford City Council.” -City of New Bedford.

Colin A. Young
State House News Service

Department of Revenue tax collectors raked in $2.359 billion last month, almost $300 million or 14 percent more than expected but a drop of $85 million or 3.5 percent compared with actual collections in October 2021.

Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder said Thursday that DOR has collected $11.565 billion in tax receipts through four months of fiscal year 2023. That’s $369 million or 3.3 percent more than collections through the same period of fiscal 2022 and $529 million or 4.8 percent more than what the administration was expecting to have brought in by this point in the year. He said October’s results were marked by a year-over-year decrease in the non-withholding income tax, corporate and business tax, and “all other tax” categories.

“These decreases were partially offset by increases in withholding and sales and use tax. The decrease in non-withholding is primarily driven by two offsetting factors: an increase in income tax refunds (outflows) related to passthrough entity (‘PTE’) member credits and a partially offsetting increase in income tax return payments,” Snyder said. “The decrease in ‘all other tax’ is primarily attributable to estate tax, a category that tends to fluctuate.

The increase in withholding is mostly due to the timing of the receipt of withholding payments: certain payments received in October 2022 were captured in November in 2021. The increase in sales and use tax reflects, in part, continued strength in retail sales.”

There are no individual or business taxpayers that make significant estimated payments during October, DOR said, which makes the month a less notable one for state tax collections. The month generally accounts for 6.5 percent of the annual haul. A report about November revenues will be due from DOR on Monday, Dec. 5.

The benchmark for November collections has been set at $2.161 billion, DOR said. The benchmarks are all based on the assumption — agreed to by legislative leaders and the Baker administration — that fiscal 2023 revenue will total $39.618 billion. Without an adjustment, that would be a drop of almost 4 percent from the $41.105 billion that was hauled in during fiscal year 2022, a year in which state tax revenue surged so high compared to wage growth that it triggered a long-forgotten tax relief law.

By Chris Lisinski
State House News Service

Democrat Maura Healey plans to fill in the “yes” bubble on a pair of ballot questions dealing with taxes and immigration, while Republican Geoff Diehl will select “no” on the two measures whose fates will be decided by voters on the same day they pick the first new governor in eight years.

The gubernatorial candidates met Thursday for their second and final debate ahead of the Nov. 8 election, sparring over how to blunt the sting of rising energy costs and prepare for a possible COVID-19 surge, and debating just how much power a governor has when Democrats in the Legislature have veto-proof majorities.

Both candidates said cutting taxes would be their first economic focus, and Healey made a point to again voice support for a package of Gov. Charlie Baker-proposed tax cuts the Legislature initially approved but never finalized. They took different stances on whether they might ever seek to undo cuts or impose new tax increases should Massachusetts face an economic crisis and a revenue shortfall.

“Right now we’re seeing a recession, we’re seeing home values drop, we’re seeing major manufacturers leaving our state (like) Raytheon,” Diehl said. “My point is this: we need to make sure that we’ve got the money for the future, but I don’t think the state is ever going to be in a position where we need to raise taxes over the time that I’ll be in office as governor. So no, I don’t anticipate ever raising taxes.”

Healey declined to “commit to particular pledges” one way or the other on a possible future tax increase, saying she would want to wait to see how the circumstances unfold.

“The point right now is to make sure that surplus gets out the door, which long ago I called on the Legislature to do without further delay and I hope those checks are going out soon,” Healey said, referencing the nearly $3 billion in tax refunds that Gov. Baker is returning in accordance with a 1986 voter law.

Diehl responded by pointing to Healey’s support for a proposed 4 percent surtax on household income above $1 million, which will appear before voters as Question 1.

“She’s already said she’s going to raise taxes because she wants Question 1 to pass,” Diehl said. “The state has enough money. They don’t need to take any more of your money.”

The Whitman Republican, who previously served as a state representative and was the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018, said later during the debate hosted by WCVB, WBUR, The Boston Globe and Univision that he plans to vote against the surtax, which supporters say will generate new funding for transportation and education. Healey said she will vote in favor of it.

“This is money that is necessary to support sustained, important revenue for infrastructure, transportation and education,” she said.

Healey, who has served as attorney general since 2015, also said she will vote yes on Question 4, which would maintain a new law allowing Massachusetts residents without legal immigration status in the U.S. to acquire standard driver’s licenses.

“Keep the law. Seventeen other states have it for good reason,” she said. “It’s important for public safety.”

Democrats in the Legislature enacted the measure over Baker’s veto. Opponents, backed by the state Republican Party, quickly gathered enough voter signatures to put a repeal referendum on the ballot.

“I’m in favor of the repeal,” Diehl said. “It’s a Band-Aid to the real problem, which is immigration law. We need to make people citizens in our country and in our state sooner than what’s happening right now.”

Maintaining a practice that has been marbled throughout their head-to-head race, both Healey and Diehl spent much of the debate trying to tie one another to the two most recent U.S. presidents.

Healey went after Diehl’s support for and from former President Donald Trump right away when moderator Ed Harding opened the evening by asking both candidates if they would accept the results of the election regardless of who wins, tying her Republican opponent to Trump’s attempts to undermine the 2020 election.

“Absolutely, and look, this is a difference in this race, because my opponent is an election denier. He supports election deniers out there, including most recently last week, when he went on a right-wing radio station the morning after our debate and once again talked about the Big Lie, talked about the election being rigged, talked about Joe Biden not being the legitimate president,” Healey said. “Those are the kinds of statements that incited the violence, the attack on the United States Capitol that resulted in injury and death to police officers.”

Diehl generated headlines earlier in the race when his campaign declined to comment to The New York Times on whether he would accept the election’s results. A few days later, he clarified that he would accept the outcome if there were no signs of irregularities or voting issues and criticized the line of questioning.

During Thursday’s debate, he opened his answer on accepting the election results with the same word as Healey — “absolutely” — while defending the idea of questioning some of the process.

“Of course Joe Biden is our president. My 401(k) and a lot of people’s are becoming 201(k)s right now because of it. The fact of the matter is it’s okay to question elections,” Diehl said. “Hillary Clinton still, I don’t think, has accepted the 2016 election. Even our Senator (Ed) Markey says that we have a stolen Supreme Court because of a stolen election. So look, it’s okay to say that things like mail-in balloting in certain states may have been handled badly. I ultimately understand that Joe Biden was certified and became our president.”

National politics loomed over other major debate topics such as energy prices and abortion access.

Diehl again blamed Healey’s opposition as attorney general to natural gas pipeline expansions for rising costs of heating Bay State homes, and called her “one of the drivers of inflation” because she supported Biden.

“He’s the one who created a war on energy. We were energy independent. You have created your own war on energy in Massachusetts,” Diehl said. “That is the major driver that’s costing businesses more money, passing it on to consumers and making it so expensive to run a business, to employ people, and to try to be competitive with other businesses nearby and globally.”

During an answer about abortion access, Diehl described one section of a 2020 law known as the ROE Act as “infanticide.”

Healey seized on that language.

“The use of the term ‘infanticide’ is just a rip from the Trump playbook, an extreme playbook that does not honor or respect a woman who is faced with an incredibly difficult decision. I just find that really wrong,” she said. “I’m committed as governor to do everything I can to stand up and protect the rights of women to protect providers, because Massachusetts stands for and supports ensuring a woman’s access to abortion.”

Diehl said he agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade but recognizes state-level abortion protections as “the law of the land.” He also pivoted to discussing COVID-19 vaccine mandates when asked about health care professionals providing abortion access and pills to out-of-state residents.

“Protecting women is beyond just abortion. There are other issues. There’s issues like my running mate, Leah Allen, a nurse who was fired from her job because she didn’t want to get a vaccine because she was nursing a baby she had just had while she had been working on a COVID ward and did not think that the vaccine — she was worried about the effect on her child,” Diehl said. “We should be protecting those women’s choices as well.”

Responding to Diehl’s comments pledging to respect the state’s existing abortion laws, Healey said, “I just don’t believe that.”

“This is a race where my opponent celebrated when Roe was overturned. He celebrated it. He thinks it’s a good decision and a good idea. He wants to defund Planned Parenthood. He said he wants to jail doctors who provide abortion care,” Healey said. “And it stretches beyond that because there was a time he didn’t believe in contraception for any unmarried woman. This is not who we are, Massachusetts.”

But how much does the governor’s opinion on abortion matter when Democrats in the Legislature have the numbers to muscle through any bill they want, so long as they can get their full caucus on board? That, too, was a point of contention.

“I don’t think you seem to understand the difference between governor and Legislature,” Diehl said. “The governor enacts the laws or executes the laws that the Legislature passes. As governor, I don’t make the decision on the ROE Act. The Legislature is a Democrat-controlled House and Senate. My estimation is that will be the case for a number of years. There is no way I’m changing that law, so to scare people — I know it’s Halloween. Stop scaring people about abortion.”

“It’s just not true. The governor absolutely has a lot to do in this space,” Healey said a few moments later. “You think about a governor’s administration, what they’re going to do with MassHealth, what they’re going to do with health care, what they’re going to do across a range of agencies that directly intersect on this issue — it’s just not the case that it doesn’t matter who the governor is.”