Debate Puts Spotlight on two Republicans Running for Governor

With much fanfare, and a fair number of commercial interruptions, the two Republican anxious to be their party’s standard bearer in a fight to derail Maura Healey’s coronation express. took to the airwaves and the Howie Carr show Wednesday evening.

In their opening statements, the two carved out territory that they mostly stuck to for the rest of the debate.

Chris Doughty: “We really appreciate you hosting this debate. I'm glad to be at this point in the campaign where we finally get to share a vision of the booming economy here in Massachusetts, across the state and across all sectors. I'm a job creator, and not a career politician. I've been creating jobs in the state for 30 years. So, I know what we need to do to have a booming economy and bring jobs here.

“We're also going to make Massachusetts more affordable. We have one of the highest costs of living in America almost on every category, and it's getting worse every day. Many of our citizens are struggling just to pay their own groceries. As a manufacturer in an intensely competitive industry, I've been cutting costs for three decades. So, I know how to do this. This is my unique skill set that I bring to this campaign -- the ability to make things more affordable. I'm going to treat state government just like I treat in my own business, I'm going to watch every dollar and start leaning out the processes to reduce bureaucracy and wasteful regulation.

“This is going to allow us to begin sending back more money to our towns and our cities, so that they can fund their education, their police, their roads and their sidewalks. And it'll allow us to begin to introduce a more competitive tax policy in Massachusetts. We cannot afford to lose more businesses like Raytheon. I love Massachusetts and the people of Massachusetts and I'm hugely optimistic about our future and can't wait to take the job.”

Geoff Diehl: ““Thanks, Chris, for being here. And thank you everybody for being in the studio, and also anybody who's listening or watching online. So. really appreciate this. Back in 2010, I decided to run for state representative, I was serving on the town's Finance Committee in Whitman. I had seen the struggles of trying to get Beacon Hill to live up to their commitments to our communities. I was frustrated with what was going on, on Beacon Hill, as well as with the state representative that was there, an incumbent Democrat, who had been in office for several years. He was the vice chair of education. So, I got out of my comfort zone; I ran for the first time not knowing anything about politics, got up to Beacon Hill and actually found out that it was worse than I thought it was going to be. And so, when I got to the statehouse and started working on what was important for the district that I had, I found that we needed to do a lot of things differently on Beacon Hill.

“And that's what I'm intending to do as governor. Right now, we've got a legislature that still does not listen to the people of Massachusetts. We have billions of dollars in excess tax revenue, they will do nothing to provide relief to the people in Massachusetts who are struggling with the cost of goods but at the cost of gas and transportation. So, we need to make sure that you've got someone who has a track record of trying to make sure the money comes back to the district and also lowers taxes so that we reduce the burden, increase the job growth, and make sure that businesses aren't leaving, not just Raytheon, but Smith and Wesson out in Western Massachusetts, we need to make sure they are there.

“We also have to make sure parents have a say with their kids in the curriculum, making sure that that inappropriate material for young kids is no longer in the classrooms. We also have to make sure we support law enforcement and the work they do to protect our communities and stop the drug flow into Massachusetts. So, thank you very much for having this.”

Even as they agreed broadly on many of the things that hurt Massachusetts, and their concern that the Bay State could become, effectively, a One-Party State in November if they fail in their quest – they also hit hard at each other’s records. Doughty claimed Diehl lost elections and was “campaigning in Alabama” while Diehl cited various run-ins Doughty’s company has had with regulators s—and his Johnny-come-lately arrival in the state’s politics.

They did both agree that “Maura Healey would be a disaster for the state.”