Thank You.

Tim Murray grew up in Worcester and attended the St. John’s School in Shrewsbury. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and took night classes to earn his law degree from the New England College School of Law in Springfield while working as a substitute teacher and as an advocate for homeless families. He became partner at the Worcester law firm of Tattan, Leonard and Murray. In 1997, Murray was elected to Worcester City Council and as Mayor of Worcester in 2001. He served for three terms, during which he chaired the School Committee. He has served as a part of many community organizations in Worcester and lives there with his wife Tammy and their two daughters.

Stance on the Issues:

Priorities: Education, job creation and economic growth, and the development of strong, safe communities in Massachusetts.

Supported the Cape Wind turbine project

Supports gay marriage

Supports stem cell research

Opposes the death penalty

Supports casinos in Massachusetts

Illegal Immigration- Patrick believes in the necessity for increased enforcement of employment laws, but does not believe in discrimination based upon immigration status when it comes to public, state services.

Websites: http://www.devalpatrick.com/

                    http://www.timmurray.org/

Richard Tisei is currently the Minority Leader in the Massachusetts State Senate. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives at age 22 and served six years there until he was elected into the State Senate. He was the Campaign Chairman for Republican William Weld and served on his staff during Weld’s time as governor. Tisei owns Northrup Realtors in Lynnfield and is the President-Elect of the Eastern Middlesex Association of Realtors.

Stance on the Issues:

Pensions- In order to make the system of allocating pension money for state and public employees more fair and to reduce its abuse, Baker proposes various measures including a pension cap at $90,000, calculating pension based upon the average salary over a worker’s whole career, and raising the retirement age for public employees.

State Budget / Economy- Baker plans to cut government spending, to reduce the state payroll, to rollback the sales tax increase, to increase accountability in government, and to annually assess state programs to evaluate their performance and effectiveness.

Education- He thinks a priority in the education system is to close the achievement gap in underprivileged communities and to create more charter, magnet, and alternative schools.

Health Care- Baker wants to promote greater transparency by providers, ensure state responsibility to Medicaid, eliminate mandated benefits, allow small businesses to buy policies in bulk together, implement medical malpractice reform, and increase the number of primary care physicians in Massachusetts.

Jobs & the Economy- Baker’s plan to create more jobs and to stimulate the economy includes: creating a simpler tax system that is conducive to businesses, making tax policies competitive with other states, creating standard rules for conducting business, having a statewide energy policy, and developing regional economies.

Cities & Towns- Baker believes that the state government should receive cuts before local government and that the state should provide the resources to help cities and towns balance their budgets.

Website: http://www.charliebaker2010.com/

                 http://www.richardtisei2010.com/

Paul Loscocco graduated from Boston College summa cum laude in 1984 and Boston College Law School cum laude in 1987. He is the Senior Partner at the law firm Reimer & Braunstein LLP, where he focuses on commercial finance and real estate. In 2000, he was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature and served four terms as a State Representative. He lives in Holliston with his wife Ann-Marie and their three children.

Stance on the Issues:

Economy- Cahill would like to focus his administration on economic growth through lowering taxes and creating jobs.

Education- Cahill wants to lower the high school dropout rate by creating an economic program that will provide jobs for those that graduate.

Taxes- He opposes raising taxes and believes that instead the government needs to reform and reorganize to work with what it has.

Pension Reform- As Treasurer, Cahill focused on fighting pension abuse and would continue to do so as Governor.

Healthcare Reform- He would like to work with the Legislature to overhaul the healthcare system to make it more effective and less costly.

Welfare- Cahill believes in the importance of welfare but wants to reduce fraud with a top-to-bottom review of the system.

Supports same-sex marriage

Gun Control- He supports the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms, but with reasonable restrictions like child safely locks.

Death Penalty- If the Legislature passes a death penalty bill, Cahill would sign it.

Websites: http://www.timforgovernor.com/

                    http://www.paulforlg.com/

Rick Purcell was born in New Mexico and grew up on an Indian reservation that traversed both Arizona and New Mexico.. He served ten years of active duty in the US Army, most recently as an air evacuation medic in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. He currently lives in Holyoke and works as a surgery clerk and ergonomics specialist at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield. He is a community activist, specifically with Holyoke Citizens for Open Government, and participates in Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Hampden County.

Stance on the Issues:

Economy- Stein would like to create strong local economies, to distribute taxes more evenly across income brackets so that those with higher incomes pay a rate closer to that of low to mid-income earners, and to establish a green economy and create jobs through that.

Health Care- Stein supports a single-payer system based on the Medicare model and the creation of public programs that promote healthy living.

Education- Stein would like to make the funding of public schools a high priority and to separate private interest from the public school systems, and instead work with educators and parents. She would also reverse the increase of tuition and fees for public institutions of higher education.

Gambling- Stein opposes the presence of casinos in Massachusetts as she believes that they take jobs away from local, community-based small businesses and create social problems.

Website: http://www.jillstein.org/

                 http://rickpurcell.org/