Voter Guide: Mike Moore Profile (2nd District)

Monday, November 05, 2012

Adam Joseph Drici, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Candidate Profile: Michael O. Moore (Democrat - Millbury)

Birth Date: January 17, 1963

Education: Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Criminal Justice, Western New England College

Bio: Born and raised in Millbury, Senator Moore has devoted his entire adult life to public service. A former law enforcement officer, environmental investigator, and Assistant Deputy Superintendent over his 26-year career, Senator Moore has an accomplished record of giving back to his community. A Millbury Selectman for 8 years, Senator Moore was elected to represent the people of the Second Worcester District in the Massachusetts Senate in November 2008, earning 60 percent of the vote. Senator Moore is currently Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education. In addition, he serves as Vice Chair of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, and serves on the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Post Audit and Oversight. Over the last four years, he has been recognized by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Restaurant and Business Alliance, and the Associated Industries of Massachusetts for his job creation and pro-business initiatives.

On the Issues

How can you create jobs in Massachusetts?

Job creation in Massachusetts begins with small business. They represent the vast majority of employers throughout the Commonwealth, and will continue to play a large role in our ongoing economic recovery. In the Legislature, we’ve already taken a number of pro-active measures to encourage job growth by passing a comprehensive job creation bill, creating a veteran-owned assistance program, and reducing the tax burden on businesses. Moving forward, one of my top priorities is creating jobs through expanded workforce development training, expanding career resource centers, and revising the Economic Development Incentive Program (EDIP) to encourage more businesses to Massachusetts.

State Services:

Delivering essential state services, whether it’s public education, transportation, public safety, or health care, remains the core mission of state government. However, state-run programs must, at all times, run efficiently using the least taxpayer funding. With that said, I was proud to vote in favor of a dramatic overhaul in how state agencies are funded. We moved from a year-by-year review of their effectiveness to a performance-based budgeting process that uses qualitative analysis to determine funding needs. We also worked to consolidate state government, reducing redundancy and overlap of state services. While we’ve done a great deal over the last four years, I believe we must continue to review state programs to better understand their success in delivering services to our constituents.

Taxes:

One of my most fundamental beliefs as a State Senator is that we, as a Legislature, must ask from our citizens only the revenue that is vital to state services. We must not overburden taxpayers by funding programs that are outdated, ineffective, or nonessential to our constituents. With that in mind, I have voted to decrease the income tax, repeal the alcohol tax, reduce the sales tax, and decrease the gas tax, among others. One of my top priorities, should I be re-elected, is to develop a Commission to study decreasing the sales tax to 5 percent over a number of years. I know we cannot reduce the sales tax without first understanding the ramifications of such a large loss in revenue, but we need to take this first step. It’s my goal to ultimately reduce the sales tax, saving taxpayers almost $1 billion annually.

Healthcare:

By far, one of the most expensive areas in both the public and private sectors is healthcare. Rising costs mean greater strain on both the state budget, as well as businesses trying to provide competitive benefits. In order to address these concerns, I voted to pass a comprehensive health care cost containment bill, signed by the Governor, that is slated to save approximately $200 billion over 15 years. Among the reforms included in the landmark legislation is a transition to electronic-based payment systems, enhancing provider transparency, community-based prevention, a wellness tax credit for businesses, expansion of limited service clinics, et al. Looking to the future, we must remember that small businesses are the backbone of our economy, making up approximately 86 % of our economy. If we are to have a full recovery, we must continue to provide regulatory and financial relief for our small businesses. We must first carefully monitor the actions already taken to provide health care cost reductions for small businesses and, if necessary, take further action. When our small business community feels some relief from increasing health care costs, they are given the opportunity to re-invest their savings back into their businesses for potential expansion and offer new job opportunities.

Education:

Providing quality public education is one of the most critical services state government supports. One of the most expensive areas that school districts struggle to fund are services for special education. The state plays a critical part in offsetting this cost through the “special education circuit breaker”, designed to cover a portion of the expenses incurred by local communities. I was therefore proud to vote for an enormous increase to fully fund the circuit breaker funding in this year’s budget, despite ongoing fiscal challenges. As the Chairman of the Public Higher Education Committee, I’ve also worked hard to integrate our workforce development opportunities with our public colleges and universities, and make our public colleges and universities more affordable and accessible for local students.

Energy & the Environment:

Representing a number of suburban and rural towns, in addition to Worcester, I believe strongly in environmental conservation. As a proponent of the Community Preservation Act, we’ve worked to secure hundreds of acres for preservation purposes using local funds. I’ve also successfully worked with the communities of Auburn and Millbury in obtaining grant funding to study the viability of wind farms in their communities. Likewise, I have been and will continue to be a vocal advocate for self-sustaining, renewable energy, especially wind and solar. The technology is there, the results have been impressive, and now we need to reinforce local efforts with state support. By offering tax abatements and incentives for renewable energy programs, we can help grow this expanding industry.

Illegal Immigration:

This is an issue the federal government must resolve for the long term health of our country. I am a strong advocate for state rights and sovereignty, but we cannot have fifty states with fifty different immigration policies. This kind of inconsistency would set a difficult precedent that is nearly impossible to enforce. With that said, Congress and the President must come together with a uniform policy and resolve this issue across the entire country.

Quick Hitters

What is the single most important issue you want to tackle in 2013?

In 2013, my top priority is job growth. Through a number of different methods, especially the expansion of STEM education, leveraging public and private education partnerships, and encouraging new business to stay in MA, I believe we are headed in the right direction. But I won’t be satisfied until every person that is able and willing to work has a job to go to.

Who is your favorite member of the opposite party?

I work quite well with every member of the Republican Party in the Senate, and many in the House. Many of my district counterparts in the House of Representatives are from the Republican Party, including: Rep. George Peterson, Rep. Matt Beaton and Rep. Paul Frost. I have had success working with each one of them and hope to continue our productive, bipartisan relationship.

In one paragraph, why should voters support Mike Moore?

In the four years I’ve had the privilege of representing the citizens of the Second Worcester District, we’ve accomplished a great deal together, despite unprecedented fiscal challenges and budget constraints. By maintaining an open line of communication with local citizens, we’ve tackled and completed some of the most comprehensive and effective reforms in recent memory, including: veterans assistance, foreclosure prevention, public construction and ethics reform, tax relief for small businesses, responsible economic development, government consolidation, campaign finance reform, and much more. While I’m proud of what we’ve done so far, I know there is still a great deal left unfinished. Based on my record of results, experience at the local and state level, accessibility and availability, and my commitment to my community and constituents, I ask for their vote and the opportunity to continue serving as State Senator.