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WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — In a debate held on Hopkinton's HCAM, incumbent 8th Middlesex District Representative Carolyn Dykema (D-Hollistion) took on challenger Marty Lamb (R-Holliston), and the small business owner said he thinks he came out on top.
The two disagreed on tax plans, Dykema's voting record and bipartisanship. Lamb took exception to Dykema's vote against a bill that would require 24 hours between a bill being reported out of a committee and going up for vote.
"I don't think keeping the public in the dark or rushing to vote on bills before they are read is thoughtful or helpful to the district," Lamb said, referring to Dykema's earlier comment that she voted for "thoughtful legislation that helps the district."
The hour-long debate was sponsored by Hopkinton Cable Access Media and moderated by Chuck Joseph. Questions were put forward by Michelle Murdock of the Hopkinton Independent and Tom Moroney of Bloomberg News.
Dykema highlighted that she has worked on bipartisan committees, but Lamb rebutted, noting her record of voting with the Democratic House speaker a high percentage of the time.
“Carolyn’s record of public service and thoughtful legislation is unassailable,” said Hopkinton resident Barbara Berke in a press release.
The two also clashed on issues pertaining to the local economy, education and casino gambling.
More recently, Lamb has accused Dykema of cronyism based upon her vote against bipartisan ethics reform earlier this year.
Dykema said she thinks the statistics are misleading, and she has always worked to be as bipartisan as possible in her legislation.
"The truth is, this legislature has been able to pass reforms that have been attempted for decades," she said. "And it's been done on a broad, bipartisan basis."
Dykema said she hopes her constituents will vote for her because she has a track record as a good legislator and uses her business background to drive effective, and economically friendly reforms.
"We want to get the greatest value out of every dollar we spend for the public," she said.
The 8th Middlesex District includes Precincts 1 and 2 and Westborough, along with Precinct 2 in Southborough.
Comments (6)
Marty, honest? Then why has he never restrained his campaign smear brigade from all the falsehoods it says about Carolyn Dykema?
Marty would be a bad candidate in any district - willing to change his convictions to win office, constantly negative, disengaged from his community until he started running for paid positions, and a failure at real estate law.
Carolyn? Respectful, a good listener, tuned into the district through well over a decade of service starting locally, amazingly positive for someone who has been under attack for nine months now, and a success (with an MBA, not another lawyer) in every business she's worked in, large or small.
We could not do better than to re-elect Carolyn Dykema.
Marty Lamb should be our next State Rep. I watched both debates, I know, I'm a glutton for punishment. Anyway, He touched my heart when he mentioned he had been out of the public eye for many years because he was home dealing with his children who have special needs. I can absolutely relate. Thank you, Mr. Lamb, for being so honest. Thank you also for understanding the needs of families who have special needs children. You have my vote just on that matter alone.
The actual quote from Lamb in defense of his abysmal record of Town Meeting attendance (4 meetings in 16 years) is, "I was out of touch with a lot of things going on in the community."
Now he thinks he's in touch apparently, but he started by running for Congress, failed at that on an extreme right-wing platform, and now he's dropped back to State Rep, pretending he can be all things to all people.
Marty wants lower public school class sizes (who doesn't?), but his plan to pay for it is to sell swampland along 495 for retail development, which is a complete non-starter.
Marty doesn't have the seasoning and realism that come from a long time of being engaged locally. Maybe he should run for School Committee and get some of that experience.
I'll tell you what's embarrassing - Marty Lamb shaking his Etch-A-Sketch.
Tea Party in 2010. Running away from that in 2012.
Signed extremist pledge that logically would have forbidden Social Security and Medicare, but gives himself a pass on that. Now proposes silly idea of turning community colleges into research centers - without the slightest clue how to pay for it. Fortunately, it's a silly non-starter of an idea.
Signed no new taxes pledge, backed off of it in the Holliston debate saying that taxes might be o.k. after reform. Couldn't answer what reforms would be enough, just more. Actually said that Carolyn had made a good start more than once. (So why replace her?)
Wants fully funded SPED - it is! Wants all-day kindergarten, but has no idea how to pay for it. Wants smaller class sizes, again without any plausible way to pay for it. He's selling swampland, that's his proposal.
No doubt he can add, but his proposals to add huge expenses that he can't possibly square up with the tax cuts he wants to make. He's trying to fool voters.
Running on fiscal responsibility and small business experience but has a history of being unable to balance his own personal and business budgets.
Demands accessibility with a proposal to spend one measly hour per week with citizens and to work this job part-time. When we already have an incredibly accessible Rep in Carolyn Dykema...
Claims community engagement on a very thin record that includes a tiny bit recently, a terrible record of missing Town Meeting, and no local government experience. Admits he was "out of touch with the community" for quite some time.
Said he wanted to run a clean campaign with no outside money and no PACs, yet has taken outside PAC money and worked with outside organizations.
Claims completely falsely that I have attacked him personally, including his religion (never!) - when his campaign from the start has attacked Carolyn incessantly. They even attacked her car!
Carolyn votes for well-thought-out proposals, not the bumperstickers that Marty wants to pass. She actually votes with the Speaker less than every single Republican in the House votes with their leader, Brad Jones.
I'm privileged to have Carolyn Dykema represent me. It would be embarrassing if this district elected a person like Marty Lamb.
Massachusetts is plagued by a unique East / West Coast phenomena – where scores of liberal politicians say normal-sounding stuff when they're campaigning, - then go act on their own personal liberal biases and agendas once in office.
Most often this happens because they think of themselves as more informed, more enlightened, and 'more caring' than us 'ordinary people'.
They ~ think ~ we won't find out. Often they're right, because the average voter doesn't track their voting record – even when it IS published.
But sometimes they get caught in their duplicity, and are exposed. I'm still waiting to see the reams of petitions from voters demanding to have their neighborhood family cay care provider unionized.
Dykema is now adopting Marty's position of posting committee votes online after being embarrassed in the Hopkinton debate. She voted 100% with the Speaker during rules debate on making the ethics committee partisan. She voted with the Speaker to raise our taxes. She voted with the Speaker not once, but twice against posting committee votes online. She voted with the Speaker to cut special education funding.