Minutes after an interview with Lt. Gov. Tim Murray, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian spoke at length over the phone with state senator and candidate for Lt. Gov. Richard Tisei, the running mate of Charlie Baker.

Tisei grew up in Lynnfield, Mass., and is now a resident of Wakefield, Mass. He has been in the state senate for over 20 years. Since 2007 Tisei has been the minority leader of the Massachusetts State Senate.

He and candidate for Governor Charlie Baker are making jobs and economic growth the purpose of their campaign.

Tisei has stated two main experiences that contributed to his political views.
The first was the disability of his sister, which gave rise to his belief in the government’s role in helping those in unfortunate circumstances.

The second is Tisei’s experience as the owner of a real estate brokerage company.

According to Tisei, full economic turnaround for the Commonwealth can only come from deregulation and tax cuts to small businesses.

“As a small business owner I was at ground zero of the economic collapse,” said Tisei. “Over the last four years I’ve talked to a lot of people who have lost their jobs, their life savings and homes.”

“They feel that government hasn’t responded to things,” continued Tisei.
In response to Murray’s comments about the high rate of economic growth in Massachusetts, Tisei stated, “That’s not true.”

According to Tisei, who cited Department of Labor statistics, Massachusetts lost 27,000 jobs in Sept., the most since Michael Dukakis was governor.

“[The Patrick administration] has raised taxes eight times,” said Tisei, who argued that these tax increases have cost the Commonwealth jobs.

“[Charlie Baker and I] want to establish a 5 percent tax across the board for sales tax, income tax, and corporate tax”

According to Tisei, these measures would make Massachusetts friendlier to businesses and lead to more competition.

Under the current administration, Tisei argues,businesses of all sizes do not feel comfortable hiring new help. He cited that unemployment is at its worst in 30 years.

Candidate Tisei is in favor of repealing the sales tax on alcohol, which is currently at 6.25 percent. He argues that liquor stores are being taxed twice, at both the wholesale level and the retail level.

“New Hampshire has no sales tax,” said Tisei. “[Massachusetts residents] who live near the New Hampshire border will cross over to buy liquor.”

Tisei contended that the Patrick administration has not been spending taxpayer money wisely, citing the $76 million Evergreen Solar in Marlboro. According to Tisei, instead of the company creating jobs in Mass., Evergreen Solar shipped its jobs to China.

“The governor should not be acting like a venture capitalist,” said Tisei, who claimed that even the best venture capitalists back a successful company only 22 percent of the time.

If elected, Baker and Tisei plan to put a moratorium on all new regulation for businesses in Mass. and review regulations currently in place.

Tisei cited three examples of regulations he believes have hurt businesses.

The first is a redefinition of an independent contractor which, according to Tisei, makes it harder for companies to hire these contractors. According to Tisei, under the current laws a company would have to hire the contractors as a full time employee and give them benefits.

The second example given by Tisei detailed inconsistency of zoning laws. According to Tisei, there are no standard regulations for ceptic tanks in the Commonwealth, and towns have used it to prevent housing development.

Lastly, Tisei stated that there is no standard regulation for zoning of multi-family homes, which has caused Mass. to be near the bottom of the country in amount of housing permits given out.

“Massachusetts is not headed in the right direction now,” said Tisei. “The governor has overspent more than the state takes in.”

“The business climate is terrible,” Tisei went on. “If people want four more years of that they should vote for Deval Patrick.”

Rick Purcell, the Green-Rainbow party candidate for lieutenant governor, criticized Charlie Baker for cutting jobs when he was CEO of Harvard Pilgrim.

Tisei responded to this criticism by claiming that Baker did what he had to do to save the company.
According to Tisei, Baker had to lay off 2,500 employees and close Harvard Pilgrim operations down in Rhode Island.

“[Baker] was able to save the company in 10 years,” said Tisei, “Now Harvard Pilgrim is the number one health insurance provider in the country.”

Furthermore, Tisei believes the healthcare system should be made more affordable so small businesses can afford to cover their employees.

Bobby Hitt can be reached at [email protected].