good afternoon i'm ian reynolds and today we're bringing you some information on candidates and ballot questions for the twenty fourteen election i'm here with steve aylward who is the co chair of the automatic tank the guest tax watertown about a one of my great ok so let's get right to it so steve tell us a little bit about this whole question and how everything is going well back in last july the legislator legislature passed a transportation finance bill and included in that was a tech tax which they repealed but they left the automatic gasoline tax hikes what that does is it links the price of gas in the tax to inflation so that that tax will go up automatically every year  inflation is three percent or fifteen percent as it was back in one thousand nine hundred one is going to go up by whatever inflation is so it's an automatic tax hike and that's part of our problem with it is that it's automatic our concern is that if the legislature wants to raise taxes if jonathan hecht wants to raise taxes and will brownsburg who wants to raise taxes then take the vote don't leave it for the i'm so i don't don't affect kids ten years from now with votes they take today so again we're not against bridge and road repair but what we are against is the method by which they're doing it ok we'll get to the bridge and road repair in just a minute but what do you tell me a little bit about this so how did you get on the ballot and how did you get involved in something like this questions in the entire country most ballot questions pay people to vote in get the ballot but the signatures and generally people who doing that can get anywhere between four and seven dollars an hour or we're just poor working stiffs taxpayers so we don't have that kind of money to get it on the ballot so we got hundreds of volunteers around the state to collect signatures every weekend in the fall and then again the legislature had until may seventh to act on our petition how many ads you have to get how many signatures we had to get something in the order of nine hundred thousand net we got about one hundred forty six thousand rocks and those are turned into this secretary's the secretary of state right and then what happened and then what happens is again the legislature could have done something on may seventh and accepted our petition but they didn't so they made us go back over and get more signatures which we got by enjoy a second and so then effectively the legislature had to put us on the ballot and that's what we see and we are on the ballot as question one and we are a yes question the law is already in effect and that's i need to hopefully make people understand this by the time this interview is over is if you want the taxes not to go up you have to vote yes ok so right just six dollars and seventy three cents per fill up already between federal and state taxes between the state and the federal market paying a lot so now they want me to just sit back and let them raise it every year they don't have to do anything if they do nothing it goes up every year automatically so i get think before we even get a little more into the question why did they do that why would our legislators do something like that why would they pass something that they wouldn't have to vote on because they're too afraid to vote on it so will in all the state senators meet behind closed doors imagine if you try to have a town council meeting and belmont behind closed doors people would run you out of power but this this legislature is so sneaky and so cowardly that they do things unhinde behind closed doors and that's what this is all about this is a tax revolt by all of us who got all the signatures and got on the ballot and we're going to send a message to beacon hill that you can't just automatically raise our taxes take a vote so let me just get this straight you're not against the tax you're against the automatic indexing to c g i to the consumer price index is that right in the slope when you tell you kids to go and get a job and they rob a bank yeah ok you got a job volunteer basis you got on the ballot so here you guys sit i know you've been working really hard with the representative down from whitman handsome jeff deal erica holly roguish out from the boston herald that is also i know they've been doing a lot of press you getting a lot  of really good airtime i know today the boston herald endorsed vote yes on one yeah i think i just got that perception but i guess then my next question would be where are the people that are for  bridges and of them so that if you look at where they're getting their money they are outraising us by about ten to one the people that are giving money is basically the state if you're on the state vendor list if you are a contractor or engineer and company whatever those people are giving thousands and thousands of dollars to the effort to defeat about a question about a question by the by if it is raising money from basic taxpayers so most of our donations are coming in the fifty sixty twenty thirty dollar range kind of like obama didn't two thousand and eight we're getting the little guy who's donating to us the big fat cats the people who are going to donate five thousand so they get back fifty thousand dollars in state money are all donating to the other side so big business all the state vendors are all against us in they're contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fact the american council of civil engineers i think donated two hundred thousand dollars us one one business donating more money than the total received so it's really david against goliath that i haven't seen and i haven't seen anything and so ok you will you will so they're telling me that if i don't if i if i vote yes on one that i may be driving along in the bridge is going to fall out from underneath me is that is that right you know they're going to tell you children will die right i don't think i thought children heard this when children will die now a couple thinks we are in the legislature or in the budget for the past two years we've taken in one point one billion dollars more than to speed so they're tougher roads and bridges no just in general just of the general general fund saying they need one billion dollars in road repairs over ten years ok they would have it could but they choose to spend it on something else like again by analogy when my mom sent me to the big room when i was little kid told me to get bread and came back with a chocolate roll you know it's like you get the money you have to use it on the essentials on top of that this waste this so much waste we saw twenty five million dollars in the m b t a pension fund disappear nobody knows where it is twenty five million dollars disappearing we've got a governor who wants spend nine eleven million dollars on repairs for his office or whatever we have all sorts of problems childcare all the things that we see every day in the newspaper with the government is wasting our money so between them having extra money and wasting money they don't need to raise taxes the first thing they should do is use the surplus the second then they should do is get rid of the waste and then if they want to raise taxes then we question one a yes vote means that the legislator legislation has to vote each year on raising our gas taxes which are already quite high as steve has has told us here today a no vote allows the legislature to continue to raise our gas tax without a vote which is i believe taxation without representation i've heard about the back in seventy to seventy five so you heard it here in any information with steve where should they go if people want to give to your of our next senators which in my opinion is a very exciting thing somebody doing service for our country so brian what do you tell us a little about yourself and how you made it here to belmont great thank you so much appreciate the opportunity to come in and say hello to the people of belmont my name is brian her i'm  republican nominee running for united states senate here in massachusetts this year i'll be on the ballot in november one on want to guess edward markey in the race for u s senate mr markey has been in d c for thirty eight years we think it's time to change that we need some new ideas and new energy in washington d c real quick i'm a first generation american and my mom and dad moved to america from ireland in the late one nine hundred fifty s they had seven kids i'm one of seven kids my wife and i have five kids so we continued the madness in our generation and we have five kids we live in hopkinton massachusetts i'm an engineer by degree of been working in the country commercial construction business for thirty years and also have a master's degree in government so i have a lot of private sector experience i've studied government political science on the academic side if you will but also been elected several times at the local level and the regional level in metro west boston so at that end it's that private sector and public sector experience that i believe is sorely missing and lacking in washington d c today one of the main reasons that we're out campaigning for u s senate is to bring that experience level to washington d c we've been working very hard at the campaign it's been a lot of fun we've been at it now for ten months been to over one hundred sixty cities and towns in massachusetts when i have them several times i've been to belmont  before and really getting to a lot of the commonwealth extremely well there's some great people out there and some beautiful towns great communities and a lot of people very concerned about what's going on in washington d c and looking for positive change and that's what we represent as  candidate for u s senate great so that is terrific you know it takes a lot of it takes a lot to step up to the plate like that so as you travel around the state tell me what do you think is the number one thing people are telling you that they really need to see happen well the people of massachusetts are not shy they offer their opinion and we welcome their opinion we've learned so much on the campaign trail specific to the u s senate race specific to what's going on in washington d c and what they're looking for from their united states senator they're looking for a strong leader that will represent the com commonwealth of massachusetts well and they're looking for someone that will proactively work the issues that face our country and face the state of massachusetts without question the biggest concern that i hear repeatedly from the people of massachusetts  is is about the economy it's about jobs it's about job that pay well so that people can raise their family feed the kids pay the mortgage and get the kids educated if that's what they choose that's the job the economy's probably the number one concern in recent months now we've been at this for ten eleven months but in recent months national security concerns are really kind of the forefront of people's minds there's a lot of discussion about what's going on in the middle east a lot of discussion about what's going on our southern border and whether the middle east concerns on our southern border concerns are sort of coming together right now also is a lot of feedback about that and obviously you know we talk a lot about and people talk to me a lot about health care in washington d c the affordable care act otherwise known as obamacare a lot of feedback on that and concerns people have about that so  said that was the proudest vote of his career that he voted for obamacare but you are still even if through this ten month timeline did you start out hearing a lot about obamacare and you still hearing a lot about a started out hearing a lot about obamacare continue to hear a lot about  is still on the people's minds it's still a great concern there are three hundred six thousand people in massachusetts today alone today waiting to get transferred back to some form of a statewide national health care system that supposedly is going to be available in the network or in the website and so forth the portal are going to be available on the over fifteenth that is still in flux three hundred six thousand people's lives have been completely disrupted they don't know what's going on with their health care insurance provider four weeks ago saying dear mrs her we will no longer be providing you health care insurance because of the new laws in the national health care system that's being implemented but i thought no one lost it for a preexisting well that's where we heard you feel like your doctor you can keep your doctor you know if you'd like if you've got a preexisting condition continue to cover you but things are changing rapidly and that nothing that was promised to us has come to fruition throughout this massachusetts as in massachusetts says it isn't people in the united states of america it's been a big challenge my mother has been living in fear now trying to figure out what's going to happen with her health care insurance so what is she going through she obviously is going to have to go to medicare and medicaid which is not where she was and she's going to have to resign up for all those different programs and plans for concern is can she keep her doctors again she's a breast cancer survivor she's been through a lot with her health can she keep her doctors will she still be able to go the same clinics will she still be able get the same medications there's all kinds of questions that come with that when you make these changes but these changes have not only impacted her but they've impact impacted thousands hundreds of thousands of people in massachusetts and millions of people across america so yes obamacare the affordable care act is still very much front and center on people's mind and what a good state of massachusetts spent on that health care website we spent hundreds of millions of dollars to the family and that is headed towards a billion dollars some people are talking about a billion dollars when it's all said and done like an apple you spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to implement something that we were on a path already right that we didn't need to go down another path but because we federal government did their thing massachusetts really got caught up in the mess as well and saying i think we should have gone for that waiver that charlie baker has manson yeah and mr markey has not pushed for a waiver for the commonwealth of massachusetts we and massachusetts have a path that we are traveling down with respect to universal health care i like the idea of universal health care for the people of massachusetts we voted to put in place by putting those leaders in place to talk about it but that's massachusetts there are other states around the country that have different views of the federal government should not be dictating and putting punitive measures in place to address those states that don't comply ok let's go let me go right focusing on states rights when it comes to health care to that this is about back in the eight sixty s so so you're down through your washington we get to washington the state of mississippi says oh we don't have you know first thought kerry you know when you amass choose you have everything i mean how would you step across the aisle and help a state that doesn't have a we have it's the same argument you can make for education down in washington d c it's similar to what's going on the common core right now across the country there are states that don't necessarily need the federal government dictating to them what they should do with their local education system massachusetts is one of those states about there are states in the country to do need some help ok fine we should help those states but you shouldn't put punitive measures in place to states that are doing well you shouldn't penalize massachusetts and mess up massachusetts health care system because we're trying to fix something down to sit here somewhere else i think it's critically important that the states get to weigh in on these issues that the states decide it want to do it do it in the states decide not to do it don't do it but it should just be give a couple of leaders in a particular party that make those decisions the people of the commonwealth the people of mississippi those should be the people to make th decisions about whether it's education for their kids or the health care of their parents or themselves for that matter that's a very good point so as you're traveling around the state of massachusetts so we started ten months ago you started with the affordable care act obamacare people were concerned has it changed what down the so called unemployment rate is down because the overall employment participation in the united states of america has reached the lowest point since one thousand nine hundred seventy eight it currently sits at sixty two point eight percent the last time we were at sixty two point eight percent employment in other words people in america working seeking for looking for job seeking work or working with sixty two point eight percent the other day the last time it was at lows in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight so while the numbers say one thing the reality is another a lot of people have just given up looking for work that's why the unemployment rate is dropping but the employment rate in the country now is that his store so jobs in the economy you think arnold i remember when absolute so do you find it different if you visit the town of melrose versus the town of chick a p r are people basically looking at the same kind of issues no it's probably regional in massachusetts if you're inside one twenty eight if you're in belmont if you're in watertown if you're in boston you know in the metro area here  things are much stronger than if you get outside for ninety five if you go west of worcester it's wholly different for the further west you go so it's unfortunate that we have basically two economies in massachusetts that's not fair that's not right and i know the people inside want twenty eight want the people out  for ninety five want the people out of springfield to do well as you know themselves so we all should be in this together but there are definitely a couple of different economies in massachusetts and that should be rectified but i feel as if our elected officials sometimes only focus on that group inside one twenty eight and the people outside one twenty do they even know who their elected officials are are you finding people being saying well you know senator markey hasn't done this for us or has done this for us are do they know who he is and how they go to him for help so i've been campaigning for a full ten and a half months now and we found out very early we worked very hard on the campaign to make sure that we could do a general election campaign effort if you will for as long as possible so from march forward since march i've known that there would not be another republican on a primary ballot because the people who i did that wanted to participate in the convention chose not to for whatever reason and there are a lot of other reasons that the i was on the convention ballot myself and so i've been through the general election candidate for months on end now right so i've been going to all kinds of different events constantly across the state and everywhere i go i don't seek out who the republicans are who the independents are i seek out people and i talk to everybody and without question the people of massachusetts regardless of where they are in the political spectrum and i hear about where they are in the political spectrum as we have the conversation they are frustrated with what's going on in washington d c they're frustrated with the dysfunction of washington d c they're frustrated with the partisanship it's all about the republicans versus democrats you know we don't elect people to get out or just represent a party we let people go down there to represent the commonwealth of massachusetts and i think the term commonwealth is most important in the discussion all of us are in this  together yet the people in washington don't behave in that manner it's very partisan it's very dysfunctional and the people of massachusetts see that and they're very frustrated by that so we send you down there let's talk about the national race that the some of the polls are suggesting that the senate is going to flip republican if that happens then the will be more stalemate because the house and the senate will both be going against president obama's agenda no matter what it is so if that happens if you go down how can you help the state of massachusetts if you know one of the questions i ask the people of massachusetts as i move around routinely is who's the strong leader in washington d c today what individual can you name that is truly demonstrating leadership skills and bringing the bringing that category president obama doesn't get a lot of votes in that category either there isn't a strong leader and in the united states senate or know your house of representatives or an administration for that matter that's bringing america together and that is a problem yeah that is a problem for massachusetts and it's a problem for our country i will go to washington d c and i will try my best my absolute best to demonstrate positive leadership for america i'm not worried about what party somebody is and i'm worried about finding solutions to problems ok let's talk about the problems real quick you just give me a quick answer ok immigration yes so immigration is something that's been going on for years it's been going on for decades we've got secure the borders once we secure the borders we should make sure we put a plan in place that has people be held accountable going forward for their immigration status i believe we should put people who should sign people up they should pay a fine if they've been here illegally if they've been paying once they pay that fine to be got to begin to pay taxes once they pay the taxes they get the back to the line and they go through legal immigration process that could take years just like it took my parents when they came from ireland way back when if we do that we get are so against get much further down the path and we are today right now there is no immigration reform policy again it's the democrats republicans yelling at each other but nothing's happening right now so security national security obviously what's going on in the middle east is on the concern on the minds of so many people across the united states and certainly here in massachusetts we've got to have a foreign policy in place that is clear consistent and concise that doesn't exist today senator mark his job as a member of the united states senate is the challenge the president and the state department to make sure that they have that foreign policy in place it doesn't exist today it should be there and it's very unfortunate because now we have isis and all these other issues popping up th great addition for the state of massachusetts and we wish you all the luck in the world thank you so much and i hope to hear good things about you going forward so we appreciate you being here and reynolds i'd like to thank the republican town committee about mine and tommy ols for having me in today to talk with candidates and about questions and we'll see you next time here on the media thank you