Candidates Forum hosted by Brockton Interfaith

BROCKTON — More than 100 people gathered at Messiah Baptist Church to hear from political candidates at a forum hosted by the Brockton Interfaith Community.

Candidates for four seats attended the event on Wednesday, October 5, 2022: the 9th and 11th seats of Plymouth State Representatives, the 2nd seat of the Plymouth and Norfolk State Senate and the County Attorney of Plymouth.

The organizers gave the questions to the candidates in advance. The House and Senate candidates each answered the same set of questions. Here is some of what they had to say.

housing crisis

When asked about Brockton’s low home ownership rate and high rents, candidates offered different approaches.

Rita Mendes, Brockton City Councilor and Democratic candidate for Plymouth’s 11th open state representative seat, reiterated her call to lift the state’s ban on rent controls and create more affordable housing for people 55 and over.

Mendes will have no opponent in the November 8 election. However, Brockton businessman and city employee Fred Fontaine submitted a written nomination.

“If you see Pleasant Street changing a little bit, not a lot, it’s because of me,” said Fontaine, who owns property there. “I will ensure that we bring well-paying jobs.”

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Lawrence Novak, chairman of the Republican Brockton city committee and GOP candidate seeking to unseat incumbent Democrat Gerry Cassidy from his 9th seat at Plymouth State House, argued for tax credits for senior homeowners and changing credit union laws to stimulate local investment.

“Brockton is not known for being business-friendly,” said Novak, who returned to public life after serving six years in federal prison for money laundering.

Cassidy pointed to the hundreds of housing units being built downtown near Brockton’s three commuter rail stops, spurred in large part by a program he backed, the City Development Incentive Program. lodging.

“The train is a huge asset,” Cassidy said, noting residents’ short walk to get to well-paying jobs in Boston by train.

Cassidy further stated that he is working on the removal and replacement of the aging Campello High Rise, a long-standing project that will eventually benefit hundreds of low-income seniors.

Brockton Democrat Mike Brady, incumbent in the 2nd Senate district of Plymouth and Norfolk state, said he was working to pass legislation to address the housing crisis, including a law on the foreclosure protection and down payment assistance for first-time buyers.

Brady’s GOP opponent Jim Gordon, a high-school elementary teacher in Whitman, said more housing should be built using the state’s 40B law, which loosens zoning restrictions to encourage developers to build homes. affordable housing.

“I just learned 40B recently,” Gordon said.

help immigrants

Forum organizers asked candidates what they would do to help Brockton’s large immigrant population.

Fontaine, who emigrated from Haiti when he was 18, said newcomers need help navigating American law and culture.

“Brockton deserves better. There’s a lack of leadership in this city and someone has to change it,” said Fontaine, who received 124 write-in votes in the Democratic primary as an independent.

Mendes, who won the Democratic nomination against fellow City Council member Shirley Asack with 1,733 votes to Asack’s 695, is an immigrant from Brazil. She became an immigration lawyer after sometimes having to fend for herself as a teenager alone in a new country.

Mendes said she supports keeping a new law, challenged in the November ballot, that allows undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses.

“Being in the United States without legal status is not a crime, but people treat it like a crime,” Mendes said of recent migrant planes sent to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

While the format of the forum did not encourage exchanges between candidates, some sparks flew between Novak and Cassidy. Novak in saying that education is the crucial variable for immigrants to progress, criticized the public schools in Brockton.

“I think the school department in Brockton, which was one of the best in the country at one point, isn’t very good anymore,” Novak said.

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Cassidy held back, noting that he, his wife and children all graduated from Brockton High.

“I think Brockton High is doing very well,” Cassidy said, adding at the end of her response that “I think everyone deserves a little respect.”

Brady, the incumbent senator, said immigration is both a federal and local issue and often helps people who are here legally expedite their citizenship process.

Gordon, his GOP opponent, has advocated eliminating the backlog in the immigration process by increasing the number of green cards issued through the federal lottery.

Race for prosecutors

District Attorney Timothy Cruz, a Republican incumbent for 20 years, did not attend Wednesday’s forum. His campaign manager said Cruz was at a long-planned job function at Brockton’s Sons of Italy during the forum.

Democratic candidate Rahsaan Hall, a pastor and civil rights advocate, said he felt at home at the Messiah Baptist shrine, given that he had preached there before. Hall touched on several themes of his campaign when responding to questions, including what he said was the need to collect better data to address racial inequities in arrests and convictions.

“To the extent that anyone claims to have had an impact on reducing incarceration or reducing crime,” Hall said, “that’s a feature of the Criminal Law Reform Bill in 2018. and the Police Reform Bill of 2020, which most district attorneys opposed but I, as an ACLU advocate, fought for.”

Cruz, reached Friday, said he does not oppose police reform bills.

“Our office has raised concerns about individual provisions in the bills with lawmakers. While lobbying the legislature on behalf of the ACLU is important, the key to successfully reducing violent crime is simple: it starts and ends with partnerships,” he said.

Cruz and Hall are scheduled to appear together in an election forum on WATD 95.9 FM on October 24 at 7 p.m.

To see the complete Brockton Interfaith Community forum, watch these two videos: Part One and Part Two. Print readers can visit https://www.facebook.com/BrocktonInterfaithCommunity/videos. If you are unsure which candidates will be on your ballot, you can check at: https://www.sec.state.ma.us/WhereDoIVoteMA/WhereDoIVote.

Email your news tips to reporter Chris Helms at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or tune in on Twitter at @HelmsNews. Thanks, subscribers. You make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Brockton Enterprise.