ext year's Legislature may be faced with the daunting task of managing state government with far fewer resources, if ill-considered tax cuts on the ballot are adopted by voters. In any case the agenda will be a full one. The Boston Globe supports the following candidates, who we believe are up to the challenge:
STATE SENATE
Democratic state Senator Cheryl Jacques of Needham is a principled legislator who provides both effective constituent service and consistent leadership. Crime prevention, child protection, and consumer bills are among the priorities of this former prosecutor. Jacques sponsored a student loan tax cut - a good break for the middle class - and fought to protect state funding for suicide prevention programs for gay youths. Voters can count on Jacques to fight off any future efforts to repeal the state's strong gun control laws.
On the South Shore, Jim Cantwell, a former Marshfield selectman, offers his district a refreshingly progressive change in direction and a record of accomplishment. Voters would do well to elect the 34-year-old environmental lawyer, a former assistant district attorney in Norfolk County. In this campaign Cantwell has taken firm positions on issues crucial to the district, while incumbent Senator Robert L. Hedlund has too often waffled. Cantwell supports the extension of the Greenbush rail line and opposes tax-cutting Question 4, for instance, while Hedlund admits he has declined to come out strongly on either issue.
In the district that runs from Chelmsford to Weston, Democratic Senator Susan Fargo of Lincoln deserves reelection over Andrew Pryor. During the last two years, she helped to pass the law to establish a buffer zone around abortion clinics. Unlike Pryor, she opposes tax-cutting Question 4 because of its impact on state aid for education and local roads.
Republican Senator Richard R. Tisei of Wakefield has backed human services and local issues that counterbalance his support for the death penalty. He has demonstrated independence from the Cellucci administration by voting against the tax rollback petition while establishing his potential to lead the diminutive Republican delegation to better times. He deserves reelection over an attractive newcomer, Steve Spain.
STATE HOUSE
In the 13th Middlesex District, Susan W. Pope of Wayland offers voters two terms of legislative experience and a concern for local issues developed in her years as a school board member and selectman. A Republican, Pope has found productive ways to work with Democratic colleagues. We disagree with Pope on some issues but believe her moderate proach to government is a benefit to the Republican Party.
In Framingham, Democrat Debby Blumer is the best of three candidates vying to fill an open House seat. Blumer is an all-around community activist: a town meeting member and finance committee chairman for over a decade, she founded Citizens for a Stronger Framingham, which helped organize a debt-exclusion campaign to fund improvements at the high school. Her concern for human services, and for newly diverse suburbs, are much needed in the Legislature.
At a time of turmoil in health care, voters in Wellesley and Weston have the chance to elect Dr. Lawrence Kaplan, who brings a unique background as a physician and hospital administrator. The Wellesley Democrat formerly headed MetroWest Medical Center and then resigned in 1997 over actions by its for-profit owner, Columbia/HCA. Kaplan's experience in the conflict among patients, HMOs, hospitals, doctors, and public officials, along with his strong positions in favor of environmental protections and against the death penalty, earn him the nod over Republican incumbent John A. Locke.
First-term incumbent Representative Marie St. Fleur lived up to the high hopes of voters in the 5th Suffolk District. The Democrat has been effective in winning increased funding for Roxbury Community College and is working hard to upgrade housing and improve public safety throughout the district.
CONGRESS
For nine years, John Olver has ably represented the 1st Congressional District in western Massachusetts. The Amherst Democrat has been a consistent voice for patients' rights, expanded access to health care, a drug benefit as part of Medicare, and a higher minimum wage. His opponent, Peter Abair of Holyoke, is an effective state economic-development official, but his experience cannot match Olver's.
Four other incumbents who face challengers also deserve reelection: Joseph Moakley because he is the state's guiding power in the Democratic leadership; Barney Frank for his work with housing, immigrants, and third-world nations; William Delahunt for his advocacy of the fishing industry and his contributions to the Judiciary Committee; and John Tierney because of his work in education, health care, and transportation.
COUNTIES
Two appointees of Governor Cellucci deserve election in their own rights to important county offices. In Plymouth County, Sheriff Charles N. Decas, in office less than a year, has been trying to improve mental-illness screening of inmates and has organized a job fair to match those about to be released with potential employers.
In Middlesex County, the register of probate manages a record-keeping and court system that handles some of the most devastating conflicts of everyday life, from divorces and child custody to disputes over inheritances. Lee Johnson has restored the confidence of an office that was in tatters from the mismanangement of a register who had to be removed by the Supreme Judicial Court.
