How many Patch readers believe that if we just raised our state income tax 1% - manufacturing jobs will come flooding back to our state?

How many readers believe that Fidelity moved THOUSANDS of good high-paying professional jobs OUT of state because ‘our roads war in poor condition’?

Dykema, Eldridge, and Deval Patrick don’t have a CLUE about how to run a business-friendly state. We can’t all make a living serving lattes at Starbucks!

But we CAN vote them OUT - while YOU still have a job!

I don't think Carolyn should get credit for the fact that Massachusetts' unemployment rate is below the national average, and I don't think she should get blamed for the under-employment rate. Marty, I implore you to run an intellectually honest campaign based on local issues. I also implore you to spell "courtesy" correctly.

That spelling error was the fault of a certain Patch editor, who we won't name at the moment. Marty wasn't at fault for that mistake.

I think Barry is right here, in that if you want to criticize elected officials about empty mills, factories, restaurants etc, you should be criticizing that town/city's state rep state senator or the governor to help fix it rather than trying to put blame on a state rep who is trying to help solve the problems that face her community and address the needs of her constituents. Rep. Dykema's district has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state (along with Middlesex county having unemployment at 5.1% as of Nov. 2011), so right there is a testament as to what Carolyn is doing for job creation in her district. Carolyn addresses the needs of her constituents, is well liked by residents, and frankly, does her job well taking on the role of being her community's voice up on Beacon Hill.

The hallmark of 40+ years of Democratic domination of Beacon Hill is higher taxes, burdensome regulation, a bloated state bureaucracy, multi-generational corruption, and of course the landscape dotted with empty mills, empty factories, empty office buildings, and empty storefronts.

Massachusetts just lost a seat in Congress because BOTH business and population are departing for friendlier states. Retirees can no longer afford to live here.

And STILL the Democrats want to raise taxes and make more regulations. Today the only competition left is between Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts.

Show me ONE Democrat who wants to roll our state income tax back to 3%.

Show me ONE union retirement fund that hasn’t been looted.

Show me ONE OTHER STATE where 3 speakers in a row have been convicted, and the 4th awaits his subpoena.

Once again, we're talking about Marty, Carolyn, and the 8th Middlesex District, so once again how does that relate to Rep. Dykema and what she has brought to fruition for her constituents?

I’m sure you and Carolyn would like to somehow separate her from that mindless pack of über-liberals ensconced on Beacon Hill.

Unfortunately, she ran in 2008 as part of ‘the team’. Immediately after winning re-election - again as part of the team - several high-profile companies shut down or moved operations out of state. Thousands of jobs were LOST. That’s called ‘cause and effect’.

Ms. Dykema was NEVER part of ANY solution for our beleaguered state. She is merely a continuation of the Democrats ‘business-as-usual’ - which today produced three more federal indictments.

Before jumping to her defense - find out how many bills she filed to CUT PERSONEL, CUT DEPARTMENTS and CUT SPENDING.

BTW, how many jobs has Carolyn, OBAMA or DEVAL brought to our state? Do you work for government Jonathan - or in the private sector? Anybody in YOUR family worried about losing their jobs?

Personally, I am a soon-to-be college graduate struggling to find a job just like anyone else, so I am not one of those people who are fortunate to have a job in either the public or private sector. I have thousands of dollars in student loans to have to pay back in the near future, and I feel the burden of mounting expenses on our backs. And when you refer to "cut spending cut spending cut spending", where would you specifically want to cut spending? I am someone who likes to hear details and facts, so naturally I am going to ask: where would you like to specifically make these spending cuts? Which departments would you eliminate personnel in?

Mr. Loya is a turncoat. He couldn't convince any Republicans to vote for him last time out, so I guess he figures that Democrats are stupid enough. If you can't beat em join them , right Jonithan?

Lol takahykema, you are amusing. My political leanings/background is a separate conversation that I would more than gladly sit down with you to talk about and discuss things so that false claims like you just made are not circulated. Pick the day and time, and I will gladly meet with you. (I'm not being sarcastic here either, I truly like having a good old-fashioned political discussion over coffee.) Let's stick to the issues here, and the issue is the race between Carolyn and Marty.

Iron Mike, you are as well misrepresenting data and information here. Pick a day and time and I will gladly talk politics with you. In the meantime, once again, let's keep the conversation on point and on the original topic. As for the election and claiming I call what is going on in our nation a "game", I find that offensive. A campaign is about ideas, and the candidate who presents their ideas on how to fix our state/nation's problems in the most thoughtful and succinct manner is the candidate who should be nominated for that elected position.

Jonathan, - you have homework to do, tests to study for, and a job search to be about. Pay attention to your business at hand.

As for Ms. Dykema - her first official act upon taking office in 2009 was her vote to RE-ELECT Sal DiMasi as Speaker - even though EVERYBODY in the Commonwealth knew he was about to be indicted. He was - a week later.

Ideas? Ideas? How’s that HOPE & CHANGE working for you? How are YOUR job prospects? Any Fortune 500 companies offering you on-site interviews? Ideas are CHEAP. Vote for RESULTS!

We should be electing honorable candidates who have sound judgment, who actually understand economics and the law, and who actually honor their OATH to our Constitution. Dykema spent the last 39 months courting and pandering to special interests. And while she was oblivious - JOBS were leaving our state.

Wrap your head around THAT before offering to have a political discussion with a grownup!

Iron Mike, like your convicted-rapist namesake, you're acting like a bully. Jonathan has offered responses to your questions, and posed further questions to you, all in the name of political debate, with the hope that this may help the electorate make an informed decision in November.

Instead of answers, you offer condescension ("you have homework to do"), misrepresentations ("...you treat all this as a game"), and mindless right-wing boilerplate finger-pointing ("left-wing do-nothing incumbent democrat.").

Despite that, Iron Mike, you refer to what is important to you in this election. While I don't speak for Carolyn, I can respond from the perspective of a left-of-center business owner who has created jobs a good number of jobs in the midst of Bush recession.

Since I appear to be running out of room, I'll do that in a follow-up post.

Iron Mike, here are my responses to the issues you list as important to you:
*You want to make the Legislature part-time: I somewhat agree with your position, but I have reservations. My belief that is that the work of the Commonwealth can get done in a limited session. But that is tempered by the worry that "you get what you pay for." You are absolutely not attracting the best and the brightest by having a part-time legislature. Most likely you'll attract the wealthy or the retirees, and they don't represent the whole of Massachusetts.
*You want to get rid of illegal immigrants: Let's forget your bigoted "Juarez" comment. Not every undocumented person is Mexican. Next, I've got good news for you. All the laws you need to deport anyone who is here illegally are already on the books! Sure, we may need to raise taxes so USCIS and ICE can afford the huge increases in personnel and overtime. Unless you have a problem with that. If so, then let's find a workable solution. How about an amnesty program that will allow these undocumented workers into our system, have them pay taxes and be licensed and regulated like the rest of us? It worked well under Reagan in '86.
*You want to make welfare recipients work: Welfare reform was signed into law on Beacon Hill in the mid-1990s by Gov. Weld (our best governor in a generation, IMHO). Work, job training or education is required. It was written by Therese Murray, now Senate President. There are tens of thousands fewer recipients now.

Iron Mike, more answsers:
You want to end police details: So does Deval Patrick. It was Mitt "Severely Conservative" Romney who pledged his support for the Quinn Bill.
You want to fire 20% of the people in the McCormack Building: Which 20%? I know there's fat on the state payroll, but there's also a lot of lean. Give me specifics. Do you think there's fat with cops and firefighters? Would you fire them, too?
You want to take down the toll booths: So do I. Patrick had a decent first step and getting ride of the Turnpike Authority. But he has been too timid to go for a statewide gas tax increase (I'm guessing you agree with him there). I would tear down the tolls, jack up the gas tax (much more equitable across the Commonwealth).

Looks like we might find common ground after all.

Once again, the Beacon Hill apologists try to cloud the bad unemployment problem with a lot of mistaken rambling and lies to deflect....Carolyn Dykema can't run away from this.....it's clear cut here in Holliston and statewide. The economy is awful, high unemployment, high underemployment......see here....

http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2012/03/governor-patrick-oft-cited-job-numbers-incorrect-state-ranks-not/miAr5B9E0aRxmSKwbTbOkO/index.html?p1=Well_Politics_links

Barry, if you were running and I wasn't such a big fan of Carolyn, you'd have my vote! Thank you for your clear, concise responses.

The most important factor in a online comment and response is that they are factual, otherwise they are a waste of time, just partisan jibberish. The cold truth that Beacon Hill legislators like Carolyn Dykema try to run away and hide from is that this state is in a financial mess. She's voted to raise taxes in a recession. She perpetuates the economic stagnation. She's part of the big lie to hide the truth.

http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2012/03/governor-patrick-oft-cited-job-numbers-incorrect-state-ranks-not/miAr5B9E0aRxmSKwbTbOkO/index.html?p1=Well_Politics_links

JKelley, no partisan jibberish here. I like Carolyn, quite a bit, but I'm also a fan of some GOP lawmakers (Dan Winslow in Wrentham comes to mind), too. And, as I wrote to Iron Mike, Bill Weld has been our best governor over many decades.

But let's be clear -- the state is in much better condition than the rest of the country, and like it or not, that is how economies are measured -- by comparisons to benchmarks. Carolyn deserves neither praise nor blame for it.

In my belief, she deserves re-election because she has been a strong and effective advocate for our town, our region (since her district encompasses more than Holliston) and statewide issues important to me and my family.

Mike Tyson has a statue at Fort Bragg?? Never knew that...

But seriously...I know quite a bit about the Commonwealth's debt. Massachusetts has a high debt total - like most Northeastern states where incomes are higher than the national average and borrowing on major infrastructure projects have been authorized and executed (in many cases by GOP governors, including Weld, Cellucci, Swift and Romney. In fact, the Patrick Administration's borrowing is but a fraction of his predecessors).

As far as socialism is concerned, why is it a problem when it helps cover people for health care or higher education, but it's not a problem when the government spends billions propping up Raytheon, Halliburton, Lockheed for weapons systems even the DOD says we don't need? It's the same socialism. And I'd rather have free or reduced college for students than an armada of Ospreys that don't work or have a place in modern warfare.

And, for what it's worth, none of this has anything to do with Carolyn or Marty.

For a candidate so "committed" to job growth and support of small business, Marty exhibited poor judgement on Saturday 3/31 campaigning in Downtown Holliston during the first annual HBA Spring Stroll. One of his supporters parked their truck covered in campaign signs in one of the very few on-street spaces on Washington Street keeping potential customers from parking conveniently in front of one of the participating shops. Then he and his band of supporters loudly banged a drum while drowning out the music that Pejamajo was attempting to play outside their cafe providing some welcomed ambiance to the event. While Mr. Lamb has the right and obligation to his campaign to rally and advertise, his actions on Saturday were hardly "pro-business" and surly discouraged some shoppers from either stopping or spending more time in Downtown Holliston.

To JKelly,

Jeez, you didn't hear my drum? I'll have to get the heads tightened! Yes, I was there with a big base drum. 10 am - noon. Very little sidewalk traffic, but I managed to let at least 2 dozen kids bang it.

Your gal Carolyn came by - refused to answer one simple question: 'Carolyn, why'd you vote for the crook?'

At first she gave me a totally blank look [standard MoonBat issue blank look], until I reminded her that her 1st official act in Jan 2009 was her vote for Sal. She wouldn't explain, just gave me a snotty look and walked away.

Marty, I was interested in your campaign - I'm not so sure now. For someone with excellent credentials, I have to share with you that your attitude here is coming across as highly negative and disrespectful. My father always said; listen much more than you speak, and when you speak, speak with grace and dignity and your point will be better received. I’m not preaching here, I’m sharing with you my perceptions given your comments. As one that has been involved in many campaigns (some of my own and many others) I would simply expect a more sincere and less cynical approach in dealing with people as you seek this important public office. In the end, I hope your campaign creates excellent ideas and results in an improved and more efficient state government.

Hmmm. I wonder how Mr. Del Vecchio is registered to vote. Oh, that's right, a Democrat. I wish the incumbent's people would stop with the phony attacks.