The election on Nov. 8 will determine who the new governor and attorney general will be, as well as the new Barnstable County sheriff and Cape & Islands district attorney. Ballot questions include a measure to fund education and road infrastructure by taxing millionaires. Down-ballot options provide a choice between Republican Ron Beaty, a one-time supporter of the Oath Keepers, and Democrat Ronald Bergstrom for county commissioner.
Outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker, the state’s popular two-term Republican incumbent, will be replaced either by current Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, or Republican Geoff Diehl. A Suffolk University-Boston Globe poll had Healey leading Diehl by 23 points, according to the Globe.
Getting much less attention is the race to decide who will become the next attorney general: Bourne Republican Jay McMahon, a lawyer, or Democrat Andrea Campbell, an attorney and former Boston city councilor. As attorney general, Healey rose to national prominence in her campaign to hold the Sackler family accountable for their drug company’s product, OxyContin, which ignited the opioid epidemic.
McMahon’s oldest son, Joel, died of an opioid overdose in 2008. In a debate on WBZ-TV, McMahon advocated for increasing the police presence at Mass and Cass (the epicenter of homelessness and drug activity because of the opioid crisis in Boston). Campbell called upon suburban communities to contribute more to efforts by the city to help the homeless and drug-addicted.
On the subject of substances, one of the four statewide ballot questions, Question 3, would expand the number of beer and wine licenses a single retailer can hold from 9 to 18 by 2031. It would, however, reduce the number of full liquor licenses that could be held by a single retailer from 9 to 7. Passage of this referendum would appear to help large chain stores by allowing them to own more beer and wine outlets. But many small liquor store owners support Question 3 because it will help stave off legislation advanced by large companies aiming to lift the cap on licenses entirely.
Julie Seabury, owner of Wellfleet Spirits on Main Street, said Question 3 attempts to stop chains from obliterating small business competition. “This is the best we could do,” Seabury said. “It is a compromise.”
A national chain called Total Wine, based in Maryland, has pumped $2.1 million into fighting passage of Question 3. The question’s major supporter and author, Executive Director Rob Mellion of the Massachusetts Package Store Association, said he wrote Question 3 to stop an onslaught of bills sponsored by major chains.
“Voting yes on Question 3 would protect little guys like me,” said Al Kogos, owner of Seaside Liquors in South Wellfleet.
Question 1, informally called the “millionaire tax,” would impose a 4-percent surcharge on income exceeding $1 million in any year. (Thus, it is not a tax on all millionaires but only on those whose annual income exceeds $1 million.) The revenue, projected to be $1.2 billion a year, would go toward schools and repair of roads and bridges in Massachusetts, according to the Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
Opponents of Question 1 say it will tax retirees, those selling their homes, and others who are not really millionaires. The No on Question 1 Coalition states Question 1 is “deceptive because it is not uniquely a tax on people currently earning an income of a million dollars annually. Unlike federal taxes on personal income, the ballot question would apply to one-time gains — such as those from selling a business or home. So, the nest eggs of many small business owners and longtime homeowners whose retirement depends on their investments would be taxed if this measure is passed.”
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, however, found that less than one percent of older tax filers have incomes high enough to pay the millionaire tax. For retirees living on investments, only the capital gain from selling an asset is taxable, not the value of the entire investment. Only the annual withdrawal from a retirement account is taxed. And if you sell that Cape Cod home suddenly valued at over $1 million, you are taxed only on the amount over what you bought the home for in the first place, and only after also deducting $500,000 if it is your primary residence. The policy center found that less than one percent of Massachusetts home sales exceeded the previous purchase price by $1.5 million.
Question 2 would regulate dental insurance rates by requiring companies to spend at least 83 percent of premiums on member dental expenses and quality improvements instead of on administrative expenses. It is supported by the American Dental Association and the Massachusetts Dental Society. Without imposing oversight on dental insurance, the insurers can “spend patient premiums on the company’s operating, marketing, and administrative activities,” according to the Mass Dental Society.
Dental insurance companies oppose Question 2. The “No on 2” campaign stated that, if the ballot measure passes, it will raise premium costs and some people will not be able to afford dental coverage. The ballot question stipulates, however, that the state division of insurance would have oversight of premiums and could block price hikes that exceed the consumer price index.
A separate story on Question 4, about driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, appears on page A6.
Near the end of the Nov. 8 ballot, Barnstable County voters will be asked to elect a new county commissioner. The three-member commission is the executive branch of county government. The current commissioners are Sheila Lyons of Wellfleet, Mark Forest of Yarmouth, and Bergstrom, who lives in Chatham. Bergstrom is running for re-election against Beaty, who served one term on the commission from 2018 to 2021. Beaty has admitted to making a donation to the Oath Keepers, an extremist group involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Beaty also served a 14-month sentence in federal prison for making death threats against President George H.W. Bush and other politicians in the early 1990s.
Each town in the county has one representative on the Assembly of Delegates, the legislative branch of county government. None of the Outer Cape elections for the Assembly is contested, and all the candidates are incumbents (Provincetown’s Brian O’Malley, Truro’s Sallie Tighe, Wellfleet’s Lilli-Ann Green, and Eastham’s John “Terry” Gallagher).
Contested races include secretary of state (incumbent Bill Galvin, Rayla Campbell, and Juan Sanchez); treasurer (incumbent Deborah Goldberg and Christina Crawford); auditor (Anthony Amore, Diana DiZoglio, Gloria Caballero-Roca, Dominic Giannone III, and Daniel Riek); and for the U.S. House of Representatives (incumbent Bill Keating and Jesse Brown) and state Senate (incumbent Julian Cyr and Christopher Lauzon). Incumbent state Rep. Sarah Peake and Governor’s Councilor member Joseph Ferreira, also an incumbent, are running unopposed.
