Mayoral candidates trade jabs, Powers takes offensive in League of Women Voters forum.

The Patriot Ledger

BRAINTREE - Braintree mayoral candidate Joseph Powers took the offensive during a candidates forum on Sunday, voicing questions about opponent Joseph Sullivan’s campaign contributors and Sullivan’s management of the state Lottery.

Referring to a 2003 newspaper report, Powers asserted that Sullivan had filed legislation that helped Big Dig manager Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and had taken campaign contributions from the company.

“How can voters be sure your interests are going to be with the residents and not with the hundreds of thousands of dollars given to you by people outside of the town?” Powers said.

Sullivan fired back that he was one of the first elected officials to call for a review of the finances of the project. He said he never took “hundreds of thousands of dollars” and that every campaign contribution had been lawful.

“In terms of suggesting that there might be something inappropriate there, you’re way off base, Joe,” Sullivan said. “The contributions I have received from this campaign have come from 500 Braintree families who have given to me their support financially and otherwise. I’ve walked this town, seen what we can do to make it a better community.”

The face-off between Powers and Sullivan filled out a 2½-hour session sponsored by the Braintree League of Women Voters and held in the Braintree High School auditorium.

Candidates for contested council and housing authority seats also answered questions, and those running unopposed gave one-minute statements.

The brief mayoral portion featured two questions for Sullivan and Powers regarding employee health care and borrowing to pay for infrastructure improvements. Each candidate was given the chance to ask his opponent one question.

Powers aimed to position himself as the “independent and dependable” candidate.

“I have no debts and I owe no one,” he said.

Sullivan portrayed himself as an agent of change.

“I learned people are looking for a change, looking for a commitment for excellence,” he said.

Sullivan pitched his plan for a top-to-bottom audit of the town’s finances, something he has made a cornerstone of his campaign.

“We need to look at every division of our existing town government,” he said. “We need to start at square one.”

Responding to a question from Sullivan about whether he would support a full audit, Powers said that “any businessman worth his salt” would do an audit coming in.

“To offer that as a campaign pledge to me is the most basic thing you can say, so, yes, audits work,” he said. “Audits are necessary. Audits wouldn’t just be a one-time thing for me as mayor.”

In his closing remarks, Powers accused Sullivan of running up a $3 million deficit on a $100,000 program he ran as Lottery director.

“These are the things we need to get to,” he said. “It’s not just our leadership style, it’s the successes we’ve had and the problems we’ve had.”

In an interview after the debate, Sullivan said the numbers Powers cited were not accurate. He said the program was an anti-litter program he established, in which people could trade in 25 nonwinning tickets for a $1 ticket. The $100,000 was the cost of administering the program, and the program not only reducing littering, it helped increase the popularity of some lottery games, he said.

Diana Schoberg may be reached at dschoberg@ledger.com.