WEST LEBANON — Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday cast himself as a “bridge-builder” with a proven track record on improving health care, fighting climate change and increasing access to higher education during his two terms governing the Bay State.
His campaign for the Democratic nomination is about restoring the American dream, which is slipping out of reach for “more and more people in more and more places,” Patrick said during a meeting with Valley News editors and reporters.
“I say that despite the cheery economic indicators, which just don’t tell the whole story, said Patrick, 63.
The national unemployment rate stands at 3.5%, but that doesn’t account for the two or three minimum wage jobs that people need to take on to survive, Patrick said. Inflation figures also appear favorable, he added, unless you account for the rising cost for education, housing and health care. He said he favors raising the federal minimum wage, now $7.25, to “a living wage.”
“To the folks who oppose raising the minimum wage, try living on it before you oppose it. It just doesn’t work,” said Patrick, who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, entered a program for inner-city children known as A Better Chance and went on to graduate from Harvard and Harvard Law School. “Even at $15, it would be tough to live with it.”
Patrick, a former top Justice Department official and corporate lawyer, also sought to distance himself from the multitrillion-dollar plans touted by his progressive rivals. He opposes a wealth tax and “Medicare-for-all” health care plans.
But he also said voters should not be misled by “false choices” being created by political chatter, such as the notion that “you can’t have clean energy without wrecking the economy.”
“I don’t think you have to hate Republicans to be a good Democrat. I don’t think you have to hate business to be a social justice warrior,” he said. “I don’t think you have to hate police to think black lives matter.”
To reduce health care costs, Patrick said he favors a public health insurance option similar to Medicare, but disapproves of single-payer proposals that would do away with private insurance. There is value in keeping private insurers, which would likely try to “figure out some product to compete” for business with the public plan, he said.
Patrick touted his administration’s implementation of the health care reform law signed by his predecessor, Republican Mitt Romney, which was a model for President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Patrick said the country should continue building on the accomplishments of the ACA.
Patrick also signed legislation attempting to contain the costs of health care, saying those measures prevent Massachusetts premiums from rising steeply.
To fight climate change, Patrick said he’s open to a tax on carbon so long as the proceeds are dedicated to “climate action,” such as improving energy efficiency.
His administration joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade market made up of Northeast states, after he took office in 2007 and used the proceeds for efficiency subsidies.
On education costs, Patrick said he would raise government funding to provide “free or no-cost” college. He supports raising the estate tax to reduce student loan debt.
Patrick also defended his time working with multinational companies, saying he did meaningful work in private sector positions. For instance, he served for two years as general counsel for Texaco, now a subsidiary of the oil firm Chevron, because the company had a “broken employment system.”
There, he headed a task force to improve Texaco’s employment practices in the wake of what was then the nation’s largest racial discrimination case.
Patrick said he later joined Boston-based Bain Capital, which was co-founded by Romney, to invest in companies doing good, such as an organization that diverts “green waste” from landfills and recycles it into composted soil.
Still, Patrick said young people are “justifiably skeptical of capitalism.” Many took out loans and attended college only to see the 2008 recession handicap their ambitions, he said.
“I think there are real questions people are asking and should ask about capitalism, particularly about how we have practiced it here,” Patrick said.
However, Patrick acknowledged, his campaign accepts funding from super PACs, a type of political action committee having no limits on its spending, a move that other presidential contenders — such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. — have disavowed.
“If I had been a candidate for months and months and years and years and raised a bazillion dollars, it would be easy for me to say ‘no,’ ” Patrick said. “I’m not going to take corporate PAC money, and I have called on all PACs to be transparent about who their donors are.”
Patrick said his campaign soon will call for “significant moderation, if not elimination of super PACs.” “I think we have an over-emphasis on money and on monied interests at all levels of government,” he said.
Patrick, who entered the presidential race in mid-November, said he is skeptical of polls. He intended to announce his candidacy in 2018 but held off after his wife, Diane Patrick, was diagnosed with uterine cancer. He said she is now cancer-free.
A Monmouth University poll released Thursday shows Patrick with less than 1% support among likely New Hampshire primary voters.
Former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg leads the poll with 20% support, followed closely by former Vice President Joe Biden (19%) and Sanders (18%). About 7% of the respondents remain undecided.
Later on Thursday, Patrick spoke before a crowd of 100 people at the Kendal at Hanover retirement community. Some said they still were undecided.
Retiree Peter Bien said he only knew about Patrick’s “good reputation as a governor” before attending the town hall-style event.
“I can see he’s a man of intelligence, morality and I think compassion,” he said. “I didn’t get a lot of the junk that one gets from a lot of political people. … I got somebody who’s careful what he says and thinks and likes to engage with other people.”
Valley News staff writer Rohan Chakravarty contributed to this report. Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.