Jon's Platform

OVERVIEW

A STRONG FOUNDATION

Jon's mom was a public school teacher. Jon's dad, a business owner, operator, and manager. At a young age, Jon learned the value of education, hard work, and caring for those less fortunate than himself.

VALUES & PRINCIPLES TO BUILD UPON

A social progressive, Jon believes that equal rights and equal opportunity are of the utmost importance to a civil society and for us as individuals as well. These values are the best guarantee of a healthy and productive society. When we provide for the most vulnerable among us, we strengthen the fabric of our entire community. To that end, Jon supports equal marriage rights, and reproductive choice while opposing the death penalty.

PROVEN LEADERSHIP

As a member of the Watertown Town Council and Governor Patrick's Local Government Advisory Commission, Jon has been a leading advocate for public education, the environment, and affordable housing. He supports funding of human service programs and opposes balancing the budget on the backs of those most in need of basic government assistance and services.

A RECORD OF RESULTS

Jon is equally committed to fiscal responsibility. When he joined the Watertown Town Council, Jon led efforts to create a new Budget and Fiscal Oversight Committee and became its first chair. He pioneered the use of tools such as benchmarking and performance measurement to ensure cost-effectiveness in government spending. He also led the Council in prioritizing expenditures, resulting in increased funding for education, long-range planning, and infrastructure, all within the limits of Proposition 2½.

LEGISLATIVE MISSION

Jon believes that social progress and fiscal responsibility go hand-in-hand. In this era of limited public resources, we must insist on cost-effectiveness in order to maintain public confidence in our government and to fund top priorities and critical programs such as health care, education, and energy alternatives.

ISSUES

EDUCATION

The foundation of a free society is open access to education for every member of that society – public education at every level necessary to have a well informed and productive citizenry.

A product of public schools, Jon is a strong supporter and advocate of our public school system. Jon believes public schools can provide a high-quality education – and his own children attend the Watertown Public Schools.

But as both a parent active in the schools and a Town Councilor responsible for funding our schools, Jon knows firsthand the twin problems of providing quality programs and funding them with a balanced budget.

Jon believes we must:

• Improve the quality of our K-12 education to close the persistent achievement gap, providing an education that meets the needs of each child.
• Do a better job providing early education for our youngest and most at-risk citizens, both pre-school and kindergarten.
• Strengthen our publicly funded colleges and universities so our children can receive affordable, high-quality higher education to compete for 21st century jobs.

Jon also believes that the state’s education budget needs to be reexamined to meet the financial challenges our cities and towns are currently facing:

• The state’s funding formula needs to be updated to reflect the current costs of education.
• The required local property tax contribution needs to be realigned to avoid penalizing districts with high property values but relatively low income levels.
• Additional state funding for special education costs needs to be considered to insure our most vulnerable children get the services they need.

Jon also intends to work aggressively to address work-family challenges which effect the ability of our children to learn. This includes encouraging more quality daycare, before and after-school programs for the children of working parents, and promoting healthy lifestyles and good nutrition for children.

There are certainly no easy answers for achieving these goals. To be successful, the legislature needs to tackle these issues in a way that promotes flexibility and innovation, while examining and modeling the best approaches from educational systems around the country, and the world. Jon Hecht is the candidate with the skills and experience who can bring a fresh approach to education on Beacon Hill.

ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY/OPEN SPACE

By all accounts, we are slowly destroying our planet. Unless and until we take the measures necessary to cut green house gas emissions and to diminish our reliance on fossil fuels, the future for the world as we know it, will remain bleak.

Jon ardently supports efforts to make Massachusetts a leader in promoting alternative energy resources and technologies in a concerted effort to reduce people's energy costs, stabilize the economy, and preserve the environment.

Whether working with the state to reduce traffic woes and increase parkland along Nonantum Road, working with private organizations to maintain of the Charles River parkland, or working to rezone Watertown's Pleasant Street industrial corridor into a more pedestrian-friendly and environmentally-sensitive multi-use district, Jon has demonstrated a leading environmental role, winning an endorsement from the Massachusetts Sierra Club.

In the short-term, Jon will seek to:

• Expand public transportation programs to provide reliable, low-cost alternatives to passenger cars, and reduce our reliance of fossil fuels.
• Promote energy efficiency in our buildings and vehicles to reduce oil, gas, and electricity consumption.
• Make state and local government a leader in the use of renewable energy.

In the long-term, Jon believes we must:

• Invest in public transportation infrastructure and promote smart growth along mass transportation corridors.
• Support basic research at our universities in energy technologies, and encourage private investment in alternative energy businesses.
• Insure the Department of Conservation and Recreation has adequate funding to maintain and operate its parklands and facilities.

Jon also believes that we need to better promote the preservation and expansion of open space. Publicly-accessible open space, whether developed for recreation purposes or maintained in a natural state, is critical to our quality of life, particularly in more densely populated parts of the state.

The current trends of our fossil-fuel dependent economy are having a negative impact on our quality of life. Reversing this trend will require a fresh approach and more cooperation between all levels of government. Jon Hecht is the candidate with the experience and skills who can make a difference on energy and the environment.

HEALTH CARE

With double-digit annual price increases, health care costs continue to spiral out of control, causing significant problems in every municipal, business, and family budget. While new medical treatments and therapies are being developed at a rapid pace, our society is losing the ability to keep paying for it all.

Without any long-term relief coming on the federal level, it will continue to fall upon the states to be the innovators to ensure its citizens have access to appropriate health care. Massachusetts made a path-blazing start with its 2006 health care reform law, and Jon supports this effort to make health care accessible and affordable to all Massachusetts residents.

However, more needs to be done to ensure universal access to quality health care, and to contain health care costs that are straining budgets for government, employers, and individuals alike.

In the short-term Jon believes we must:

• Address state funding short-falls and gaps in universal coverage.
• Provide statutory relief at the state level to allow cities and towns to create larger risk pools to have better pricing with insurance companies.
• Improve access to reasonably priced health insurance for self-employed workers and small business owners.

Jon will also work towards long-term solutions to find effective incentives and regulatory strategies to:

• Encourage efficient use of health resources and promote healthier lifestyle among consumers.
• Reverse the growing shortage of primary care physicians, to ensure patients have ready access to preventive care, a centerpiece of reform.
• Contain healthcare costs by reducing inefficiencies between delivery of services, insurance reimbursements and administrative expenses.

As a member of Watertown’s Town Council, Jon has been a leading voice to drive reforms dealing with the stark financial realities of employee health care costs that are rising at 10% annually, while being limited by the ability to increase taxes under the confines of proposition 2½.

Until we find new and creative ways to reign in the costs of our health care, we will continue to struggle to pay for all of the services that our governments are charged with providing. There are no easy answers. Jon Hecht is the candidate with the skills and perspective to bring a reasoned approach to health care in Massachusetts.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT/HOUSING/INFRASTRUCTURE

In today’s economy, a business can locate in many places. Jon believes that Massachusetts must work hard to attract and retain businesses that provide good jobs for our residents and tax revenues for state and local government. As Chair of the Town Council’s Committee on Economic Development and Planning, Jon took the lead in adopting expedited permitting and incentives for businesses development in Watertown’s Pleasant Street Corridor.

One of the main disincentives for businesses to locate in Massachusetts is the high cost of housing. Jon supports inclusionary zoning as one means of creating affordable housing. He also supports Chapter 40B, subject to safeguards to prevent developers from earning excess profits. Jon is a strong supporter of smart growth and transportation oriented development, which help promote needed housing while stemming suburban sprawl and reducing GHG emissions.

Another major factor in economic development in Massachusetts is the sorry state of our infrastructure. Jon strongly supports efforts to rebuild our infrastructure, including the bridges over the Charles River, in order to ensure public safety, create jobs, and spur long-term economic vitality.

CASINOS & TAXES

Jon does not believe casinos are the answer to balancing the state budget or strengthening the state’s economy.

Jon wants to see Massachusetts reform its tax system to ease the burden on middle-class families. Jon supports expanding the property tax circuit breaker, so families facing large property tax and water bills can receive a credit on their state income tax. Jon opposes repeal of the state income tax, which would favor the wealthy, cripple essential services, and further increase reliance on property taxes.