Republican candidate for US Senate, Ian Cain, goes On The Record

MASSACHUSETTS SENATE PRIMARY VOTERS WILL HAVE THEIR SAY ON TUESDAY. TODAY WE GO ON THE RECORD FROM WCVB CHANNEL 5. THE INSIDE WORD FROM WASHINGTON TO BEACON HILL. TODAY’S NEWSMAKERS ARE GOING ON THE RECORD. A SPECIAL EPISODE OF ON THE RECORD. TODAY WE ARE GIVING YOU A LOOK AT THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES, THE SENATE PRIMARY TUESDAY IS THE BIG DAY. I’M SHARMAN SACCHETTI ALONG WITH ERIKA TARANTAL. ED IS OFF. UP FIRST, JOINING US AT THE TABLE IS IAN KANE. HE IS A CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE IN MASSACHUSETTS, A REPUBLICAN, HE IS CURRENTLY PRESIDENT OF THE QUINCY CITY COUNCIL. A NATIVE OF QUINCY AND ENTREPRENEUR, HE HOLDS DEGREES FROM BOSTON COLLEGE AND DUKE UNIVERSITY. IAN KANE, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME. I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THE DEBATE THAT YOU WERE TRYING TO SCHEDULE. IT’S TOO BAD, JOHN DEATON BACKED OUT. WELL, WE APPRECIATE YOUR TIME TODAY. OF COURSE WE’RE GOING TO GET RIGHT INTO THE QUESTIONS THAT OUR VIEWERS CARE ABOUT. AND ONE OF THE BIG TOPICS THAT WE HAVE BEEN REPORTING ON OVER WEEKS NOW, EVEN MONTHS, STEWARD HEALTH CARE. SO THEY HAVE NOW SIGNED DEALS FOR FOUR OF SIX HOSPITALS THAT THEY’RE LOOKING TO OFFLOAD. SINCE FILING FOR BANKRUPTCY, THE COMPANY IS STILL WORKING TO FINALIZE THE DEAL RELATED TO GOOD SAMARITAN IN BROCKTON AND SAINT ELIZABETH’S AND BRIGHTON TO BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER, TWO HOSPITALS WE KNOW HAVE CLOSED. SO NASHOBA VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER AND ALSO CARNEY AND THE PEOPLE IN THOSE COMMUNITIES ARE REALLY IN DISTRESS. SO WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THIS ENTIRE SITUATION? IT’S A VERY UNFORTUNATE SITUATION. THIS IS A SITUATION THAT WE ALSO WENT THROUGH IN QUINCY ABOUT A DECADE PLUS AGO. AND OUR SITUATION WAS UNIQUE. I THINK IF YOU LOOK BACK AT THE HISTORY OF HOW HOSPITALS WERE RUN, THEY WERE LOCALLY RUN, THEY WERE RUN BY CITIES AND TOWNS. AND IF YOU SORT OF THINK ABOUT POLITICS, BEING INVOLVED IN THE MANAGEMENT OF HOSPITALS, YOU CAN SEE HOW THAT IT CAN EVENTUALLY, TO SOME, DECLINE. BUT I THINK THAT, YOU KNOW, YOU’VE GOT ELIZABETH WARREN OUT THERE SAYING IT’S THE CAUSE OF IT’S PRIVATE EQUITY’S CAUSE. AND I DON’T THINK THAT THAT’S THE ONLY THING THAT WE SHOULD BE LOOKING AT. I DON’T THINK ANYBODY WOULD SAY THAT HEALTH CARE IS AFFORDABLE BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION. YOU SEE RIDICULOUS MARKUPS AT SOME OF THE LARGEST HOSPITALS. SO I THINK WE NEED TO WORK ON A SOLUTION THAT INVOLVES INTRODUCING MORE COMPETITION SO THAT WE’RE NOT DRIVING OUR HOSPITALS COMMUNITY HOSPITALS INTO THE GROUND. WELL, SO YOU MENTIONED SENATOR WARREN’S POSITION THERE, THAT SHE WANTS TO KEEP PRIVATE EQUITY OUT. YOU KNOW, STEWARD IS A PRIVATELY HELD COMPANY. YOU HAVE A HISTORY IN THAT SECTOR IN PRIVATE EQUITY. DO YOU AGREE THERE SHOULD BE AT LEAST SAFEGUARDS IN PLACE. SO AGAIN, I THINK PRIVATE EQUITY IS A SMALL COMPONENT OF THE SYSTEM. BUT AGAIN, WE NEED TO LOOK AT COMPETITION. AND THIS HASN’T BEEN A PROBLEM THAT JUST STARTED OVERNIGHT. SO IT’S VERY CONVENIENT FOR ELIZABETH WARREN TO RAISE HER FIST IN THE AIR AS SHE DOES WITH MANY OTHER ISSUES AND SAY PRIVATE EQUITY IS THE FAULT NOW. BUT SHE’S HAD 12 YEARS AND TWO TERMS IN THE US SENATE TO FIND SOLUTIONS. WHAT TYPES OF SOLUTIONS, THOUGH, WOULD YOU SUGGEST? AGAIN, PROVIDING INCENTIVES TO INCREASE MARKET COMPETITION, MAKING SURE THAT HOSPITALS AREN’T INCREASING THE MARKUP ON PHARMACEUTICALS THAT ARE GIVEN TO PATIENTS BY ALMOST 450%? YOU KNOW, RIGHT NOW WHAT WE’RE SEEING, AS I SAID, IS THAT SOME OF THE LARGER INSTITUTIONS THAT ARE SERVING OUR PEOPLE, CONSUMERS NEED ALSO TRANSPARENCY, RIGHT? THEY’RE SEEING RIDICULOUS MARKUPS. SO IF WE CAN PROVIDE SOLUTIONS THAT COULD BE TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGICALLY ENABLED THROUGH THE TRANSPARENCY OF CONSUMER ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE, WE MIGHT BE IN A BETTER POSITION. DO YOU THINK DO YOU THINK HOSPITALS SHOULD HAVE TO OWN THE LAND THEY SIT ON? THAT’S AN INTERESTING QUESTION. BUT I DON’T REALLY HAVE THAT ANSWER FOR YOU ON THAT. I KNOW THAT THAT WAS A COMPONENT WHERE IN STUART THESE TWO THINGS WERE BIFURCATED, WHICH I THINK DEVALUED THE THE VALUE OF THE SYSTEM ITSELF. BUT, YOU KNOW, I’D HAVE TO LOOK AT MORE DATA TO UNDERSTAND IF THAT IS SOMETHING THAT’S MORE SYSTEMIC. YOU USED TO BE A REGISTERED DEMOCRAT. YOU WERE A REPUBLICAN NOW, BUT YOU USED TO BE A DEMOCRAT. WE DID PULL A PHOTO OF YOU WITH SENATOR WARREN FROM YOUR CAMPAIGN, FROM THE CAMPAIGN FACEBOOK PAGE. THIS ONE IS FROM 2016. NOW, WHY SHOULD REPUBLICAN VOTERS FEEL AS THOUGH YOU HAVE THEIR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART? SO I START MY VOTING LIFE AS A REPUBLICAN. AND THEN I WAS AN UNENROLLED VOTER FOR MANY YEARS. IT WAS WHEN I FIRST GOT INTO ELECTED OFFICE AS A QUINCY CITY COUNCILOR IN 2015, THAT I LOOKED AROUND AND I SAID, IF I WANT TO HAVE A FUTURE IN POLITICS IN MASSACHUSETTS, IT LOOKS LIKE I NEED TO BE A DEMOCRAT. ONCE I STARTED UNDERSTANDING THE DEMOCRATIC POLICIES AND PRIORITIES, OR LACK THEREOF, I UNENROLLED IN 2019 WITH THE IDEA OF GETTING BACK INTO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WHICH I’VE DONE TODAY, TO RUN FOR THE U.S. SENATE. YOU KNOW, MASSACHUSETTS IS OFF THE RESERVATION. SO TO SPEAK. YOU KNOW, WE ARE A UNIPARTY STATE NOW, THE MAJORITY OF THE LEGISLATIVE SEATS IN THE STATE HOUSE, ALL OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICES AND ALL THE FEDERAL SEATS ARE HELD BY DEMOCRATS, PEOPLE IN MASSACHUSETTS, WHICH, BY THE WAY, YOU KNOW, WE’RE NOT A BLUE STATE NECESSARILY. WE’RE AN INDEPENDENT UNENROLLED OR NONPARTY AFFILIATED STATE WITH 64% OF THE ELECTORATE SITTING COMFORTABLY IN THE MIDDLE. SO THEY EITHER DON’T WANT TO BE A DEMOCRAT OR THEY NEED A REASON TO BE A REPUBLICAN IN THIS STATE. AND I THINK THAT PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR COMMON SENSE, PRAGMATISM AND FUNDAMENTALS THAT CAN BRING US BACK ON TRACK HERE IN THE COMMONWEALTH. AND THAT’S WHAT WE’RE SEEKING IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. YOU ALSO HAVE A RECORD WHERE YOU ENDORSED BOSTON MAYOR MICHELLE WU. ARE THERE ANY POLICIES OF HERS THAT YOU DO SUPPORT? NOT AT THIS TIME. AT THE TIME THAT I DID SUPPORT MICHELLE WU, THERE WAS A VERY PARTICULAR REASON THAT ALIGNED WITH THE INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE THAT I SERVED IN THE CITY OF QUINCY, I THINK IT’S WELL KNOWN THAT QUINCY AND BOSTON HAVE BEEN FIGHTING OVER THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LONG ISLAND BRIDGE, AND AT THE TIME, ELIZABETH. ELIZABETH WARREN, HER ACOLYTE, MICHELLE WU, WAS THE ONLY CITY COUNCILOR IN BOSTON TO SUPPORT NOT RECONSTRUCTING THE BRIDGE. AND THAT IS A POLICY THAT ALIGNED WITH THE CITY OF QUINCY AND THE PEOPLE THAT I SERVE. SO MORE ON HOW YOU IDENTIFY THE LAST TIME A REPUBLICAN WAS ELECTED SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS WAS SCOTT BROWN. THAT WAS IN 2010. MASSACHUSETTS IS A STATE WITH A HISTORY OF ELECTING THE REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS. AND LATE IN HIS TERM IN OFFICE, GOVERNOR CHARLIE BAKER HAD A 68% APPROVAL RATING, ACCORDING TO A UMASS AMHERST POLL. NATIONALLY, DONALD TRUMP DOMINATING THE REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONVERSATION. OF COURSE. SO IF YOU HAD TO PICK AND I KNOW YOU IDENTIFY AS YOURSELF, BUT ARE YOU MORE OF A BAKER TYPE REPUBLICAN OR A TRUMP SUPPORTER? YEAH. SO I WOULD PROBABLY SAY A BAKER TYPE. I COME FROM GROWING UP LOOKING AT PUBLIC SERVICE MODELS LIKE RONALD REAGAN AND GEORGE BUSH AND HISTORICALLY WE HAVE THE FIRST POPULARLY ELECTED BLACK U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS AND EDWARD BROOKE IN 1966. AND HE WAS A REPUBLICAN. AND THAT IS REMARKABLE. YOU KNOW, HE WAS AN ATTORNEY GENERAL BEFORE THAT. AND SO, YOU KNOW, MASSACHUSETTS REPUBLICANS ARE MODERATES. I THINK, YOU KNOW, WHEN IT COMES TO WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO IT. BUT FOR ME, THIS IS HARKENING BACK TO A DAY WHEN PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY REPUBLICANS, LIKE I’D MENTIONED BEFORE, LIKE THE BUSH REPUBLICANS KNEW HOW TO WORK COLLABORATIVELY WITH ANYONE. AND THAT’S WHAT MY CANDIDACY IS ABOUT. ELIZABETH WARREN IS ONE OF THE MOST DIVISIVE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE. SO MUCH SO THAT SHE DOES NOT DO THE WORK IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, PASSING LEGISLATION COMPROMISING WITH PEOPLE, GETTING THINGS DONE. SHE’S WORKING ON EXACTING HER POLICY INFLUENCE IN THE EXECUTIVE ARM, TRYING TO CHANGE DYNAMICS IN THE SUPREME COURT. ALL BECAUSE THE RULES DON’T WORK IN HER FAVOR. WELL, YOU ARE SPEAKING TO VOTERS, BUT YOU ARE ALSO A VOTER. AND WE HAVE THE TOP OF THE TICKET SET. TRUMP OR HARRIS, ASSUMING YOU WILL VOTE, WHO WILL YOU VOTE FOR? I’LL BE WRITING IN MY OWN CANDIDATE. I FROM THE OUTSET OF THIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE. HOW DOES THAT IMPACT THE RACE IN REALITY? RIGHT FROM THE OUTSET OF THIS ELECTION, EVEN BEFORE I CONSIDER RUNNING FOR U.S. SENATE, I WAS NOT EXCITED ABOUT THE TOP OF THE TICKET. I THINK THAT BIDEN AND BOTH BIDEN AND TRUMP REPRESENT DAYS OF YESTERYEAR. THEY’RE OLD CHARACTERS IN THIS, IN THIS PLAY. AND SO THAT WAS PART OF THE REASON FOR STEPPING UP TO USHER IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERSHIP. I ALSO, I DON’T AGREE WITH WHAT THE DEMOCRATS DID WITH INSTALLING KAMALA HARRIS AS THE NOMINEE. I THINK THAT THROWS IN THE FACE OF DEMOCRATIC VALUES AND HONORING THE VOTES THAT WERE CAST IN A PRIMARY ELECTION. AND SO, YOU KNOW, I LOOK AT THIS AS, YOU KNOW, WE’VE GOT A BIG PROJECT RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF US IN TRYING TO UNSEAT ONE OF THE MOST ENTRENCHED UNITED STATES SENATORS. AND SO I’M VERY FOCUSED ON MAKING THAT HAPPEN ALL RIGHT. DOZENS OF MIGRANTS, INCLUDING FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN SPENDING THE NIGHT ON THE SIDEWALK OUTSIDE THE WOLLASTON MBTA STATION IN QUINCY. NOW, THE GOVERNOR HAS PUT IN PLACE A FIVE DAY LIMIT ON TEMPORARY OVERFLOW SHELTERS AND LIMITED WHO CAN GET INTO SOME OF THOSE LONG-TERM SHELTERS. THIS CRISIS IS ON TRACK TO COST THE STATE MORE THAN $1 BILLION THIS YEAR. I WANT TO ASK YOUR REACTION TO THAT, BECAUSE THAT IS HAPPENING IN QUINCY AND ALSO YOUR REACTION TO THE SENATOR WHO DID NOT VOTE IN FAVOR OF A LEGISLATION TO DEAL WITH THE SOUTHERN BORDER. SO I’VE BEEN TRAVELING THE STATE FOR THE PAST SIX MONTHS, MEETING WITH VOTERS. THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE ISSUE ON THE MINDS OF PEOPLE IN MASSACHUSETTS, WHICH ELIZABETH WARREN HAS BEEN MUM ABOUT. SHE’S BEEN NEGLECTFUL IN HER DUTIES AS A UNITED STATES SENATOR TO SUPPORT AND OR PROVIDE A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM HERE IN OUR STATE. MASSACHUSETTS HAS BECOME A BORDER STATE, AND ON TOP OF THAT, WE HAVE OUR OWN ISSUES IN THE STATE LEGISLATURE WHERE WE HAVE THIS RIGHT TO SHELTER LAW, WHICH IS ENABLING POOR PEOPLE WHO ARE COMING HERE FROM PLACES OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN TO NOW BECOME OUR NEXT CLASS OF HOMELESSNESS. OKAY. AND SO, YOU KNOW, THE REAL ISSUE HERE. WE PUT OUT A POLICY PLAN. I’VE BEEN THE ONLY REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE TO DO SO THAT WOULD SEEK TO WORK TOWARDS FIXING THIS PROBLEM HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS. AND FOR OUR COUNTRY. IT WOULD START WITH CLOSING THE BORDER, MAKING SURE THAT STATES LIKE MASSACHUSETTS CAN’T DESIGNATE THEMSELVES AS A SANCTUARY OR OTHERWISE STATUS. MAKE SURE THAT WE DON’T CONTINUE TO ABUSE THE ASYLUM PROGRAM, AND THEN WORK TO MAKE SURE THAT WE’RE CREATING THESE LEGAL PATHWAYS. LET’S CLEAN UP THE BACKLOG OF ADJUDICATED CASES THAT NEED TO BE SOLVED FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME OVER AND THEN FIGURE OUT THE LEGAL PATHWAYS FORWARD. THIS IS NOT A PROJECT IN COMPASSION ANYMORE. THIS IS NOW A VERY SAD THING THAT WE’RE SEEING ON OUR FRONT DOORSTEPS. AND WE’RE NOT DOING ANYBODY A SERVICE BY ALLOWING THEM TO COME HERE. SHOULD THE STATE CHANGE ITS RIGHT TO SHELTER LAW? ABSOLUTELY. AND SENATOR WARREN VOTING ON THIS BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION TO DEAL WITH THE SOUTHERN BORDER, SHE DID NOT VOTE IN FAVOR OF IT. WOULD YOU HAVE VOTED IN FAVOR OF IT? I WOULD NOT HAVE. BUT THAT’S BECAUSE THE BILL DIDN’T GO FAR ENOUGH. I JUST OUTLINED A LIST OF THINGS THAT WE’D FOCUS ON, AND THIS WAS A CHUCK SCHUMER PROGRESSIVE OPEN BORDER BILL. IT STILL WOULD HAVE ALLOWED FOR MILLIONS OF PEOPLE TO COME OVER A YEAR, AND IT WOULDN’T HAVE GOT TO THE HEART OF THE ISSUE. WELL, IT WAS A BIPARTISAN BILL. IT WAS WRITTEN BY REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS. IT’S BEEN OVER TWO DECADES SINCE CONGRESS HAS PASSED ANY SIGNIFICANT IMMIGRATION REFORM. SO AT SOME POINT WHEN WHEN NO ONE’S HAPPY, THAT’S A COMPROMISE. NO. LISTEN, ACTION NEEDS TO BE TAKEN. I HEAR THIS STATEMENT MORE OFTEN THAT I MEAN, AND THAT WAS POLITICS. AND PEOPLE PLAY POLITICS ALL THE TIME. WE’RE IN A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CYCLE, AND SO PEOPLE ARE USING THIS AS A POLITICAL FOOTBALL. BUT AGAIN, I’M GOING TO WASHINGTON TO WORK WITH PEOPLE, COLLABORATE, GET THINGS DONE. ALL RIGHT, IAN CAIN, THANK Y