By Sam Wroblewski 630wpro.com
Republican Catherine Taylor and Democrat Dan McKee traded jabs over the other’s qualifications and special interest support in Tuesday night’s WPRO Newsroom debate.
While much of the debate was spent contrasting positions,on of the biggest shots was fired in the second half of the debate when Taylor asked McKee if he would receive more out-of-state money to fund his campaign. McKee responded saying he has no control over who contributes to his campaign and that he has never made a deal with any entity.
“You didn’t get one endorsement in 2010 from the labor unions but you’ve got all of them today, so that certainly lends to the question of what did you have to do to get that,” said Mckee.
“Excuse me?” responded Taylor, “I think that’s getting close to leveling a personal attack that you would accuse anybody of doing something to get an endorsement.”
Taylor, who has received an unprecedented level of union support for a Republican candidate, said she has won numerous supporters for being a respectful leader who is open to new ideas.
“You opened the door to that one Catherine by accusing me of somehow being bought and sold by Walmart,” McKee responded.
“I think it’s fair, people have the same questions of me that you raised; I answered it,” continued McKee.
Taylor also took aim at McKee’s position on Health Source RI. McKee said he was in favor of finding ways to lower the costs of running the healthcare exchange, which according to Taylor, mirrors her own position.
“I’m actually pleased to hear Mayor McKee’s reversal on this,” said Taylor, “Mayor McKee did say he wanted to give it back to the feds.”
McKee said that was not accurate.
Both candidates found agreement on restructuring the state to be more business friendly and create jobs, but differed on the urgency.
“Within the first 90 days I would present a plan that would show how we could be tax competitive with our bordering states,” said McKee.
“I just want to make it clear that I’m going to get acting on day one, I won’t spend the first 90 days on a plan,” responded Taylor.
McKee currently leads in the race 36% to 27% according to a WPRI/Providence Journal poll, however one in three voters are still undecided.
The full debate can be heard by clicking here
