BOSTON (
MyFoxBoston.com) -- The state's child welfare agency is now taking center stage in the Massachusetts race for governor. On Monday, both candidates took jabs at the other and criticizing each other's level of commitment.
The union representing social workers and Democrat Martha Coakley accused Republican Charlie Baker of failing to dedicate needed resources to the state's troubled child welfare agency back when baker worked for then-governor Bill Weld.
Coakley says Baker returned $2 million to the general fund after lawmakers had set aside money to help improve what was then known as DSS.
"He was the only one in this race, by the way, the only one who could have supplied more funding, more opportunities, for DCF, DSS then, to do the job that they needed to do," Coakley said.
Baker defended his work under Weld, but never really answered why he moved the money back into the general fund, only pointing out that he was doing a lot of hiring. "I'm very proud of the work we did when we worked in the weld administration some 20 years ago on child welfare," he said.
And he reiterated criticism of Coakley for not settling a lawsuit filed by a children's rights group.
"The attorney general and others chose to fight that suit and we all see the results," Baker said.
All of this comes on the heels of a controversial SuperPAC ad targeting Coakley on the Department of Children and Families.
She defends her work as a prosecutor, but has she ever advocated for more DCF funding, even as the agency was mired in scandal under the Patrick administration?
"Why not speak up against Governor Patrick or against the legislature and say look we need more funding, and you people are not making this a priority?" FOX 25 political reporter Sharman Sacchetti asked.
"And so I have spoken up, Sharman, since the beginning of this race, and I have said that what's really important is that we have an agency with a mission that isn't mixed," Coakley responded. "I put forward a plan from the time this race started."
On Tuesday, both candidates face off in a televised debate, where the issue will no doubt come up again.
The election is Nov. 4.
