EAST LONGMEADOW – Although Council on Aging Executive Director Carolyn Brennan said the event between candidates state Rep. Brian Ashe and challenger Alison Werder was not a debate but a discussion, it seemed like a debate at times, especially toward the end of the evening.

Moderated by Western Mass. News anchor and reporter Beth Ward, the discussion was formatted to give each candidate an opportunity to answer the same question, but at several moments it was clear each person wanted the opportunity for rebuttals.

As Werder rose to answer a new question at one point, she said she wanted to address a statement Ashe had made during his answer to a previous question. Brennan stood up from her chair in the audience and told Werder this was not a debate and she could not make a rebuttal.  

Werder told the audience during her introductory remarks that “We get the short end of the stick” in Western Massachusetts.

The status quo – going along with Boston doesn’t do anything for Western Massachusetts,” she added.

She said the district needs better actions and better results.

Ashe responded that he “appreciates her platform because it’s what I do.”

He spoke of his humble beginnings and said, “I am blessed but I never forget where I came from.”

On some of the questions posed by Ward:

• On the referendum about legislating nursing staffing levels, Ashe said that he stands proudly with the nurses but added if the referendum is approved by voters it will be amended by the Legislature.

Werder said the issue was complicated and does not believe the referendum is the right solution for solving staffing levels at hospitals.

“I don’t think government can run hospitals better than nurses,” she said. Werder added there is no proof the similar system in California has worked better.

• Both candidates addressed how to better improve services for the elderly. She said, “We’ve got to make sure there is ample housing everywhere.”

Werder suggested greater tax deferments and rebates and spoke of a proposal that allow a senior to defer real estate taxes and put them against the value of the house with the state making the municipality whole and the state retrieving the money with the sale of the home.

• When asked what each of them agree or disagree with Gov. Charlie Baker on, Werder noted she had the endorsement of the governor and is aligned with him on many issues.

Ashe said he agrees with Baker’s bipartisan attitude and his stance on the opioid crisis, but said he disagreed with Baker’s initially blocking a study on east-west passenger rail.

• There were several questions from the audience including one from Donald Flannery concerning pay increases for members of the Legislature. Flannery, who is running against state Rep. Angelo Puppolo, brought up the pay increase as it pertains to his race. He was asked to rephrase the question and wanted to know if employees should vote themselves a raise without the approval of their employers.

The figure used was a 40 percent pay increase and Werder said she had never received that kind of pay increase in the private sector. She said there were no public comments and “it’s not that they got the raise, it’s how it was done.”

Ashe disputed the statement of a 40 percent raise and said, “My opponent is being disingenuous.” He said the raise is tied to the consumer price index.  There was an increase in office expenses, he added.

He charged she had taken information about the raise from an “extreme right wing Donald Trump group.”

• Werder was asked if she supports term limits and she said she does. She believes the question should be put up in a referendum. Ashe said, “We don’t need term limits. We already have them. They’re called elections.”

He then added that Werder’s parents were both elected officials who served without term limits.