Candidates for Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth John Bonifaz and Jill Stein told students that replacing incumbent William Galvin, a democrat, would restore a responsive and transparent public servant to the post."Most people don't know what the Secretary of State does," said Stein, a Rainbow-Green Party member, last Tuesday in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall to about 45 students.

"They don't have a clue if he's appointed or elected or what," Stein said "The secretary oversees the infrastructure of democracy. The secretary should be a watchdog of that democracy."

The Brandeis chapter of Democracy for America and the Brandeis Democrats sponsored the forum, which was moderated by Julia Gordon '07, director of communications for DFA.

Stein and Bonifaz agreed that Galvin, who declined an invitation to attend, does not represent the values of an average Massachusetts resident.

"He's an insider's insider," Bonifaz said. "He's part of that old-boys network that's been in power for too long."

More specifically, the two candidates said Galvin has not been an effective check on the powers of the republican governors who have served during his three terms, has not made Massachusetts elections as fair as possible and did not fight to stop the Massachusetts legislature's universal health care bill, which will provide health care to nearly the entire state by July 2007.

Stein, a physician, was particularly vocal about her frustration with that bill, because she said it forces "people to buy a useless policy" that doesn't provide adequate coverage.

Worse, according to Stein, is the manner in which the bill was negotiated. "The health insurance lobby spent $7.5 million to basically write the bill to benefit themselves-and not the people of the state needing health care."

The vote was passed unanimously by the legislature without lawmakers having even read the bill, at the behest of the powerful insurance lobby, Stein said. "It's really important to note how money is changing hands behind closed doors."

Regarding that issue, Bonifaz spoke more broadly about how the "powerful and politically connected are clearly running Beacon Hill."

At the state Democratic Party convention, Bonifaz said many delegates told him they wanted to vote for him but said they were afraid of the repercussions because they were either government employees or the family of government leaders.

"'I would have voted for you, but I'm afraid to lose my job,'" Bonifaz said many delegates told him.

One of the most important duties of the secretary is to serve as chief of elections, and Bonifaz and Stein clearly were not happy with the way elections have been handled under Galvin.

Bonifaz said his "Voters' Bill of Rights," a list of nine items for increasing voter turn-out, ensuring votes are counted properly and allowing more candidates to receive public funding for their campaigns, would "take our democracy back and level the playing field."

Stein lamented what she saw as a "merger of corporations and political power under Galvin's nose."

"People are hungering for a change on Beacon Hill-a big one," she said.

Bonifaz, who founded the National Voting Rights Institute, received a MacArthur Fellowship for his leadership on voting rights. He served as chief council in a lawsuit against President George W. Bush challenging Bush's authority to wage the war in Iraq without a congressional declaration of war.