NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Tim Cahill wants people to know what he stands for — even if he has to tell one person at a time.

The gubernatorial hopeful was hammered earlier this week with an all-out attack on his record as state treasurer and Quincy city councilor by the Republican Governors Association on behalf of GOP opponent Charles D. Baker Jr., former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health.

"It's a gross distortion of my record," said Cahill on Friday morning during an interview with "Charlie in the Morning" host Charles Schneitzlen at WJJW at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. "[They want] to try to define me before I get to define myself."

Cahill says he's "a fiscal conservative who'll run a fiscally conservative administration." He left the Democratic Party last summer because, he said, the two-party system is broken.

The GOP's motives aren't hard to divine: Scott Brown's stunning election victory in January to fill the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy has boosted the aspirations of the moribund party — its recent string of governors notwithstanding. With Cahill running as an independent, he threatens to split the vote for Baker.

"The Republicans want to regain power," said Cahill. "[Mississippi] Gov. Haley Barbour [RGA chairman] poured over a $1 million into attack ads."

The former Democrat says he won't attack back — at least not using negative ads.

"Conventional wisdom tells people that I need to go out and run my own negative ads against Charlie Baker or  Deval Patrick, which we're not going to do," he said. "We could spend a million or two on the air, but I think that would leave people confused of who's telling the truth. It's much better for people to do it one on one and that's what I'm doing — that's why I'm here today."

Despite slipping polls, he said a rally Thursday night in Dorchester turned out more than 1,100 people. He's building a grassroots network across the state to talk to people "about who I really am and what I've done for the commonwealth."

Cahill points to his efforts to return Lottery monies to towns, and to cleanup and structure the School Building Authority, restoring its financial health and targeting worthwhile, economically feasible projects. If elected, he would apply part of the sales tax revenue into fixing infrastructure problems and give students 21st-century classrooms. Education, he said, is key to rebuilding the economy.

The major portion of Cahill's plan to rejuvenate the state's economy is across-the-board tax cuts and incentives to promote entrepreneurial investment, such as tax relief for the first three years of a startup. He thinks the current and past administrations have focused too much on big business and specialized areas rather than broadly based incentives for all small businesses.

"I was a small-business man out of college. I realized through experience how difficult is to manage your own business when government takes more and more of your revenue," said Cahill. "We want to allow people to keep more of their money."

The Quincy native operated Handshakes Cafe, which grew to three locations during the 1980s, credited the Reagan tax cuts for helping him expand his business.

The cuts would be an investment paid through the job growth — more people working and buying means fewer people depending on government assistance to get them through hard times thus less government spending, he said.

"Let the pivate sector not the public sector rebuild our economy so we can invest in infrastructure."
 
Cahill was to take up those topics in his address to the Massachusetts Mayors Association later in the morning at Cranwell Resort in Lenox (Gov. Deval Patrick was also speaking Friday; Baker spoke Thursday) and visit Taconic High School in Pittsfield in the afternoon.

For more on Cahill's positions, go to timforgovernor.com.

Two of the state's top elected officials — who also happen to be in contention for governor — will be speaking at the Massachusetts Mayors Association annual spring conference on Friday at Cranwell Resort in Lenox.

Gov. Deval Patrick and state Treasurer Timothy Cahill's separate talks will be closed to the press but we're guessing the Great Recession that's created historic deficits for towns and cities across the commonwealth will be the No. 1 topic. Patrick, a Democrat, and Cahill, who was a Democrat and is now running as an independent, will likely both be speaking to their strategies for increasing jobs and revenues as well as commenting on issues relative to their current positions.

Cahill is speaking at 10 and the governor at 11, both with press availabilities afterward.

Cahill, however, will be on the air earlier with "Charlie in the Morning" on WJJW 91.1-FM at 8:30 a.m. The station is operated by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and morning radio host and graduating senior Charles Schnitzlein over the past year has tapped into both local and state politics by interviewing officials such as Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley and local selectmen, along with musical guests. Cahill will be the first major political guest who's traveled to the college for a sitdown interview.

iBerkshires will be joining Schnitzlein for the morning program; we'll also be at Cranwell for press roundtable with the governor at noon. If you have any questions you think we should ask either Cahill or Patrick, related to current or campaign issues, let us know at info@iberkshires.com, tweet to @iberkshires or @CharlieMorning or comment here or on our Facebook posting.

The mayors conference opened Wednesday at Cranwell and continues through Friday at 5. Both Berkshire County Mayors James M. Ruberto, who represents the association's District 1, and Richard Alcombright are expected to attend the event.

State Treasurer Tim Cahill stopped to speak with our media partner Berkshire News Network on Monday, March 29.

Cahill is stumping for governor under the independent label rather than under the Democratic Party banner. He visited Pittsfield on Monday and took a tour of Soldier On, which constructing housing for veterans.

Cahill said he decided to run as an independent because he wanted to escape the labels of both the Democratic and Republican parties. He will stand a better chance of getting things done as an independent than either party can do on its own.

He's going after the 51 percent of voters who are independent; the same ones Republican Scott Brown went after in his stunning win for U.S. Senate in January. Cahill said he is in favor of a tax cut but that the state would also have to cut its spending, especially in health care. He's also in favor of casino gambling in Massachusetts, something that Gov. Deval Patrick has also supported. His campaign site is www.timforgovernor.com.