Governorship of Mitt Romney - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

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Willard Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...

was sworn in as the 70th Governor of Massachusetts
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...

on January 2, 2003, along with Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey

Kerry Healey

Kerry Murphy Healey was the 70th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. She served from 2003 to 2007 with Governor Mitt Romney. She was the 2006 Republican nominee for Governor of Massachusetts, losing to Democrat Deval Patrick in November 2006...

. His term ended on January 4, 2007. He filed the papers establishing his exploratory presidential committee the day before leaving office.

Inauguration

Romney's swearing in used the same Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

that his father George Romney

George W. Romney

George Wilcken Romney was an American businessman and Republican Party politician. He was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973...

had used as the Governor of Michigan

Governor of Michigan

The Governor of Michigan is the chief executive of the U.S. State of Michigan. The current Governor is Rick Snyder, a member of the Republican Party.-Gubernatorial elections and term of office:...

. In his 15-minute inauguration speech in the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Massachusetts House of Representatives

The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...

, he avoided policy specifics but said that he intended to bring about a “lighter, more agile bureaucracy.” The overall inauguration festivities took place over three days and emphasized themes around common citizens.

Upon taking office, Romney faced a state legislature in which Democrats held 85 percent of the seats. Indeed, the state Republican Party had fielded no candidate for 62 percent of the seats during the 2002 state elections

Massachusetts general election, 2002

A Massachusetts general election was held on November 5, 2002 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.The election included:* statewide elections for U.S. Senator, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Treasurer, and Auditor;* district elections for U.S...

.

From the outset Romney sought to show himself as the state's first 'CEO governor'. His choices for the executive cabinet included well-known figures such as Democrat Robert Pozen

Robert Pozen

Robert C. Pozen is an American financial executive with a strong interest in public policy. He is the former chairman of MFS Investment Management, the oldest mutual fund company in the United States...

, former vice chairman of Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments

FMR LLC or Fidelity Investments is an American multinational financial services corporation one of the largest mutual fund and financial services groups in the world. It was founded in 1946 and serves North American investors. Fidelity Ventures is its venture capital arm...

, and Douglas Foy, who had served as president of the Conservation Law Foundation

Conservation Law Foundation

Conservation Law Foundation is an environmental advocacy organization based in New England. Since 1966, CLF's mission has been to advocate on behalf of the region's environment and its communities. CLF's advocacy work takes place in four program areas: Clean Energy & Climate Change, Clean Water &...

, and they and other cabinet members and advisors were picked more on managerial abilities than on partisan affiliation. Romney gave them broad authority over new what he called "super-secretariats".

Romney and Healey both pledged to forego their official salaries for the length of their terms.

Fiscal policy

Romney refused to sign an anti-tax pledge put forth by Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist

Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...

's Americans for Tax Reform

Americans for Tax Reform

Americans for Tax Reform is an advocacy group and taxpayer group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax...

while campaigning for office.
In 2002, Romney presented a plan to balance the budget without raising taxes.
Romney also favored gambling as a way to help balance the Massachusetts deficit.

Upon entering office, Romney faced a $3 billion deficit. Facing an immediate fiscal shortfall, the governor asked the state legislature for emergency powers to make "9C" cuts to the fiscal year 2003 budget. Romney cut spending and restructured state government.
Romney, in concert with the legislature, created new fees, doubled fees for court filings, professional regulations, marriage licenses, and firearm licenses, and increased fees for many state licenses and services. In all 33 new fees were created, and 57 fees were increased, some that had not been adjusted in over a decade. Some of these fees included were service fees, such as charging businesses more to put up signs. Opponents said the reliance on fees sometimes imposed a hardship on those who could least afford them. The state of Massachusetts raised $501 million in new income in the first year of the fee increase program, more than any other state in the nation that year (New York was second with $367 million. Nine other states raised fees and fines by more than $100 million).
Romney increased the state gasoline delivery fee by 2 cents per gallon, generating about $60 million per year in additional revenue; raises the state gas tax to a total of 23 cents, compared to the national average of 28.6 cents per gallon.

Romney also implemented a "New Market Tax Credit" and extended the "Investment Tax Credit" during 2003.

A windfall in capital gains tax revenue caused by a previously enacted capital gains tax increase reduced the deficit by $1.3 billion. Romney approved $128 million in tax changes such as sales tax from purchases on the Internet
and raised another $181 million in additional business taxes in the next two years; businesses called these changes tax increases, but Romney defended them as the elimination of "loopholes". Over his full term, over $300 million of such loopholes were closed. The loophole actions, fueled by Romney's sense of rectitude and in the face of conservative and corporate critics, initially won plaudits from legislators as an example of political courage, before Romney backed away from further closings towards the end of his term.
The state also cut spending by $1.6 billion, including $700 million in reductions in state aid to cities and towns. In response, cities and towns became more reliant on local revenue to pay for municipal services and schools. This had the effect of causing property taxes to rise by 5%, their highest level in 25 years in Massachusetts.
In 2005, Romney signed legislation allowing local commercial property taxes to be raised, which resulted in $100 million more in property taxes from local business owners.

In 2002, the state passed a capital gains tax increase that was scheduled to take effect on May 1 of that year.
A taxpayers' group challenged the law in court, arguing that a tax increase must take effect at the beginning or end of a year, and in 2005 the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in their favor.
The court held that the tax increase was effective beginning January 1, 2002, which effectively imposed an additional $200 million in "retroactive" state taxes on gains realized during the first four months of 2002.
In response, the state legislature passed a bill moving the effective date of the tax increase to January 1, 2003.
Romney signed the legislation and praised the legislature for its actions.

Massachusetts finished 2004 with a $700 million surplus and 2005 with a $500 million surplus.
Romney would state, "We have successfully closed the largest deficit in our state's history without raising taxes," although others disputed the claim on the grounds that usage fees had gone up.

With the help of a reviving economy, Romney and the state legislature were able to balance the state budget and replenish the state's "rainy day fund" through government consolidation and reform. As a result of the fiscal turnaround, Romney repeatedly pushed the state legislature to roll back the state income tax from 5.3% to 5.0% (Massachusetts has a flat income tax

Flat tax

A flat tax is a tax system with a constant marginal tax rate. Typically the term flat tax is applied in the context of an individual or corporate income that will be taxed at one marginal rate...

).
He also proposed a "tax-free shopping day", a property tax relief for Seniors,
and a manufacturing tax credit.

In 2006, the Massachusetts legislature approved a budget that required spending $450 million from the rainy day fund. Even though the state had collected a record-breaking amount of tax revenue in the fiscal year, the funds were needed to cover the increased spending.
Romney vetoed the transfer of funds from the contingency account and used his emergency "9C" cuts to balance the state budget. "One of the primary responsibilities of government is keeping the books balanced," said Romney "The problem here is not revenues; the problem is overspending. The level of spending which we're looking at would put us on the same road to financial crisis and ruin that our commonwealth has been down before." The veto was overturned by the legislature, and all 250 of Romney's 2006 vetoes were overturned by the Massachusetts Legislature.

Upon leaving office, Romney argued that he had left the state with a large budget surplus, after he cut hundreds of millions of dollars of programs. However, successor Governor Deval Patrick

Deval Patrick

Deval Laurdine Patrick is the 71st and current Governor of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, Patrick served as an Assistant United States Attorney General under President Bill Clinton...

said there would be a $1 billion deficit if existing service levels are carried over into the next year's budget. It would be Patrick who would propose the spending level of that budget.
The combined state and local tax burden in Massachusetts increased during Romney's governorship but still was below the national average..
According to an analysis by the Tax Foundation

Tax Foundation

The Tax Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank founded in 1937 that collects data and publishes research studies on tax policies at the federal and state levels. The organization is broken into three primary areas of research which are the Center for Federal Fiscal Policy, The and the...

, that per capita burden was 9.8 percent in 2002 (below the national average of 10.3 percent), and 10.5 percent in 2006 (below the national average of 10.8 percent).

Economic growth and jobs

Job growth increased at a 1.3 percent rate during Romney's term, ranking Massachusetts 47th out of 50 states in that statistic during that time. The state's unemployment rate fell during the same period, from 5.6 to 4.7 percent.

Economists generally agree that the power of a governor to affect economic growth and job statistics is much more limited than is the perception.

Health care

Romney was at the forefront of a movement to bring near-universal health insurance coverage to the state, after a business executive told him at the start of his term that doing so would be the best way he could help people and after the federal government, due to the rules of Medicaid

Medicaid

Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...

funding, threatened to cut $385 million in those payments to Massachusetts if the state did not reduce the number of uninsured recipients of health care services. Despite not having campaigned on the idea of universal health insurance, Romney decided that because people without insurance still received expensive health care, the money spent by the state for such care could be better used to subsidize insurance for the poor.
After positing that any measure adopted not raise taxes and not resemble the previous decade's failed "Hillarycare" proposal, Romney formed a team that beginning in late 2004 came up with a set of proposals more innovative than an incremental one from the Massachusetts Senate

Massachusetts Senate

The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the state...

and more acceptable to him than one from the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Massachusetts House of Representatives

that incorporated a new payroll tax. In particular, Romney successfully pushed for incorporating an individual mandate

Health insurance mandate

A health insurance mandate is either an employer or individual mandate to obtain private health insurance, instead of a National Health Service or National Health Insurance.-United States:...

at the state level. U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Edward M. Kennedy, who had made universal heath coverage his life's work, gave Romney's plan a positive reception, which encouraged Democratic legislators to work with it. The effort eventually gained the support of all major stakeholders within the state, and Romney helped break a logjam between rival Democratic leaders in the legislature.

On April 12, 2006, Romney signed legislation that mandates that nearly all Massachusetts residents buy or obtain health insurance coverage or face a penalty (up to approximately $2000 for 2008 or equal to half of the lowest cost premium offered) in the form of an additional income tax assessment. The bill established a regulatory authority called the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority to implement the law and establish insurance standards. For residents below certain income thresholds and without adequate employer insurance, state subsidies were established, by using funds previously designated to compensate for the health costs of the uninsured.
Legislation, effective on July 1, 2007, requires health insurance for all state residents, provided a plan is available to the individual that is deemed affordable according to Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority.
In Massachusetts, a roughly $800 million fund known as the "uncompensated care pool" was used to partially reimburse hospitals for expenses related to treating uninsured patients. The fund's revenue comes from an annual assessment on employers, insurance providers and hospitals, plus contributions of state and federal tax dollars. Governor Romney's plan redirects money from this fund to subsidize health insurance costs for low-income residents of Massachusetts. The Romney Administration consulted with Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

professor Jonathan Gruber to study the state's population and health care needs. They determined that there was enough money in the "free care pool" to implement the Governor's plans, but that it would require more people to buy health insurance at full price in order to pay into the subsidized fund.

The legislature amended Romney's plan, adding a Medicaid

Medicaid

expansion for children and imposing an assessment on firms with 11 or more workers who do not offer health coverage. The assessment is intended to equalize the contributions to the free care pool from employers that offer and do not offer coverage. The General Court also rejected Romney's provision allowing high-deductible health plans.

Romney vetoed eight sections of the health care legislation, including a $295-per-person fee on businesses with 11 employees or more that do not provide health insurance. Romney also vetoed provisions providing dental and eyeglass benefits to poor residents on the Medicaid program, and providing health coverage to senior and disabled legal immigrants not eligible for federal Medicaid. However, the state legislature overrode all of the vetoes.

Romney said of the measure overall, "There really wasn't Republican or Democrat in this. People ask me if this is conservative or liberal, and my answer is yes. It's liberal in the sense that we're getting our citizens health insurance. It's conservative in that we're not getting a government takeover." The law was the first of its kind in the nation and became the signature achievement of Romney's term in office. When Romney's official portrait was made for the Massachusetts State House

Massachusetts State House

The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the "New" State House, is the state capitol and house of government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is located in Boston in the neighborhood Beacon Hill...

, the composition included a leather binder with a medical seal representing the healthcare legislation.

(Within four years, the law had achieved its primary goal of extending coverage: in 2010, 98.1 percent of state residents had coverage, compared to a national average of 83.3 percent. Among children and seniors the 2010 coverage rate was even higher, at 99.8 percent and 99.6 percent respectively.)

Education

During the 2002 campaign, Romney had proposed to institute full-day kindergarten in schools that were performing below standards and to introduce merit pay to teacher.

As governor, Romney proposed $8 billion in bonds be authorized in order to empty the waiting list for school building projects. Instead, the legislature authorized only $1 billion in bonds and allocated the rest from sales tax receipts.

In 2004, Romney and the legislature established and funded the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship Program to reward the top 25 percent of Massachusetts high school students with a four-year, tuition-free scholarship

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

to the state's public universities or colleges. He has also drafted other education reforms, including the recruitment of 1,000 skilled math and science instructors, bonuses of as much as $15,000 a year for top-performing teachers, and new intervention programs for failing schools.
Romney's plan would allow state governments to take control of underperforming schools after three years instead of the six-year period that is now in place. Regarding the achievement gap in public education, Romney has said, "I really believe that the failure of our urban schools and, in some cases our suburban schools, to help minority students achieve the levels that are necessary for success in the workplace is the civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

issue of our time." Romney has also advocated for a nationwide focus on education to close the "excellence gap with the rest of the world".
As governor, Romney proposed mandatory parental preparation courses. He also supported English immersion classes for students that cannot speak English and opposed bilingual education

Bilingual education

Bilingual education involves teaching academic content in two languages, in a native and secondary language with varying amounts of each language used in accordance with the program model.-Bilingual education program models:...

.

During his 2002 campaign, Romney had said he backed age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education

Sex education

Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...

in public schools. In 2005, he accepted federal funding to a faith-based organization to teach abstinence-only education in public schools. While Romney said such programs would supplement rather than replace existing ones, opponents feared that funding pressure would lead to schools dropping comprehensive programs for the freely available abstinence-only ones.

During Romney's tenure as governor, Massachusetts' per capita funding for public higher education decreased from $158 to $137, and in national rank, per capita state expenditures changed from 48th to 47th.
In July 2005, Romney proposed $200 million in funding for University of Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts

This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

capital projects. The governor's capital budget included $50 million earmarked to repair the crumbling parking garage and foundation of the UMass Boston campus. The Massachusetts legislature declined to vote on the bond bill needed to fund the projects.
Romney also vetoed a retroactive pay raise for unionized employees of state and community colleges. Romney voiced his opposition to retroactive pay increases for public employees although the raises had previously been agreed to then vetoed by his predecessor.

Romney successfully pressured William Bulger to resign as President of the University of Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts

This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

(UMass) on September 1, 2003. Bulger said that his resignation was the result of "a calculated political assault" on him, largely by the governor. William Bulger came under pressure from Romney and others to resign after he invoked his Fifth Amendment

Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...

right not to testify when he was subpoena

Subpoena

A subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...

ed by a Congressional committee to testify about his brother, James J. "Whitey" Bulger

James J. Bulger

James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, Jr. is a former organized crime figure from Boston, Massachusetts.Local folklore depicted Bulger as a Robin Hood-style social bandit dedicated to protecting the neighborhood and its residents. Bulger allegedly masterminded a protection racket targeting drug kingpins...

, one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

The FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...

. Romney, who had called for Bulger's resignation and the elimination of the UMass presidency as a cost-cutting move, denied that he had been personally targeting the former state senate president. "The decision was not a political calculation or a personal one," Romney said in February 2003, after unveiling his plan to eliminate the president's job. The Governor's aides stressed that he had not been personally targeting Bulger, saying such interpretations of Romney's actions were cynical. "I think everybody should be taken at their word," spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said.

On September 5, 2006, Romney denounced Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

of Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

for inviting former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to speak at the school. Romney ordered all state agencies to boycott the visit by refusing to provide state police escorts and other service typically given to former heads of state.

Same-sex marriage

When he ran for governor in 2002, Romney declared his opposition to same-sex marriage. "Call me old fashioned, but I don't support gay marriage nor do I support civil union," said Romney in an October 2002 gubernatorial debate. He also voiced support for basic domestic partnership

Domestic partnership

A domestic partnership is a legal or personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by marriage nor a civil union...

benefits for gay couples. Romney won the endorsement of the Log Cabin Club

Log Cabin Republicans

The Log Cabin Republicans is an organization that works within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians in the United States with state chapters and a national office in Washington, D.C...

of Massachusetts, a Republican gay-rights group, who in 2005 accused him of reneging on his 2002 campaign commitment to support some benefits for gay couples. He also opposed an amendment, then before the General Court, that would have banned same-sex marriage and outlawed all domestic partnership benefits for gay couples. When campaigning in 2002, Romney's stated position was that "All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual orientation. While he does not support gay marriage, Mitt Romney believes domestic partnership status should be recognized in a way that includes the potential for health benefits and rights of survivorship."

Romney strongly opposed same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

during his governorship. He emphasized his desire to "protect the institution of marriage" while denouncing discrimination against gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

s and lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

s. "Like me, the great majority of Americans wish both to preserve the traditional definition of marriage and to oppose bias and intolerance directed towards gays and lesbians," Romney said in 2004.

On June 2, 2006, Romney sent a letter to each member of the U.S. Senate urging them to vote in favor of the Marriage Protection Amendment

Federal Marriage Amendment

The Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res. 56 was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman...

. In the letter, Romney stated that the debate over same-sex unions is not a discussion about "tolerance", but rather a "debate about the purpose of the institution of marriage". Romney wrote, "Attaching the word marriage to the association of same-sex individuals mistakenly presumes that marriage is principally a matter of adult benefits and adult rights. In fact, marriage is principally about the nurturing and development of children. And the successful development of children is critical to the preservation and success of our nation."

Romney's letter was his second effort to persuade the U.S. Senate to pass the Defense of Marriage Amendment

Federal Marriage Amendment

The Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res. 56 was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman...

. On June 22, 2004 he testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...

, urging its members to protect the traditional definition of marriage. "Marriage is not an evolving paradigm," said Romney, "but is a fundamental and universal social institution that bears a real and substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of all of the people of Massachusetts."

Romney attempted to block implementation of the decision

Goodridge v. Department of Public Health

Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d 941 , was a landmark state appellate court case dealing with same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. The November 18, 2003, decision was the first by a U.S...

of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...

that legalized same-sex marriage in 2003. Romney criticized the decision as harming the rights of children:
In 2004, the Massachusetts General Court

Massachusetts General Court

The Massachusetts General Court is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the Colonial Era, when this body also sat in judgment of judicial appeals cases...

addressed the issue of gay marriage before the implementation of the Goodridge decision. During a constitutional convention

Constitutional convention (political meeting)

A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...

, the predominately Democratic legislature approved an amendment that would have banned gay marriage and established civil unions. An initial amendment offered by House Speaker Thomas Finnernan to merely ban gay marriage without a provision for civil unions was narrowly defeated. The compromise amendment needed to be approved in a second constitutional convention to be held a year later before it could appear on a state election ballot. The amendment was voted down in the subsequent convention and never appeared on a ballot put before voters of Massachusetts.

Romney reluctantly backed the compromise amendment, viewing it as the only feasible way to ban gay marriage in Massachusetts. "If the question is, 'Do you support gay marriage or civil unions?' I'd say neither," Romney said of the amendment. "If they said you have to have one or the other, that Massachusetts is going to have one or the other, then I'd rather have civil unions than gay marriage. But I'd rather have neither."

In June 2005, Romney abandoned his support for the compromise amendment, stating that the amendment confused voters who oppose both gay marriage and civil unions. The amendment was defeated in the General Court

Massachusetts General Court

(legislature) in 2005 when both supporters of same-sex marriage and opponents of civil unions voted against it. In June 2005, Romney endorsed a petition effort led by the Coalition for Marriage & Family that would ban gay marriage and make no provisions for civil unions. Backed by the signatures of 170,000 Massachusetts residents the new amendment was certified as a valid referendum on September 7, 2005 by Massachusetts Attorney General

Massachusetts Attorney General

The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The office of Attorney-General was abolished in 1843 and re-established in 1849. The current Attorney General is Martha Coakley....

Thomas Reilly

Thomas F. Reilly is an American attorney and politician who served as the 45th Massachusetts Attorney General. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents....

. The measure needs the approval of fifty legislators in two consecutive sessions of the Massachusetts General Court

Massachusetts General Court

to be placed on the ballot. The Massachusetts legislature however declined to vote on the initiative in two consecutive sessions held on July 12, 2006 and November 9, 2006. Romney responded by joining former Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn

Raymond Flynn

Raymond Leo Flynn , also known as Ray Flynn, served as Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts from 1984 until 1993. He was later appointed United States Ambassador to the Holy See by President Bill Clinton.-Early life:...

and eight others to file a complaint with the state's Supreme Judicial Court to force the legislature to vote on the proposed amendment. The petition also asked the court to instruct the Massachusetts Secretary of State to place the referendum on the 2008 ballot if the legislature failed to vote on the amendment by January 2, 2007.

On the first day that same-sex marriages came into effect in Massachusetts, May 17, 2004, Romney instructed town clerks not to issue marriage licenses to out-of-state gay couples, except for those announcing their intention to relocate to the Commonwealth by requiring the enforcement of the "1913 law

1913 law

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 207, Section 11, more commonly known as the 1913 law, is a Massachusetts law enacted in 1913 and repealed in 2008.-History and text:...

" (General Legislation, Part II, Title III, Chapter. 207 (Certain Marriages Prohibited), Sections 11, 12, & 13), which prohibits non-residents from marrying in Massachusetts if the marriage would be void in their home state. The law had not been enforced for several decades. Some legal experts have argued that the original purpose of the legislation was to block interracial marriage

Interracial marriage

Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...

s and have noted that the law was enacted due to a public scandal over Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson (boxer)

John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...

's interracial marriages. Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly

Thomas Reilly

Thomas F. Reilly is an American attorney and politician who served as the 45th Massachusetts Attorney General. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents....

has stated that there in no evidence to support that claim. Those who agree with him claim that the law is meant to respect the laws of other states and has not been enforced simply because there was not reason.

The Massachusetts legislature in 1913 passed the three laws denying marriage rights to persons domiciled out-of-state who came to Massachusetts to circumvent their own states' anti-miscegenation marriage laws. Romney was criticized for reviving a Jim Crow era piece of legislation that had avoided being nullifed by the U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

's 1967 Loving v. Virginia
Loving v. Virginia
Loving v. Virginia, , was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v...

decision due to it not saying anything about race. However, in March 2006, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared the statute legal under the state's constitution.
Romney declared the "ruling is an important victory for traditional marriage". He also stated, "It would have been wrong for the Supreme Judicial Court to impose its mistaken view of marriage on the rest of the country. The continuing threat of the judicial redefinition of marriage, here and in several other states, is why I believe that the best and most reliable way to preserve the institution of marriage is to pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution."

Romney subsequently released a statement in support of a proposed amendment to the Massachusetts state constitution defining marriage as existing only between "one man and one woman" in order to overrule the court's decision. His statement said, "the people of Massachusetts should not be excluded from a decision as fundamental to our society as the definition of marriage."

In addition to consistently rejected same-sex marriage, there was a rhetorical shift in emphasis during his time as governor, culminating with Romney rarely talking about protecting gays from bias and instead characterizing himself as a conservative stalwart in the battle against same-sex marriage and in support of heterosexual families.

Gun control

According to his 2002 gubernatorial campaign, Romney was a supporter of the federal assault weapons ban

Federal assault weapons ban

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was a subtitle of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a federal law in the United States that included a prohibition on the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic firearms, so called "assault weapons"...

. Romney also believed "in the rights of those who hunt to responsibly own and use firearms." On July 1, 2004, Romney signed a permanent ban on assault weapons. "Deadly assault weapons have no place in Massachusetts," Romney said, at a bill-signing ceremony with legislators, sportsmen's groups and gun safety advocates. "These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people." The law extended a temporary measure that had been in effect since 1998 and covered weapons such as the AK-47

AK-47

The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...

, Uzi, and MAC-10

MAC-10

The MAC-10 is a highly compact, blowback operated machine pistol developed by Gordon B. Ingram in 1964.-Design:The M-10 was built predominantly from steel stampings...

. The same law also modified some other aspects of general firearms licensing regulations.

Massachusetts Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes

The Massachusetts Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes

Massachusetts Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes

The Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes was an agency created by then-Governor William Weld, linking representatives of the state police and local law enforcement agencies with community advocates to further the state government's commitment to eradicating bias-motivated crime in the...

was an agency created by Governor William Weld

William Weld

William Floyd Weld is a former governor of the US state of Massachusetts. He served as that state's 68th governor from 1991 to 1997. From 1981 to 1988, he was a federal prosecutor in the United States Justice Department...

, coordinating representatives of the state police and local law enforcement agencies with community advocates to further efforts to prevent and prosecute bias-motivated crime in Massachusetts. The Task Force was given permanent status by Weld's successor, Governor Paul Cellucci

Paul Cellucci

Argeo Paul Cellucci is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 69th Governor of Massachusetts and US Ambassador to Canada.-Early life and career:...

in 1998. In 2003 Romney vetoed a bill funding hate crimes prevention, after which he impounded money previously approved by his predecessor, Governor Jane Swift, for a bullying prevention program. The author of the bullying prevention program was Don Gorton

Don Gorton

Don Gorton is a Massachusetts attorney who served as a state tax judge from 1997 to 2008.-Biography:Gorton has been an advocate for LGBT equality in Boston for over 25 years. He is perhaps best known as the longtime Co-Chair of the Governor's Task Force on Hate Crime, to which he was appointed by...

, who had been appointed chair of the Task Force on Hate Crimes by Weld in 1991. The anti-bullying program attracted the ire of right-wing Christian activists. Romney's actions against the Task Force preceded his efforts to dismantle same-sex marriage, which was legalized in Massachusetts in 2004 by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Death penalty

In December 2004, Romney announced plans to file a death penalty bill in early 2005.
The bill, filed April 28, 2005, sought to reinstate the death penalty in cases that include terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

, the assassination of law enforcement officials and multiple killings. Romney's legislation required the presence of scientific evidence such as DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

to sentence someone to death and a tougher standard of "no doubt" of guilt for juries to sentence defendants. This differs from the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard used in traditional criminal cases. The legislation called for a pool of certified capital case lawyers to ensure proper representation for the accused and allowed jurors who do not personally support the death penalty to serve in the guilt phase of the trial. Romney said; "In the past, efforts to reinstate the death penalty in Massachusetts have failed. They have failed because of concerns that it would be too broadly applied or that evidentiary standards weren't high enough or proper safeguards weren't in place. We have answered all those concerns with this bill." The Massachusetts House of Representatives

Massachusetts House of Representatives

defeated the bill 99-53.

Drunk driving: Melanie's Bill

In May 2005, Romney presented a proposal to the Massachusetts General Court

Massachusetts General Court

to crack down on repeat drunk drivers. Massachusetts had some of the weakest drunk driving laws of any state in the country, and the state was losing $9 million annually from its highway budget because existing laws were not in compliance with federal standards. Romney called his proposal "Melanie's Bill" in honor of Melanie Powell, a 13-year-old who was killed in 2003 by a repeat drunk driver while walking to the beach with friends. The bill included provisions that gave prosecutors greater power to go after repeat offenders with increased penalties. It also increased license suspensions, raised sentencing guidelines and required repeat drunk drivers to install ignition-interlock devices

Breath alcohol ignition interlock device

An ignition interlock device or breath alcohol ignition interlock device is a mechanism, like a breathalyzer, installed to a motor vehicle's dashboard...

in their vehicles. The state House Judiciary Committee removed many of the bill's provisions and sent the reduced version to an eventual conference committee. Romney criticized the "watered down" bill, which he said reflected the interests of defense lawyers, and sent the bill back to legislators with amendments to restore some of the original provisions. On October 28, 2005, Romney signed the amended version of the bill, which approved two of Romney's three amendments and rejected Romney's provision for increasing penalties for motorists who refuse to take a breathalyzer

Breathalyzer

A breathalyzer or breathalyser is a device for estimating blood alcohol content from a breath sample...

test. Eleven months after the enactment of Melanie's Law, arrests of repeat drunk drivers decreased by half, and the number of drivers agreeing to breathalyzer tests increased by more than 18 percent.

Increase crime rates

In July 2006 Romney offered the assistance of his state police force to municipalities dealing with increased crime rates. Romney's offers were rejected by local officials. Officials from Boston Police unions complained that "if state aid hadn't been cut in recent years, then the city's police force might be staffed adequately to handle the crime surge."

Pardons and commutations

Romney was the first governor in modern Massachusetts history to deny every request for a pardon or commutation during his four years in office. He denied 100 requests for commutations and 172 requests for pardons, including the request from a soldier serving in Iraq to be pardoned for a conviction at age 13 involving a BB gun.

Abortion

In March 2002 during his run for governor, Romney told the Lowell Sun
Lowell Sun
The Sun is a daily newspaper based in Lowell, Massachusetts, United States, serving towns in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the Greater Lowell area and beyond. Its circulation is about 50,000...

that, "On a personal basis, I don't favor abortion. However, as governor of the commonwealth, I will protect a woman's right to choose under the laws of the country and the commonwealth. That's the same position I've had for many years." Also, during the 2002 governor's race, Romney's platform stated, "As Governor, Mitt Romney would protect the current pro-choice status quo in Massachusetts. No law would change. The choice to have an abortion is a deeply personal one. Women should be free to choose based on their own beliefs, not the government's." Romney promised to "preserve and protect a woman's right to choose" and declared "I will not change any provisions in Massachusetts' pro-choice laws".

Romney has said that his views on abortion have "evolved" and "changed" since 2002 such that he now considers himself a "pro-life governor" who wishes "the laws of our nation could reflect that view".

Romney says that his views on abortion were drastically altered on November 9, 2004 after discussing stem cell research with Douglas Melton, a stem cell researcher at Harvard University

Harvard University

. The Harvard Stem Cell Institute was planning research that would have involved therapeutic cloning. The Governor says that Melton declared that the research "is not a moral issue because we kill the embryos at 14 days." "I looked over at Beth Myers, my chief of staff, and we both had exactly the same reaction, which is it just hit us hard," recalled Romney "And as they walked out, I said, 'Beth, we have cheapened the sanctity of life by virtue of the Roe v. Wade mentality.' And from that point forward, I said to the people of Massachusetts, 'I will continue to honor what I pledged to you, but I prefer to call myself pro-life.'" Melton disputes Romney's account of the meeting, declaring "Governor Romney has mischaracterized my position; we didn't discuss killing or anything related to it ... I explained my work to him, told him about my deeply held respect for life, and explained that my work focuses on improving the lives of those suffering from debilitating diseases." In a press conference video in May 2005 however, Romney when asked about Massachusetts abortion laws stated "I have indicated that as governor, I am absolutely committed to my promise to maintain the status quo with regards to laws relating to abortion and choice, and so far I've been able to successfully do that," indicating that the governor continued to hold a pro-choice position post-November 2004.

Romney has said he has kept his campaign promises. Romney vetoed an emergency contraception

Emergency contraception

Emergency contraception , or emergency postcoital contraception, refers to birth control measures that, if taken after sexual intercourse, may prevent pregnancy.Forms of EC include:...

bill in July 2005, claiming that allowing it to pass into law would violate his "moratorium" on changes to the abortion laws. He vetoed a bill on pro-life grounds that the bill would expand access to emergency contraception

Emergency contraception

Emergency contraception , or emergency postcoital contraception, refers to birth control measures that, if taken after sexual intercourse, may prevent pregnancy.Forms of EC include:...

in hospitals and pharmacies. He returned from his vacation house in New Hampshire to veto the bill, because the Lt. Govorner, Kerry Healey

Kerry Healey

would have signed the bill into law. The legislature voted overwhelmingly to overturn the veto and pass the bill into law on September 15, 2005. At the time of the veto, Romney said he does not support abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

except in cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is threatened. He opposed the U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

decision in Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...

, criticizing "'one size fits all' judicial pronouncements". The following year, Romney's spokesperson has also indicated that were he the governor of that state, he would sign into law the controversial South Dakota abortion law, but include exceptions for cases of incest or rape, which the South Dakota law excludes.

In 2005, Romney's top political strategist, Michael Murphy, told National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...

that the Governor had "been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly." Murphy later clarified explained that he "was discussing a characterization the governor's critics use."

Stem cell research

During his 2002 campaign, Romney had expressed broad support for embryonic stem cell research, and said he would lobby President Bush (who the year before had banned most federal funding for such research) to support it. In particular, Romney stated that he supported the use of surplus embryo

Embryo

An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...

s from fertility clinic

Fertility clinic

Fertility clinics are staffed medical clinics that assist couples, and sometimes individuals, who want to become parents but for medical reasons have been unable to achieve this goal via the natural course...

s for stem-cell research. In early 2005, Romney announced his position on therapeutic cloning for the first time, saying he was against it, but was still in favor of research on unused embryos from fertility treatments. Per this stance, he vetoed a Massachusetts bill to fund stem-cell research because the legislation allowed such cloning of human embryos. "I am not in favor of creating new human embryos through cloning," said Romney, calling the practice "a matter of profound moral and ethical consequence". Romney also opposed the legislation because of its assertion that life does not begin until an embryo is implanted in a uterus. "It is very conceivable that scientific advances will allow an embryo to be grown for a substantial period of time outside the uterus," Romney said in an interview with the Boston Globe. "To say that it is not life at one month or two months or four months or full term, just because it had never been in a uterus, would be absurd." The state legislature overrode Romney's veto, with many legislators feeling that stem-cell research will be important in the future to the state's biotech industry.

Military and veterans' benefits

In February 2005, Romney filed legislation to increase benefits for Massachusetts National Guard members.
Working with the state legislature, Romney developed the "Welcome Home Bill" which provides guardsman with reduced life-insurance premiums and free tuition and fees at Massachusetts universities and community colleges. The bill also increases daily state active-duty pay rate from $75 to $100, and increases the death benefit paid to families of Guard members killed in the line of duty from $5,000 to $100,000. Additionally, the "Welcome Home Bill" creates a $1,000 bonus for Guardsman and reservists called to active duty in Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

and Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

since the September 11, 2001 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

and a $500 bonus for those who were activated for duty elsewhere. The legislation provides a $2,000 benefit for Gold Star spouses and increases the Gold Star parents' benefit from $1,500 to $2,000. High school diplomas will also be granted to veterans who dropped out to enlist in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Korea or Vietnam wars. Romney signed the bill into law on Veterans Day 2005.

In a November 3, 2006 press release, Romney stated that the account that funds the insurance benefits created in the "Welcome Home Bill" faced a deficit of $64,000. The Massachusetts legislature

Massachusetts General Court

was out of session at the time of the shortfall. According to the press release, Romney transferred money from the governor's office budget to cover the deficit.

Working with the legislature, Romney developed legislation to provide tax exemptions to disabled veterans and benefits to families of fallen and missing soldiers. Romney signed the Massachusetts Military Enhanced Relief Individual Tax (MERIT) Plan into law on August 14, 2006. The bill increases property tax exemptions for disabled veterans and grants spouses of veterans killed or missing in action since September 11, 2001 full property tax exemptions for five years. After five years the spouses receive an annual $2,500 exemption under the legislation.

Romney was also the first governor in Massachusetts history to appoint a secretary of veteran's affairs to his cabinet.

Romney's efforts to assist Massachusetts servicemen were recognized by the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve, which presented him with the Pro Patria Award and the 2006 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award

Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award

The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award is the highest recognition given by the U.S. Government to employers for their support of their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve...

Housing

As governor, Romney signed off on a substantial increase in funding for the construction of thousands of new housing units, especially in urban or downtown areas. A goal of this was to counteract the state's otherwise high housing prices.

Minimum wage

As a candidate for governor in 2002, Romney proposed indexing the minimum wage

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

to inflation and raising the hourly pay for the state's lowest-paid workers from $6.75 an hour to $6.96 an hour starting January 2004, saying, "I do not believe that indexing the minimum wage will cost us jobs. I believe it will help us retain jobs."

In July 2006, the legislature passed a bill increasing the minimum wage to $8.00 an hour, and he vetoed it. "I have spent hours reading a wide array of reviews on the minimum wage and its impact on the economy, and there's no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs, and the loss of jobs is at the entry level," said Romney when he vetoed the bill. He proposed an increase to $7.00/hour (which represented a 25 cents an hour increase over the existing rate.) The legislature voted on July 31, 2006 to override his veto (uanimously in the Senate) thus setting the minimum wage at the higher amount.

Illegal Immigration

Romney vetoed a bill in 2004 that would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain in-state tuition rates at state colleges if they graduated from a Massachusetts high school after attending it for at least three years and signed an affidavit affirming that they intended to seek citizenship. Romney argued that the bill would cost the state government $15 million and that Massachusetts should not reward illegal immigration. A study by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation predicted that the legislation would generate over $5 million in state revenues; the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform disputed this conclusion. In 2005, the bill was reintroduced to the House and brought to a vote on 11 January 2006. The legislation was defeated 96-57.

On December 2, 2006, it was reported that a landscaping company Romney contracted to perform yard work at his home had been suspected of employing illegal immigrants. Romney said that he was unaware of the immigration status of the company's employees. A year later it was reported that the same company was still using illegal immigrants to work on Romney's estate. After this second report, Romney fired the landscape company.

Later in December 2006, Romney signed an agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...

(ICE) agency that would have allowed Massachusetts State Police troopers to arrest and seek deportation of suspected illegal immigrants they encounter over the course of their normal duties. Under the terms of the agreement, a group of 30 troopers would have received specialized training allowing them to question and detain suspected illegal immigrants, charge them with a violation of immigration law and place them in removal proceedings.

The executive order pertaining to state police was consistent with Section 287(g) of federal immigration law. Section 287(g) is a program of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Division C of vastly changed the immigration laws of the United States.This act states that if an immigrant has been unlawfully present in the United States for 180 days but less than 365 days...

that deputizes state and local law enforcement personnel to enforce immigration matters.

The agreement was never implemented because governor-elect Deval Patrick

Deval Patrick

, who had expressed strong opposition to the agreement before it was signed, revoked it a month later when he was sworn in.

Environment

Governor Romney supported regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through voluntary measures He issued a 72-point Climate Protection Plan in May 2004. His staffers spent more than $500,000 negotiating the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a regional initiative by states and provinces in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada regions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions...

(RGGI), which Romney praised in November 2005, saying, "I'm convinced it is good business." As plan details were being worked out, Romney pushed for a cap on fees charged to businesses who exceed emission limits citing concerns of increased consumer energy costs. He stated: "New England has the highest energy rates in the country, and RGGI would cost us more." This ongoing disagreement eventually led Romney, in December, 2005, to pull out of RGGI and Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri quickly followed suit. On the day he announced he would not run for reelection, Romney reversed pulled out of RGGI, spurring accusations that he switched his stance in order to gain support from industry groups for a presidential campaign. In January 2007, Romney's successor in office, Deval Patrick

Deval Patrick

announced the decision to overturn the withdrawal from the RGGI. Patrick estimated the cost of participation at $3 per year per household for electricity, and an implementation year of 2009.

In November 2006, Romney cut $7 million from the maintenance budget for the state's parklands, which are the sixth largest state park system in the country. Romney also cut $154,590 for environmental law enforcement, $288,900 for cleaner water in communities, and $181,886 for hazardous waste cleanup. In a 2004 press release Romney claimed, "Costs are down, but environmental enforcement is up".
Romney successfully eliminated the Metropolitan District Commission by merging it with another agency into the Department of Conservation and Recreation

Department of Conservation and Recreation (Massachusetts)

The Department of Conservation and Recreation is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. As of May 24, 2011 the Commissioner of the DCR is Edward M. Lambert, Jr...

.

Romney opposed the Cape Wind

Cape Wind

The Cape Wind Project is an approved offshore wind farm, on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound off Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, proposed by a private developer, Cape Wind Associates, the brainchild of Jim Gordon and a Limited Liability Company set up as a joint business venture...

offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound

Nantucket Sound

Nantucket Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on the west. Between Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard it is connected to the...

. Romney stated that the proposed Cape Wind project would depress property values and damage the local economy, which depends on tourism; he has described the area as pristine and a "national treasure". Cape Wind supporters accused Romney and federal lawmakers of "back-door deal-making" in an attempt to kill the project. Conversely, elected leaders in Massachusetts have accused Cape Wind developers of receiving a "back-room deal" for the 24 square miles (62.2 km²) of state controlled property to be used in the proposed project. However, Romney voiced support for wind projects in Princeton, Hull and other Massachusetts towns.

In August 2006, Romney unveiled an energy plan that called for improved energy-efficiency requirements for state buildings, increased use of biofuels in the state automobile fleet, the creation of a prize-rewards lottery for consumers who buy energy-efficient equipment, and proposals for wind and biomass power-generation for state facilities.

On December 19, 2005 the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup Professionals convened and discussed a public records request for communications between the Board and "Willard (Mitt) Romney". The board released documents pertaining to the appointment of board members by the governor, and "No one could think of any other categories of records."

Transportation policy and the "Big Dig"

During his campaign for governor, Romney proposed merging the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the government agency that managed the massive "Big Dig" project in Boston, with the Massachusetts Highway Department

Massachusetts Highway Department

The Massachusetts Highway Department was the former name of the highway department in the United States Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1991 until it became the highway division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation on November 1, 2009...

. Under Massachusetts law the Turnpike Authority is an independent agency that does not report to the governor. After being elected Governor, Romney called for the merger in 2003 and 2004. The Massachusetts legislature rejected Romney's call for consolidation. However the legislature did approve making the head of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation the head of the Turnpike Authority.

Following the discovery of leaks in the I-93 tunnel, Romney called for the resignation of Matthew Amorello, the Chairman and CEO of the Turnpike Authority. Amorello refused to resign and in June 2005, Romney asked the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to grant him the authority to fire Amorello. The request was denied, as the court declined to hear his case. In July 2006 a woman was killed when a section of the I-90 roof collapsed on her car. Citing continued mismanagement of the project, Romney once again called for Amorello's dismissal and initiated legal proceedings to oust the chairman. Despite calls from Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly

Thomas Reilly

Thomas F. Reilly is an American attorney and politician who served as the 45th Massachusetts Attorney General. He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents....

, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, Senate President Robert Travaglini, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino

Thomas Menino

Thomas Michael "Tom" Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor...

, the chairman of both the house and senate transportation committees and the editorial boards of the Boston Globe and Herald, Amorello once again refused to step aside. Romney responded by filing emergency legislation to wrest control of the inspection of the Big Dig tunnel system from the Turnpike Authority. The Massachusetts State Legislature overwhelmingly approved the legislation, which Romney signed on July 14, 2006. The Department of Transportation began immediate inspections of the I-90 tunnel and pledged a "stem to stern" review of the entire Big Dig Tunnel System. Meanwhile, Romney continued his effort to fire Amorello. He scheduled a termination hearing for the Chairman for July 27, 2006. Facing increasing pressure from associates and colleagues, Amorello resigned, effective August 16, 2006, one and a half hours before the hearing was to take place. "A new era of reform and accountability at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has begun," said Romney after receiving the resignation. "Patronage will be replaced by professionalism, and secrecy will be replaced by openness." Romney has pledged a "nationwide" search for a replacement to lead the Turnpike Authority and the Big Dig.

Since the collapse, the Securities and Exchange Commission has informally investigated whether Massachusetts Turnpike Authority bonds misled investors. The SEC has requested documents relating to the Big Dig from the Turnpike Authority, the state Treasurer's office, the highway department and the governor's executive transportation office.

Emergency responses

In May 2006, heavy rains produced flooding in Massachusetts. Romney declared a state of emergency, mobilized the Massachusetts National Guard,, called for volunteers and charitable donations to help residents, and asked President Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

to declare the flooded area a major disaster area.. Romney was criticized by local politicians when he vetoed $5.7 million in state funding for flood control in Peabody

Peabody, Massachusetts

Peabody is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population is about 53,000. Peabody is located in Boston's North Shore suburban area.- History :...

six months after the town was flooded in April 2004. After Peabody again suffered flooding in May 2006, Romney announced that he supported spending $2 million of state money on flood control for the town.

State politics

Romney's relationship with the state legislature were somewhat fraught. He insisted that discussions with executive branch appointees always go through the governor's office, which left legislators annoyed. Furthermore, he withheld giving the legislators permanent authority to create new committees or to grant committee chairs pay increases. Romney was disinclined towards making political deals with the legislature, saying:

I ran on the platform of cleaning up the mess on Beacon Hill, [and] reform means changing the way things are. Legislatures by and large, despite the political titles, are conservative. They don't want to change the way things work. So of course it's going to be a battle."

In turn, in 2004 the legislature passed a measure over his veto that took away the governor's ability to appoint a body to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate and instead set to schedule an early special election. This was in large part an attempt to keep a seat in Democratic hands should Senator John Kerry

John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

's campaign in the United States presidential election, 2004

United States presidential election, 2004

The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...

, succeed. (This measure would get reversed in 2009 following the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, so that a now-Democratic governor could quickly appoint a vacancy fill.) In any case, Romney did not think much of Kerry, labelling him "a very conflicted person" who would be "a most unfortunate person to have as president of the United States." By comparison, Romney expressed a measure of admiration for his one-time electoral rival, saying "Senator Kennedy is a workhorse."

In the Massachusetts Senate elections, 2004

Massachusetts Senate elections, 2004

Elections to the 185th Massachusetts Senate were held on November 2, 2004. The Democrats picked up one former Republican seat. The 185th Massachusetts General Court began on January, 2005, and consisted of 34 Democrats and 6 Republican State Senators....

and Massachusetts House election, 2004, Romney campaigned heavily to try to recruit Republican candidates to contest seats. He financed radio and television convincement campaigns on issues such as tuition for children of illegal immigrants. However, his efforts were for naught. Democrats gained two seats in the state House and one seat in the state Senate. Romney subsequently made a conscious decision to focus less on the state Republican Party and more on bipartisanship at the state level and his own interests at the national level.

Romney issued nearly a thousand vetos as governor, the large share of which of which were overturned by one or the other of the state houses. Late in Romney's term, his vetos issued began to annoy Republicans in the legislature and he lost support among them too. Nevertheless, Romney defended the practice:

"I know how to veto. I like vetoes. I've vetoed hundreds of spending appropriations as governor."

Last year of term

On December 14, 2005, Romney announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term as governor, fueling speculation about a run for the White House in 2008 in the face of rising dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in the state.

In 2006, his last year as governor, Romney spent all or part of 212 days out of state, laying the foundation for his anticipated presidential campaign.
The cost of the Governor's security detail for out-of-state trips increased from $63,874 in fiscal year 2005 to a cost of $103,365 in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2006. Romney's use of state troopers for security during his campaign trips was criticized by former Governor Michael Dukakis

Michael Dukakis

Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...

, who never traveled with state troopers during his 1988 presidential run, and Mary Boyle of Common Cause

Common Cause

Common Cause is a self-described nonpartisan, nonprofit lobby and advocacy organization. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican former cabinet secretary under Lyndon Johnson, as a "citizens' lobby" with a mission focused on making U.S. political institutions more open and...

who complained that "[t]he people of Massachusetts are essentially funding his presidential campaign, whether they like it or not." A Romney spokesman noted that Romney did not accept a salary while he was Governor and that he paid for his personal and political travel, while the superintendent of the State Police pointed out that the Governor never requested the security and that the security detail followed the Governor on all trips. In some cases his statements made while campaigning elsewhere in the country came back to affect him in Massachusetts, such as when he caused offense by using the term "tar baby

Tar baby

The Tar-Baby is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br'er Rabbit in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. The more that Br'er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes...

" in Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

in reference to the potential pitfalls of taking responsibility for the Big Dig.

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey

Kerry Healey

became the Republican nominee for the 2006 Massachusetts gubernatorial race

Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 2006

The Massachusetts gubernatorial election of 2006 was held on November 7, 2006. Former US Assistant Attorney General Deval Patrick was elected to a four-year term, from January 4, 2007 until January 6, 2011. In his first elected office, Patrick is the second African-American governor in the United...

and subsequently lost overwhelmingly to Democratic

Massachusetts Democratic Party

The Massachusetts Democratic Party is the state affiliate of the United States Democratic Party in the U.S. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The state party chairman is John E...

nominee Deval Patrick

Deval Patrick

.

At the end of Romney's term, several of his staffers purchased the hard drives from their state-issued computers, and emails were deleted from the server. Under the Massachusetts Public Records Law

Massachusetts Public Records Law

Massachusetts Public Records Law is a law in Massachusetts detailing what kinds of documents are actually public records. It is a state law that is linked with the federal Freedom of Information Act, which was passed by Lyndon B...

, the emails did not have to be made public but did have to be preserved. Terry Dolan, who worked as director of administration under Romney and several other governors, has said that scrubbing the servers was a common practice but that selling the hard drives was not. When news of the actions became widely known in 2011, a Romney spokesperson said that the purchase of the computer equipment "complied with the law and longtime executive branch practice." Aides to Romney's three predecessors as governor said that they did not know of any prior sales of hard drives to staffers. When questioned on the subject in 2011, Romney responded that he had not wanted the information to be available to "opposition research teams".

Romney's term ended January 4, 2007. Romney filed papers to establish a formal exploratory presidential campaign committee on his next-to-last day in office as governor.

Approval ratings as governor

Date	Approval	Disapproval	Notes
Nov. 18, 2003	66%	33%	Before Supreme Court ruling on Gay Marriage.
Nov. 27, 2003	45%	39%	After taking a stance against Gay Marriage.
July 2004	48%	?
Jan. 2005	56%	?
March 2005	52%	37%	After rumors of running for president.
April 2005	43%	?
March 2006	46%	47%	After announcing not running for re-election.
May 2006	46%	52%
June 2006	39%	56%
Nov. 2006	34%	65%	End of governorship.

Romney had a difficult time maintaining his approval ratings in office as governor of liberal Massachusetts in the wake of the legalization of gay marriage

Same-sex marriage

and the fall of Bush's approval ratings. For the majority of Romney's term however, his approval ratings were in positive territory. Romney's frequent out-of-state travel also contributed towards declining ratings towards the end of his term.

After Democrat Deval Patrick

Deval Patrick

succeeded Romney as Governor of Massachusetts

Governor of Massachusetts

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...

, he undid several of Romney's initiatives, including those related to budget cuts, policing of illegal immigration, and the state's automobile insurance system. Patrick ran into his own set of difficulties with the public. Patrick's approval rating was 33% in April 2009 and 49% said Romney did a better job as governor than Patrick.

Cabinet and administration

The Romney Cabinet
OFFICE	NAME	TERM

Governor Governor of Massachusetts The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...	Mitt Romney	2003 2007
Lt. Governor	Kerry Healey Kerry Healey Kerry Murphy Healey was the 70th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. She served from 2003 to 2007 with Governor Mitt Romney. She was the 2006 Republican nominee for Governor of Massachusetts, losing to Democrat Deval Patrick in November 2006...	2003 2007

Commonwealth Development	Douglas I. Foy Douglas I. Foy Douglas I. Foy is a founder and CEO of Serrafix, a strategic consulting firm focused on environmental, energy, transportation, and climate change issues. Among other matters, Serrafix is helping dozens of cities across America -- ranging in size from New York to Pittsfield -- develop and... Andrew Gottlieb Andrew Gottlieb -Career:He has written sitcoms , feature films , daytime serial , and books .Currently he is an Executive Producer of Z Rock....	2003 2006 2006 2007
Transportation*	Daniel A. Grabauskas John Cogliano John Cogliano John Cogliano is a former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation and Chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. He was appointed to the position by Governor Mitt Romney in May 2005...	2003 2005 2005 2007
Housing & Community Development*	Jane Wallis Gumble	1996 2007
Environmental Affairs*	Ellen Roy Herzfelder Stephen Pritchard Robert W. Golledge, Jr.	2003 2005 2005 2006 2006 2007
Economic Development	Robert Pozen Robert Pozen Robert C. Pozen is an American financial executive with a strong interest in public policy. He is the former chairman of MFS Investment Management, the oldest mutual fund company in the United States... Ranch C. Kimball	2003 2004 2004 2007
Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation**	Beth Lindstrom Janice S. Tatarka	2003 2006 2006 2007
Business & Technology**	Barbara Berke Renee Fry Deborah Shufrin	2003 2005 2005 2006 2006 2007
Workforce Development**	Jane C. Edmonds	2003 2007
Health and Human Services	Ron Preston Timothy R. Murphy	2003 2004 2005 2007
Elder Affairs	Jennifer Davis Carey	2003 2007
Labor	Angelo R. Buonopane Gayl Mileszko	2003 2005 2006 2007
Administration & Finance	Eric Kriss Eric Kriss Eric Arthur Kriss is a musician and business executive who served as Secretary of Administration and Finance in Massachusetts Governor Romney's cabinet , and as assistant A&F secretary under Governor William Weld... Thomas Trimarco	2003 2005 2005 2007
Veterans' Services	Thomas G. Kelley Thomas G. Kelley -External links:* at the Pritzker Military Library...	2003 2007
Public Safety & Homeland Security	Edward A. Flynn Edward A. Flynn Edward A. Flynn , is an American law enforcement official, currently serving as Chief of the Milwaukee Police Department. Edward Flynn began his law enforcement career rising through the ranks of the Jersey City, New Jersey Police Department, serving as officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and... Robert C. Haas Robert C. Haas Robert C. Haas is an American law enforcement official who is the current Poilce Commissioner for the Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department...	2003 2006 2006 2007

* reports to Commonwealth Development

** reports to Economic Development

Source: www.mass.gov

External links

Profile of Mitt Romney from The Official Website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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