MASSACHUSETTS: Romney as governor

FROM 2005
Romney as governor was inept, mostly running for pResident and out of state 
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Romney seeks $1b for state projects

Proposal targets DNA lab, colleges

By Michael Levenson, Globe Correspondent  |  May 7, 2005

Governor Mitt Romney has proposed that the state borrow nearly $1 billion for a range of construction projects, including $125 million to rebuild the backlogged State Police crime lab in Sudbury, $15 million to improve the chief medical examiner's office in Boston, and $300 million to improve public colleges, including the University of Massachusetts.

The sweeping bond bill follows complaints by state officials that cramped, unsafe, and inadequate facilities are hampering the public mission at some of the state's most critical facilities. In Sudbury, officials have said for years that the lab is too small to accommodate enough staff to quickly process DNA samples from crime scenes and suspects.

The issue came into sharp focus last month after it was disclosed that authorities took more than eight months to process a DNA sample that led to the arrest of a trash hauler in the 2002 slaying of Christa Worthington, a Cape Cod fashion writer who was found stabbed and sexually assaulted in her home. The lab has barely enough space to hold its current roster of 12 DNA analysts, some officials and legislators said.

''It's going to be a big step forward to mitigate what has been really a substandard operation," said Eric A. Kriss, Romney's administration and finance secretary.

The chief medical examiner's office has labored with its own problems in recent years. State and federal investigators are probing allegations that the office sent the wrong set of eyeballs out for testing during a 2003 autopsy and that it misidentified a fire victim's body, which was later cremated. Last month, Romney installed a new leader in the office, Dr. Mark A. Flomenbaum, a former New York City medical examiner who aided in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

''This is an expansion, and it's related to the crime lab and the need to bring in new technology and more space," Kriss said. ''It's part of an ongoing program to upgrade those facilities significantly."

The bill, which adds up to a total of $950 million, does not specify details about each project and instead leaves it to each state agency to devise an appropriate building plan. The bill now heads to the Legislature, where lawmakers will have a chance to review and amend the proposal. Romney, in a letter to lawmakers, asked for their speedy action on the measure ''to avoid an interruption in construction."

Legislators are likely to add their own pet projects, which would cause the bottom line to rise. Fiscal watchdogs have expressed concern already about the state's high level of debt, and Romney has sought to address that. When he announced his $31 billion transportation bond bill earlier this year, he said he would aggressively pursue federal funding of about $16 billion.

He also called for a shift in financing of the MBTA, so that the authority focuses on repairing and maintaining its existing system, while the state would assist in expansions.

The governor also promised to hold the line on debt. ''There will be no new massive borrowings," Romney declared at the time.

Kriss said the bond bill announced Thursday is part of a five-year capital plan Romney has drawn up after much careful thought, and it will not overburden the state. Each year, he said, the state issues about $1.3 billion in bonds.

Romney is also including:

$150 million for state and community colleges and an addition $150 million for the University of Massachusetts. Administrators, students, and faculty members have complained about the condition of campus buildings. At UMass-Boston during the past week, more material from a deteriorating parking garage fell from its roofl. Kriss said administrators would decide how the campus money would be spent.

$72 million in grants for public libraries in cities and towns.

$250 million for computer and information technology in state offices.

$25 million for the National Guard to upgrade its facilities. 

Romney's changing' places'

By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist  |  May 31, 2005

THIS ISN'T about abortion, this is about trust.

Governor Mitt Romney recently told USA Today he is ''in a different place" on the subject of abortion. He declined to elaborate, but the ''place" he is in is a confusing one and has been for a long time.

As a recent article in the conservative American Spectator concluded: ''As the 2008 GOP nomination contest approaches, many Americans will be watching to see if Mitt Romney is another abortion waffler, or if he has just been holding back all these years." The Spectator labels Romney prochoice, but the author expresses the hope that Romney's position was nothing more than a ruse to win election in liberal Massachusetts.

If that is what he did, what does that say about Romney?

However he tries to position himself now, each time Romney sought office in Massachusetts, he went to great lengths to express support for abortion rights. When he ran unsuccessfully for US Senate in 1994, he pledged to keep abortion ''safe and legal in this country." When he ran for governor in 2002, he said he supported Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, and promised not to change the state's abortion policies.

Indeed, an AP story published in October 2002 in the heat of his battle with Democrat Shannon O'Brien was headlined: ''O'Brien, Romney tout abortion rights credentials." Countering O'Brien's endorsement by Massachusetts pro-choice groups, Romney announced that he was endorsed by the New York-based Republican Pro-Choice Coalition. He mentioned his mother, Lenore Romney, and her commitment to abortion rights when she ran for the US Senate in 1970. His running mate, Kerry Healey, told the AP: ''There isn't a dime of difference between Mitt Romney's position on choice and Shannon O'Brien."

In 2002, Romney also submitted a signed questionnaire to the Massachusetts chapter of NARAL Pro-choice.

According to executive director Melissa Kogut, Romney ''answered most of the questions in a manner indicating commitment to support reproductive choice." The group endorsed O'Brien, but Romney ''was close, I have to say." Adds Kogut: ''I think the message he gave to prochoice voters was, 'rest-assured, I'm going to be there for you.' "

However, as Massachusetts now knows, the Romney message changes, depending on his venue of the moment and the political office of interest to him. In July 2001, Romney wrote to the Salt Lake Tribune, saying, ''I do not wish to be labeled prochoice." At the time, there was speculation he was considering a run for office in Utah, where a prochoice label is not helpful. Much of what he said on the subject of abortion during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign was an effort to distance himself from the words published in the Utah newspaper.

Today, as Romney positions himself for a national campaign, a prochoice position is something, once again, to shed, not tout. He is playing up his personal opposition to abortion in out-of-state speeches. He removed a reference to Roe before signing an annual proclamation celebrating access to birth control. He declined to publicly back a measure expanding access to emergency contraception, even though he said he supported that goal during the 2002 campaign. He did the same rightward repositioning on gay marriage and stell cell research.

It is obvious Romney moderated his views to run in Massachusetts. It is obvious he used Massachusetts as a short-term launching pad for a national campaign. It is obvious he is now running against the state he said he wanted to lead, because running against the people who elected him is the perceived path to a bigger prize.

The GOP mastered the art of exposing shifting positions of presidential hopefuls from Massachusetts. Romney cannot expect to get through serious primary battles without answering tough questions from opponents about his flip-flops on abortion. But for now, he is cruising the country, giving speeches and interviews in an effort to erase what he said to win office in Massachusetts. No one outside the Bay State is pressing him to explain what is now clear, at least not yet.

When Romney wanted to be governor, he was willing to say whatever he deemed necessary to win office. Now that he wants to be a GOP presidential or vice presidential contender, he will say whatever he deems necessary to achieve that goal.

Voters, beware. The subject matter in this instance may be abortion. But the issue is not whether Romney is conservative enough, it is whether he is honest enough.