The Boston Globe
Wednesday, February 13, 2002
Grossman ad attacks foes on tax hikes
By Frank Phillips and Rick Klein
Globe Staff
Seeking to gain some traction in the governor's race,
Democrat Steve Grossman yesterday unleashed an aggressive campaign ad that scolds his primary rivals for advocating tax
hikes.
Grossman is dipping into his personal fortune and campaign
account to blanket the state's media markets and position himself as a businessman who won't do things the old way on
Beacon Hill.
"They think balancing the budget means raising your taxes,"
Grossman's ad says as black and white images of Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, and
US Labor Secretary Robert Reich appear on the screen. All three support freezing the
income tax rollback.
"I don't think putting our hands right back in the taxpayers' wallet - which is what my
opponents propose - is the right approach," Grossman said at a news conference introducing
the ad. "This is about defining a fundamental difference between myself and my opponents."
But Grossman appears to have come to this position on taxes
recently. In an interview with the Globe three weeks ago, Grossman said that although he does not support delaying the
income tax rollback "at this time," he thought the matter should be at least considered
seriously. He criticized Acting Governor Jane Swift for her refusal to discuss tax increases.
"It puts her in an unacceptable straightjacket which is
going to ultimately harm the very people she is there to serve," Grossman said in the interview. "It would be fiscally
irresponsible for me to take that issue off the table."
The ad also does not mention that Grossman favors a
50-cent-per-pack cigarette tax increase to pay for health care.
Colleen McGee, Grossman's campaign manager, said his
"position has solidified" after studying the fiscal issues facing the state. "Steve has had time to look at the budget and
has offered up a plan to address the deficit," she said. "And that plan does not include freezing
the rollback."
With tax revenues plummeting, the state faces a deficit this
year of at least $400 million, and could face a budget gap next year of as much as $2 billion.
Grossman's media campaign seeks to starkly distinguish
himself from his Democratic rivals, not only on taxes, but on the kind of experience most useful to a governor. The head of a
family-run envelope company, he stresses that he is an outsider with private-sector skills and
attempts to link his opponents to the fiscal problems on Beacon Hill. He would not comment
on how much he is paying for the ad blitz, but aides suggested it is close to $400,000.
"This is just the first round," said top Grossman campaign
official.
The ad briefly shows a picture of an out-of-business sign on
a storefront, followed by an image of the State House, at which point the male announcer says: "Politics as usual got us
here."
"I want to take people down a very different path than the
three opponents who are mentioned in this ad," Grossman told reporters. He did not target a fifth candidate, former
state senator Warren Tolman, in the ad because Tolman also opposes delaying the tax
rollback.
His tough message is a sharp break from what has so far been
a congenial five-way race for the Democratic nomination for governor. But after spending $2 million and coming up short
in the Feb. 2 party caucuses, Grossman finds himself lagging in the polls and battling rumors
that he may drop out. He has already put $1 million of his own funds into his bid.
The ad campaign will likely put those reports to rest as he
stakes a position to the right of the other three on taxes. Grossman, who campaigned against the tax cut question that
former governor Paul Cellucci put on the ballot, says that the other Democrats' support for a
temporary halt in the rollback is in effect a tax hike. He said the voters' will should be
honored. "This ad creates a fundamental choice," he said.
His opponents immediately questioned the honesty of his ad's
message. Dwight Robson, O'Brien's campaign manager, said Grossman is not "being truthful" and is misleading voters
about his position, noting his endorsement of a cigarette tax increase.
Mark Longabaugh, Reich's campaign manager, said the ad
reflects Grossman's struggle to keep his candidacy afloat after trailing Reich, a late entry into the race, as well as O'Brien
and Birmingham in the delegate hunt.
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The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 14, 2002
Grossman stakes out his own ground
by Wayne Woodlief
Ah, the Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign. The ground
keeps shifting beneath the candidates' feet.
With new independent-minded, hard-edged TV ads, businessman
Steve Grossman is climbing back into the thick of the race for the Democratic nomination on the age-old issue of
tax relief.
His 30-second spots, airing in the state's major media
markets for two weeks, lend a tough, decisive new image to Grossman after setbacks he suffered in the Feb. 2 caucuses.
Senate President Tom Birmingham and Treasurer Shannon
O'Brien led the voting that day for state convention delegates and newcomer Robert Reich, pulling in new people all over
the state, stole the show.
But now Grossman is taking dead aim at all three - effectively, too, portraying them as
knee-jerk types whose first reaction in a fiscal crisis is "putting our hands right
back in the taxpayers' wallet."
Like the man himself, Grossman's ads grow on you. They're
not flashy, just forthright and direct.
See, Birmingham, O'Brien and Reich favor a delay in the
final phase of a rollback in the income tax rate that the state's electorate overwhelmingly passed in 2000. The ad shows
the three, side by side, and declares, "They think balancing the budget means raising your taxes."
As a former state party chairman, Grossman opposed the tax
cut in debates during the 2000 campaign. But he said this week, at the preview of his ads, "The people have spoken." And
he will honor their wishes.
He dismissed - decisively and accurately - suggestions that
his rivals really weren't for a tax increase, just for delaying a cut. That's a semantic quibble, and Grossman nailed it hard.
"If I am sworn in as governor" in 2003, Grossman said, he'll
insist that the tax rate fall to a flat 5 percent, as it is scheduled to do next year. (That's what it was before
"temporary" tax increases in 1989-1991 that lasted a decade.)
Yet if Birmingham, Reich or O'Brien is elected, the rate
likely would remain at the current 5.3 percent. "I call that a tax increase," Grossman said.
Direct. Plain-spoken. Almost Trumanesque in its pithiness.
We may be seeing a new Steve Grossman and a rebirth of a campaign....
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