The Boston Globe
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
Romney's timing won it
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Staff
Shannon O'Brien had everything going for her: an open seat
in a heavily Democratic state. An unpopular Republican incumbent. A running mate with a bottomless bank account. A
"gender gap" that worked in her favor. A solidly united Democratic Party. The endorsement
of virtually every Massachusetts labor union. The political muscle of Ted Kennedy
and Tom Menino. The star power of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
If anyone was poised to break the Republican lock on the
corner office, O'Brien was. So why is Mitt Romney today the governor-elect of Massachusetts?
Because Romney spent the last two weeks of the campaign
driving home the dangers of a one-party state. And because O'Brien kneecapped herself in the last debate.
For months, Romney softpedaled his Republican label and
played up his ability to cooperate with Democrats. But just in time for the home stretch he woke up to the fact that not being
a Democrat was his trump card.
He began warning voters about the "Gang of Three" - the
Democratic speaker of the House, the Democratic Senate president, and the would-be Democratic governor. He reminded
them that if O'Brien won, every branch of state government would be in the grip of the
Democratic Party. That turned one of O'Brien's greatest strengths - the seamless unity of
Massachusetts Democrats - into a liability.
Massachusetts votes Democratic. It doesn't vote monopoly.
But no less important was the last debate.
Its timing was crucial - one week before the election, just
when tens of thousands of undecided and previously uninterested voters were tuning into the campaign for the first time.
Thanks to Tim Russert and his questions about abortions for 16-year-olds and the death
penalty for the D.C. serial killer, what those nonideological voters saw was a doctrinaire
Democrat and a mainstream Republican taking sharply different positions
on gut social issues. They saw Romney repeatedly pledge to resist higher taxes, while O'Brien repeatedly
refused to answer the question. They contrasted his staunch support for English
immersion - a no-brainer for the vast majority of them - with her dogmatic opposition.
At the moment when it mattered most, on the issues that drew
attention, Romney came across as a common-sense conservative, O'Brien as an unwavering liberal. As Bill Weld and
Paul Cellucci could have told him, that's how Republicans carry Massachusetts.
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
Legislature first hurdle for victor
By Stephanie Ebbert
Globe Staff
Mitt Romney made his name as a chief executive officer
guiding long shot business propositions, but as he takes on his riskiest job yet, leading the state through ongoing fiscal
turmoil, his first task will be winning over a board of directors - the Legislature - that strongly
favored his opponent.
For the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature, dealing with
a Republican governor is nothing new. But when the House and Senate leaders make the familiar trek to the
governor's office, they'll find a very different sparring partner behind the
mahogany desk - a man far less breezy than Bill Weld, less of a dealmaker than Paul Cellucci, and less
accommodating than Jane Swift.
Romney will be the first governor in years to have no
public-sector experience, and the difference in stewardship is expected to be dramatic. There will be far fewer holdovers from
the Swift administration than usual when the governorship passes within the same party. He
has promised to draw deeply on private-sector experience in building his administration.
But as Romney moves to Beacon Hill, the question on the
minds of everyone under the golden dome is whether the man will reshape the institution or the institution will reshape the
man.
"There hasn't been a modern-day CEO elected governor. There
have been some people with business credentials but nothing like a venture capitalist," said Lou DiNatale, a political
analyst at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. "Romney will approach it in a very
businesslike fashion and set up a blue-ribbon commission of outside consultants who will
take a look at government and attempt to fundamentally reorganize it. Then he'll realize you
need to pass a dozen laws to make it happen, and then the politics begins."
The politics begin, first and foremost, with the budget,
which he must introduce by February. With an anticipated revenue drop of $1.5 billion from the current spending plan -
and only $300 million left to tap in the state's "rainy day" fund - he will have to speedily balance the
books.
"Along with appointing a team, it will become the all-consuming issue of the next three
months," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation. "If they aren't already aware they'll quickly discover that there are no easy
choices."
Widmer anticipates Romney will appoint task forces of
financial wizards to comb the budget for savings, particularly in health care and human services. Though Romney crusaded on a
no-tax platform, political observers expect it will prove impossible to right the ship without
raising revenue - in part because his much-touted plans to reorganize the government
can't be completed for at least one fiscal year.
"He's got to try to do it by consolidating government,
squeezing out waste and inefficiency, and then he'll have to find out how to save the other $1.8 billion," DiNatale said.
"My guess is, it will include some kind of combination of taxes and service cuts. Whether he calls them
that or doesn't, he's going to need them."
The next challenge will be navigating a budget through a
Democratic-dominated and often recalcitrant Legislature. Romney inveighed against the entrenched power of longtime
legislators - especially the iron-fisted House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran -
during his campaign and offered no signs of wanting a partnership.
But opinions are divided on whether Romney, as CEO, will
seek to make businesslike compromises or simply assume that the other players will fall in line, as after a takeover.
If he chooses the latter, many State House watchers believe
he could be outgunned by the more experienced Finneran, who commands a veto-proof majority that gives him equal or
greater authority than the governor in lawmaking.
"Finneran will make him eat crow, and if it comes to pass
there has to be a tax increase - and I think eventually there will be - Romney's going to have to own it the same way George
Bush had to own it after the 1988 election," said Jeff Berry, a political scientist at Tufts
University. "On the surface they're going to kiss and make up but on the next level,
there's going to be a fight for the leadership of the state."
That daily arm wrestling for power might frustrate Romney,
who is accustomed not only to getting his way, but to collecting praise for unilateral decisionmaking. As a venture
capitalist, Romney took over struggling companies and poured in money to make them stronger - a
recipe likely to lead to accolades.
It may not be as easy to win allies in the contentious
Massachusetts political atmosphere, but political scientists say the structure of two-party governance can often be
productive. Berry pointed to the inroads that President Bush made when he took over the Texas governor's
office and befriended Democratic lieutenant governor Bob Bullock, who presided over the
Senate, and House Speaker Pete Laney.
"It's counterintuitive, but there's good political science
research that shows when you have divided government, it can be very productive," Berry said. "It's not a prescription for
gridlock. Skill and teamwork can actually emerge, even after a bitter campaign."
Romney, whose appeal reached into Democratic and independent
corners, recognized the need for teamwork in his acceptance speech. Though he did not appeal directly to the
Legislature, he offered to cooperate with Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and
Greens, to create opportunities for all citizens.
"This dream can become reality if we combine our resources
and our resolve together," Romney said. "The only gate that bars the way is divisiveness. When we unlock that gate, we
unlock our futures and the future of our children. And I want to tell you tonight that that gate
will be unlocked for we will be a state united for the common good."
But some constituencies may be frozen out. Union leaders -
some of whom had embraced Cellucci's 1998 campaign - demonized Romney, casting him as a corporate raider and
driving the field organization for his Democratic opponent, Shannon O'Brien. As
such, they are unlikely to be embraced by Romney, or to try to bridge the gap themselves.
"I'm sure we will figure out a way to broach discussions
with him, but if he's like Jane Swift, who never brokered conversations with us, it's going to be a difficult row to
hoe," said Kathy Cassavant, AFL-CIO treasurer. "If he really does value working people and what's
important to them, then he will try to broker a relationship with labor."
Romney knowingly alienated teachers' unions with plans to
end public school teachers' tenure, introduce merit pay, and fire teachers in failing schools. He was more generous to
other labor leaders, but they still resisted his overtures: When Romney put his Democratic
opponents off their game in midsummer by proposing to link the minimum wage to inflation -
a proposal more typically raised on the other side of the aisle - AFL-CIO
President Robert J. Haynes rejected it as posturing.
As governor, Romney could score points by advancing that
agenda immediately, defanging the Democrats, and meeting them in the middle on one of their key initiatives, Berry predicts.
"He can establish a reputation for himself by, if not taming
labor, making friends with it," Berry said. "In terms of business [leaders who oppose the measure], where are they going
to go? Back to the Democrats?"
Romney should have no trouble attracting talent from the
private sector to staff his administration, but must be careful to inject enough political savvy to smooth feathers and
reach out to other needed constituencies.
Berry, for one, says the well-educated Romney, who earned
simultaneous degrees from Harvard law and business schools, is going to need a new education - a master's of Beacon
Hill.
"The CEO style doesn't work as well because, when you have
the other party in power, it's all about negotiations and coalition-building. So the imperial, my-way-or-the-highway,
I'm-the-last-one-to-decide type of leadership is unconducive to getting the job done," said
Berry. "He's a smart guy and he's going to understand after Finneran whips him into shape
that there are certain things he has to do to get things done."
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The Boston Herald
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
Finneran could be stronger than ever
by Jules Crittenden
House Speaker Thomas Finneran will be a stronger State House
power than ever when he meets Gov.-elect Mitt Romney, with his hold on the House largely unchallenged yesterday
and a win in his anti-Clean Elections referendum, observers say.
"The Legislature is in the ascendancy," said Lou
DiNatale, a senior fellow at the McCormack Institute for Public Policy at
the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
"You've got to argue that Finneran has won this round. His
leadership was not significantly challenged. He lost just one lieutenant," DiNatale said, referring to the primary election
loss of Assistant Majority Whip Maryanne Lewis (D-Dedham).
"He put a question on the ballot that looks like it will
provide the rationale that legislators want to repeal Clean Elections," DiNatale said. "Finneran will have delivered for
the institution he leads."
Democratic political consultant Michael Goldman, citing
Finneran's veto-resistant majority and his history of dominating weak Republican governors, said that with Romney
elected, "Finneran is once again the governor."
Despite some Democratic losses, there were no signs of
significant upsets to threaten the Democratic supremacy of the Legislature.
Early results showed Republicans Jerzy Jachimczyk of
Southbridge and Lewis Evangelidis of Holden unseating Democratic incumbents. Unenrolled candidate William Lantigua
unseated Rep. Jose Santiago of Lawrence. A newly districted seat in an area previously held by Rep.
Ruth Provost, (D-Sandwich) was taken by Susan Williams Gifford (R-Wareham),
while Provost was defeated in her new district by Jeffrey Davis Perry, (R-Sandwich).
But the shifts were considered unlikely to bring Republicans
close to the 54 votes they would need to uphold a Romney veto - they currently hold only 22 seats.
Three of Finneran's most vocal critics are leaving the
Legislature - Christopher Hodgkins (D-Lee) who is not seeking re-election; Francis Marini (R-Hanson), who has taken a
judgeship; and John Slattery (D-Peabody), who lost his run for lieutenant governor.
Others remain such as Jim Marzilli (D-Arlington), and he
will be joined by Robert K. Coughlin (D-Dedham), who beat Lewis in the primary and went on to defeat his Republican
opponent last night.
In the Senate, only 15 of the 40 senators faced challenges
and all appeared to be moving toward easy victories. The one candidate for an open seat, Jarrett Barrios of Cambridge, is
assured the seat vacated by departing Senate President Thomas Birmingham after his
gubernatorial primary loss.
Observers say a shortage of strong challengers shows the
fundamental weakness of Massachusetts Republicans, which had lost 16 House seats and 10 Senate seats since 1990.
Joseph O'Brien, spokesman for the Clean Elections campaign,
acknowledging a win on the Clean Elections issue by Finneran, said, "Unfortunately, it means for the moment it's status
quo.
"It allows him to continue to have unchecked power," O'Brien
said. "The reality is, Speaker Finneran's power is derived from the fact that he runs the House. He will continue to
dominate."
DiNatale said, "He (Finneran) will let a new governor assert
(himself) in the initial stages ... then the politics begins," DiNatale said.
DiNatale said that Sen. Robert Travaglini (D-East Boston),
who is expected to be elected Senate president, is likely to be the least powerful of the three Beacon Hill leaders.
"He'd be the last one to the table," DiNatale said.
But Goldman countered that Travaglini may be in a position
to play both sides to his advantage.
"He may be the power broker," Goldman said.
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
CLEAN ELECTIONS
Voters reject question on public-funding
By Rick Klein
Globe Staff
[ . . . ]
Efforts to defeat the question were helped by a torrent of
campaign contributions from big corporations, including nearly $400,000 infused in the last two weeks from companies
including Anheuser-Busch, Deloitte & Touche, EMC Corp., NStar, Raytheon,
and Verizon. House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, one of the law's fiercest critics, helped opponents of
the law raise money.
Clean Elections supporters were outspent 23-1, and much of
the anti-Question 3 money went toward a television advertising campaign that featured money going up in flames.
Despite the trouncing on the ballot question, the law's
supporters cited some other election results as cause for optimism last night. Voters in 11 House districts - including
Finneran's - were asked a separate question on the issue, one that was worded differently, and they
affirmed their support for Clean Elections in at least 10 of 11, with the last one too
close to call. In addition, 18 districts featured a question that asked voters whether they would like
Finneran to remain in place as speaker, and while results were still being tallied
last night, supporters of the "Overthrow Finneran" campaign were confident of success.
"When people are asked a fair question, they still support
Clean Elections," O'Brien said. "They're simply not going to embrace a question that's been designed to deceive the voters."
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
In tally, a rejection of one-party rule
By Brian C. Mooney
Globe Staff
In losing to Mitt Romney, state Treasurer Shannon P. O'Brien
became the fourth consecutive Democrat to fail in a run for governor. Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 3-to-1, she
held the party's apparatus intact and avoided the rampant defections that crippled the last
three nominees, and O'Brien still lost by a significant margin.
The Green Party's Jill Stein undoubtedly drained a bit of
support from the party's left wing, but O'Brien's defeat is convincing evidence that the once-vaunted Democratic apparatus
- labor unions, urban machines, and hard-core activists - have no hold on the suburban
independent voters who are now the center of political gravity in Massachusetts....
At the bottom of the ballot, voters sent a mixed message on
referendums.
Four years ago, Bay Staters by a 2-to-1 ratio launched
public campaign funding with the "clean elections" law. Yesterday, they did a U-turn, and voted 3-to-1 against the
measure.
Is there a disconnect here? ...
Bay State voters, in choosing Romney, who vowed not to raise
taxes, passed up a chance to lighten their tax burden directly. A Libertarian Party-inspired effort to repeal the state income
tax went down yesterday but by a far smaller margin than most pre-election polls had
indicated. There was a send-'em-a-message quality to the vote, though most chose not
to hop aboard the magic carpet ride of a radical initiative that would have vaporized 40 percent
of the state's revenue stream....
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
INCOME TAX
Repeal barely beaten back
Advocates eye future success
By Corey Dade
Globe Staff
Surprising even supporters, voters came close to passing a
proposal to eliminate the state income tax, sending a strong signal to Beacon Hill about distaste for future tax increases
as a way to solve the budget crisis.
With 89 percent of the precincts reporting last night,
support for Question 1 captured 47 percent of the turnout, outperforming the projections by about 7 percentage points.
Sponsors of Question 1, led by Libertarian gubernatorial
candidate Carla Howell, had hoped for 40 percent in order to assemble a critical mass of public opinion that might dissuade
the Legislature from passing a tax increase at the end of the year.
"It goes to show that you can't trust polls," Howell said
late last night shortly after conceding her loss in the governor's race. "It also demonstrates that the reporting of
how big government must solve everyone's problems is clearly not representative of what all the
people believe."
Eliminating the state income tax would take an estimated $9
billion annually out of state coffers and force an immediate 40 percent slash in state spending - a centerpiece of Howell's
"Small Government is Beautiful" platform. As a result, advocates said, extra money would
flow into the market and create between 300,000 and 500,000 jobs, more than enough to
completely wipe out unemployment in the state....
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, November 6, 2002
Democrats maintain firm hold, with a few surprises
By Chris Tangney
Globe Correspondent
Though this election featured the fewest contested legislative races in more than 20 years,
reinforcing the notion that House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran has a firm grip on Beacon
Hill power, several contests did provide a taste of democracy in action.
And some challengers won by essentially running against the
powerful Democratic leader from Mattapan. At least eight House seats drew the leadership's attention as vulnerable spots
for Democrats who enjoy overwhelming control of the chamber.
"These are 'swing districts,' where Republican voter
registration competes, or even outnumbers, Democratic registration," said John A. Stefanini, Finneran's chief legal
counsel.
These swing seats have gone to Democrats in recent years,
but due to redistricting or targeted Republican efforts, they represented a beacon of hope for conservatives striving to
increase their voice in a state with decidedly liberal leanings.
The challenges were spread across the state, from Worcester
to Cape Cod to Cambridge, with primarily Republican hopefuls opposing junior Democratic representatives. In fact, the
most senior member believed to be facing serious opposition was Colleen M. Garry, a
fourth-term Democrat from Dracut.
"We tend to go after the low-hanging fruit, so to speak,"
said Nathan Little, a state Republican Party spokesman. "Naturally, the longer you've been there, the harder it is to
knock you out."
There are 134 Democrats, 22 Republicans, and four open seats
in the House of Representatives. The Senate consists of 33 Democrats, six Republicans, and one open seat.
There were 66 contested races in the House and 15 in the Senate, including
races in which the challengers do not come from one of the major parties.
As of late last night and including uncontested House races,
Democrats had won 101 seats, Republicans 16, with one seat going to an independent.
In the state Senate, one race Democrats were eyeing with a
chance to increase their dominance took place on the South Shore. Democrat Ted LeClair, a former cranberry
grower from Marshfield, failed in his second attempt to claim the seat held
by Republican Robert L. Hedlund. Hedlund held a substantial lead with more than three-fourths of the
precincts reporting.
One surprise came in Lawrence, where incumbent Representative Jose L. Santiago, a
Democrat, was beaten by his former campaign manager, unenrolled candidate William
Lantigua, a former Suffolk assistant district attorney. In what was a hostile race between two
previously close friends, Lantigua ran on a platform pledging to oppose Finneran's tight
control of the House.
A spokesman for the House speaker could not be reached for
comment last night.
Some of the other contested House races that Finneran's
leadership team and Republican strategists watched last night:
Incumbent David C. Bunker, a Rutland Democrat, lost to
Republican Lewis G. Evangelidis of Holden. Bunker was running for a third term in the first Worcester District, but was
defeated in what Evangelidis described as a respectful, positive campaign. Evangelidis also
won by appealing to voters who wanted to elect a representative willing to oppose Finneran
and focus on district needs.
Ruth W. Provost, a Sandwich Democrat running for a fourth
term, was slightly behind Republican Jeffrey Davis Perry. Provost was hurt by redistricting, which shifted a large
portion of her district out of Bourne and into Perry's hometown of Sandwich.
Democrat Kathleen Teahan of Whitman won a fourth term,
defeating challengers R. Andrew Burbine, a Republican, and Libertarian Steven P. Olson.
Demetrius J. Atsalis, a Hyannis Democrat, held a slim lead
over Republican Ann B. Canedy and Green Party candidate Peter A. White.
Gale D. Candaras, a Democrat from Wilbraham seeking her
fourth term, defeated a Republican who focused much of his criticism during the campaign on
Finneran. Bob Collamore of Springfield said he spent nearly all his time talking to people
about Finneran's clout, calling it "the issue of my campaign,' but his bid fell short.
David M. Torrisi, a Democrat from North Andover, defeated
Republican Paula L. Porten of North Andover and Green Party candidate Jonathon A. Leavitt of Lawrence.
Garry was running against fellow Dracut native Dennis
"D. J." Deeb, a teacher with little political experience.
Anne M. Gobi, a Spencer Democrat wrapping up her first term,
was facing a Republican challenge from Ryan J. Witkos of Hardwick.
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