Posted on 03/19/2002 1:45:52 PM PST by mac_truck
BOSTON (AP) -- Acting Gov. Jane Swift dropped out of the governor's race Tuesday rather than fight for the Republican nomination against Mitt Romney, the acclaimed Salt Lake City Olympics chief.
Romney formally entered the race a few hours later. He thanked Swift for her years of work and said he didn't want to take attention away from her on ``her day.''
``I also think it's admirable that she's decided to focus her resources on managing the state during tough economic times and also to help raise her family with all her energy and heart,'' Romney said, surrounded by his wife, Ann, and other family members.
But he was quick to add: ``Lest there be any doubt, I'm in. The bumper stickers are printed, the Web site's going up. The papers are going in today.''
Swift, who has been plagued by personal and political controversies, said she decided not to take on the simultaneous tasks of being a mother of three, running for election and governing during a budget crunch.
``Having said early on the time with family was nonnegotiable, something had to give,'' Swift told reporters. She plans to serve out her term, until the end of the year.
Swift said she had spoken with Romney and pledged her support.
Romney, 55, has been riding a wave of popularity since successfully leading last month's Winter Olympics. A longtime Massachusetts resident who graduated from Brigham Young University in Utah and sent his children there, Romney graduated from Harvard Business School and went to work in Boston at Bain & Co., where he rose to chairman.
The venture capitalist has remained active in Belmont's Mormon community, which constructed a 70,000-square-foot temple in 2000.
There had been growing speculation that he would run for governor.
Last month, after a Republican activist tried unsuccessfully to get Swift a job in the Bush administration to ease her out of the race, she told reporters: ``I guess I should be accustomed to powerful men trying to tell me that they know better than I do what it is I should be doing.''
A Boston Herald poll published Sunday showed Romney, whose only political experience is an unsuccessful challenge to Sen. Edward Kennedy in 1994, leading Swift 75 percent to 12 percent.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said no one from the Bush administration urged her to drop out.
Swift said she would not take a federal job. She said she reached her decision to drop out on Monday.
``There isn't a working parent in America that hasn't faced it -- when the demands of the two tasks that you take on both increase substantially, something has to give,'' she said.
Her voice trembling, Swift added: ``Serving as governor of this great commonwealth has been an honor and a privilege and one for which I'll always be grateful.''
Swift said she did not know what she planned to do next, but told reporters, ``You guys keep telling me I'm young.''
Swift, 37, became Massachusetts' first female chief executive, and the nation's youngest, last April, succeeding Paul Cellucci when he became ambassador to Canada. She is the first U.S. governor to give birth in office when she had twin girls in May. She also has a 3-year-old daughter.
Until recently, Swift had said she was undaunted by a challenge from Romney. The Republican primary is Sept. 17.
The birth of Swift's twins produced a wave of favorable national publicity and a bounce in the polls. But when she returned to work at the end of June, she continued to find herself with little political capital and a Statehouse dominated by Democrats.
That made tough challenges even tougher: a worsening budget crunch, calls for added security measures after Sept. 11 and a controversial decision not to commute the sentence of a convicted child molester.
Earlier, as lieutenant governor, the state Ethics Commission ruled she had created an appearance of impropriety by allowing aides to baby-sit for her older daughter and fined her $1,250. She also used a State Police helicopter to fly home for Thanksgiving to care for her sick daughter.
More recently, she was sued by two members of the Turnpike Authority board whom she fired after they voted to delay toll hikes.
Five Democrats also are running for governor: Senate President Thomas Birmingham, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, former state Sen. Warren Tolman and Steve Grossman, a former national Democratic Committee chairman.
Within moments of his announcement, Romney was challenged on his stand on abortion, a hot-button issue in a state that recently has supported fiscally conservative, socially progressive governors.
He said he would support a woman's right to choose.
As usual, no mention of the real conservatives in the major media. I hope Carla Howell kicks their butts. ;-)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Massachusetts tax repeal initiative gets certified by attorney general
A Libertarian initiative to repeal the Massachusetts state income tax and save Bay State taxpayers $9 billion a year has been officially certified for inclusion on the November 2002 state election ballot.
On September 5, state Attorney General Tom Reilly announced the "Small Government Act to End the Income Tax" had met state constitutional requirements for ballot inclusion.
Potential LP gubernatorial candidate Carla Howell, whose Committee for Small Government is spearheading the initiative, said she was pleased with the decision.
"We're excited that Massachusetts taxpayers will have the opportunity to vote for a key plank in the Libertarian platform," she said. "The Small Government Act will be a long overdue windfall for Massachusetts families."
If approved by voters, said Howell, the Small Government Act (SGA) would eliminate the state's current 5% tax on wages, the 5% tax on interest and dividends, and the up-to-12% tax on capital gains -- resulting in an estimated savings of $2,000 per year for the average taxpayer.
"[The measure is] probably the largest percentage slash in [state] government and taxation proposed in the United States since the end of World War II," she said.
However, Howell said getting the measure listed on the ballot will be no easy task.
Proponents of the SGA must collect 57,100 certified signatures of Massachusetts residents by December 1. At that time, the proposal will be submitted to the state legislature for consideration.
If the Democrats and Republicans in the legislature fail to act on the measure by May 2002 -- as Howell predicts they will -- Howell and her Committee for Small Government must gather another 9,517 signatures by July 5 to put the measure before the voters.
Although Howell said Libertarians should expect massive opposition to the SGA from pro-tax organizations, she is optimistic about the effort.
During the past 20 years, no tax cut initiative has garnered less than 39% of the vote in Massachusetts, she said -- and a "bold" initiative such as this one has the potential to excite citizens who feel overburdened by stifling taxation.
"Our Libertarian ballot initiative means an end to Massachusetts income taxes on hard-working individuals and families," she said. "Ending the state income tax is good for workers, good for families, good for communities, and good for the charities and churches who depend on us."
http://www.lp.org/lpnews/0110/sga.html
I hate to say it but I feel much like you do.
My experience, from living in MA from 1991 to 1997, was that the idiots in MA keep voting for the same trash in the legislature and then they spend their money and time to push initiatives on issues that the people that they voted for won't pursue. Does that make sense to anyone?
Why do you all hate Romney so much?
The last ballot had people voting on things that NO ONE they elected would EVER endorse.
These people are insane. They are now invading NH and I have ALMOST given up the ghost in Mass. I think I will move to NH in a few years. After all, it is easier fighting invading Massholes then an established camp of Massholes. :D
Many of us in Mass have thought that for awhile but since that is not going to happen any time soon we have to look at other options.
When you look at the Rat pack running for gov, Mitt looks like Bob Barr. The Rats were counting on Swifty running and the election being decided in the primaries. There are a number of interesting ballot issues that should get out the vote, nice divicive ones, queer marrage for one, that should draw out the socal conservitives in the Rat party, with Mitt running looks good for us, right now.
Younger Massholes move up to NH because of the freedom and the low costs. Then these MORONS DEMAND the same services that they left back in the People Republic, never realizing that that is why the prices and taxes are so high in Mass in the FIRST place!
I watched it happen in horror to Florida and I could NOT BELIEVE that Florida was split Dem-GOP during the last election.
These Massholes are truly clueless. It would be amusing if it were not for the fact that they are so dangerous.
You sold me. I'm writing a check to Reich today.
I heard he was backing down but it is already going to be put on the ballot. Liberal Judicial Activists are trying to go directly to the courts so that the will of the people can be thwarted.
Damned commies. They are all for democracy when it suits them and then they try to subvert the process when thier damned liberal agenda is in danger. To them the ends justify ANY means.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.