Criticizing Romney on jobs, Patrick often stretches the truth

Deval L . Patrick, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate who often complains that his positions and record have been distorted, frequently exaggerates the state's sluggish economic performance under Governor Mitt Romney.

Patrick often asserts that the state has lost 148,000 jobs under the Republican administration of Romney and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, Patrick's chief rival in the four-way governor's race.

But to get to that figure, Patrick has to reach back to the state's jobs peak in February 2001, before the last recession. Paul Cellucci, a Republican, was governor at the time, and Romney and Healey weren't sworn in until nearly two years later, in January 2003.

Since Romney took office, the overall number of jobs in the state has increased by a net of 13,500, according to the state's Department of Workforce Development, which tracks employment figures on a monthly basis. Job growth has particularly increased over the past year, when the state has added 33,100 jobs, about a 1 percent increase, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That ranks the state 37th among 50 states over that period.

Patrick often cites a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. study of the second quarter of 2006, which ranked the state 42d in rate of job growth.

Four of the 13 states with rates of annual job growth lower than that of Massachusetts are New England neighbors. Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine all logged employment gains of less than 1 percent in the past 12 months, federal statistics show. In Vermont, nonfarm jobs increased in number by 1.2 percent in that period.

The unemployment rate in Massachusetts for September was 5.1 percent, higher than the national rate of 4.6 percent.

Patrick made the job-loss assertion as recently as Monday, when he spoke to reporters before delivering a campaign speech in Framingham.

"What people are telling me and what they are pointing to is an economic record of the current administration of 148,000 fewer jobs and 60,000 people who have left the Commonwealth," Patrick said.

Patrick has continued to use the inflated figure, despite the fact that Christopher Gabrieli, whom Patrick defeated in the Democratic primary, was publicly criticized in early September for making the same contention in his campaign literature.

Healey's campaign manager, Tim O'Brien, criticized Patrick, saying that he "has continually lied about job numbers" and that it was part of a pattern of misleading statements by the Democrat.

"Voters should take a step back and ask themselves if they know who Deval Patrick really is," O'Brien said in an e-mail.

In response, Patrick's campaign issued a statement saying, "The slow job growth in Massachusetts is part of the Romney-Healey failed legacy."

Asked whether he was guilty of the type of distortion of which he has accused others, Patrick on Monday replied: "Nope."

He then launched into a sharp critique of Romney, saying he came into office with good ideas and a vow to be the "chief salesman" of the state.

"I don't think you can do that effectively when what you're selling is the butt of your jokes," Patrick said, referring to Romney's habit of mocking the state's liberal political culture as he travels the country exploring a presidential candidacy. Patrick said Romney and Healey "have not taken responsibility for the ways in which our economy is stagnant here in Massachusetts."

During remarks to a group of business leaders and political officials in Framingham, Patrick said that if elected he would make the state more attractive to business by investing heavily in the state's transportation infrastructure and would try to simplify the state's permitting process for new development.

Paul Harrington, an economist at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, agreed that Romney, with a strong business background, has fallen short on the issue of economic development.

"We elected a business guy, but he did not undertake the economic business of the state," said Harrington, who is neutral in the governor's race.

During the last recession, which began in early 2001, the state lost nearly one-quarter of its jobs in the manufacturing and information sectors, Harrington said. Even after the employment picture turned around in early 2004, the state continued to shed manufacturing jobs, he said.

The state recovery and expansion, like that on the national level, has been marked by strong business profits and expanding domestic product but relatively weak job growth, Harrington said. One-third of the state's new jobs are in the health sector, and another third are in professional and technical services, he said.

"The recovery is pretty high-end here," Harrington said, "but we're still losing manufacturing jobs."