Governor leaps to rebut debaters' criticism of Healey and himself
For four years, he's been her boss. Yesterday, he became her defender in chief.
Governor Mitt Romney, in his most extensive comments yet on the governor's race, mounted a vigorous, point-by-point defense of Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey and their Republican administration yesterday, a day after she came under persistent attack from her gubernatorial rivals in the first debate of the general election season.
Romney returned the fire that Democrat Deval L. Patrick and independent Christy Mihos had leveled at Healey the night before, blasting as lies their critiques of the administration on state finances and the Big Dig.
``What planet does that come from?" Romney said when asked by reporters about Patrick's contention that the Romney-Healey administration, despite its antitax posture, had proposed $985 million in new fees and taxes since 2003.
The governor's State House press conference was billed as a status report on the Big Dig. But Romney, armed with charts prepared by his staff, was eager to counter many of the assertions Mihos and Patrick made in the debate. He expressed confidence Healey would win in November, because, he said, ``the truth always wins."
But Romney's pointed rebuttal also served to defend his legacy as he readies for a possible run for president in 2008.
Romney has been working hard to win over conservative Republican voters in critical early primary states. Thus he cannot leave unchallenged anyone who attempts to paint him as a tax-raiser. Also, because he is chairman of the Republican Governors Association, it is Romney's job to see that GOP governors win election and reelection in the three-dozen gubernatorial contests around the country this year. Healey's loss in Romney's home state could inflict some political damage on him.
Romney conceded yesterday that he had raised various fees to the tune of $260 million in 2003, saying he did so during ``a real tough time for the state."
``What would Deval Patrick have done instead?" Romney asked. ``If he didn't want to raise fees, would he have cut local aid by $260 million or raised taxes by $260 million? Which was the answer?"
During the debate, Healey said it was ``hard to imagine" that Patrick, faced with a similar budget crunch in 2003, wouldn't have colluded with the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature to raise taxes.
But Patrick contends that argument is disingenuous because the administration effectively did just that. He said that by increasing fees for things such as birth certificates, recreation activities, and real estate transactions and by closing business loopholes in the corporate tax code, Romney and Healey did in fact increase the burden on taxpayers to help the state emerge from recession.
``Let's call these fee increases what they really are: taxes that the administration is trying to disguise with a prettier name," Patrick said in a statement. ``I believe we need to . . . restore local aid so that we can reduce the property tax."
``Do you know how big a ball of baloney that is?" Romney said of Patrick's assertion that cities and towns have to raise property taxes when the state slashes local aid.
Romney was also sharply critical of Mihos yesterday for trying to blame Healey and his administration for not paying closer attention to the troubled $14.6 billion Big Dig project.
``If there was ever anyone to say how come we don't have a regular inspection program for the Turnpike Authority system, where was Christy? " Romney said.
Mihos said yesterday that as early as 2001 he was calling for an independent review of the project and work by the project manager, Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com. 