Giuliani backers hit Romney in his backyard

By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff

Former governor Paul Cellucci, former state treasurer Joe Malone, and other Massachusetts Republicans supporting Rudy Giuliani criticized the record of Mitt Romney, a primary Giuliani rival for the GOP presidential nomination.

Cellucci, who stepped down as governor in April 2001 to become US ambassador to Canada, reiterated past charges that Romney failed to reduce the state's income and other broad-based taxes. Romney's fiscal record, he said, paled in comparison to Giuliani's when he was mayor of New York. The record, Cellucci contended, is "pretty indisputable."

When he attacks Giuliani and other GOP presidential opponents, "the record of the person being attacked is far superior" to Romney's, Cellucci said at a press conference outside the golden-domed State House where Romney served for four years as governor.

But Cellucci and Malone didn't go unchallenged by the Romney campaign, which dispatched former lieutenant governor Kerry Healey to defend him.

Healey, who served with Romney, vigorously defended the administration's fiscal record, which included closing a projected deficit he inherited without a broad-based tax increase.

"I find it sad that you have these representatives for Rudy Giuliani out here running down our state, talking down our state nationally and also running down our party," Healey said.

The Giuliani campaign plans a series of "Romney reality check" events across the country.
Romney and Giuliani have been tussling for weeks over illegal immigration, taxes, and, most recently, crime in the context of a judge appointed by Romney releasing a convicted murderer who now stands accused of killing a newlywed couple in Washington state.