Was Romney a Good Governor??
On Romney's Record as Governor. He bragged at the debate how well he did.
1. Education, 1st in the nation
2. Health care for all in Massachusetts
3. Unlike Obama, he knew how to work together with Dems to get things done.
But, from what I have heard in the past, he really wasn't that good of a governor.
Is this true?
It seems to me, Romney talking up his Governor Record, could be one of the most damaging things to Obama, that Romney said.
People that do not know Romney and listen to him, start to think he not only has experience in office, he is very good at it.
He really needs to be called out on it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Mass schools being ranked number one is based on the results of the NAEP tests, which are administered to random students in every state every two years.
There are a number of different tests that are given in different grades. But four NAEP are administered in every state, every two years: 4th and 8th grade reading and math. In the first year that these were done nationwide, 1992 IIRC, Mass ranked first in three of the four. In every year since, Mass has ranked first on all four, sometimes tying with other states on some tests. No other state has come close. What's even more remarkable is that, last time I looked, Mass scores were still improving much faster than those in the rest of the country.
Last time I checked, Beldar wasn't our Governor in 1992. Weld was, and at the time Weld would be considered a Democrat in any other state - he had to be a Republican because he was from an old, wealthy family, but was really a Democrat in values. But since Weld had only been Governor a year at that point, and since it takes years for children to become educated, the credit probably mostly lies with Weld's predecessor Dukakis.
Not only was Beldar not responsible for our schools' success, he spent much of his time as Governor complaining that the Mass educational system sucked, and that it was all the fault of teacher's unions that we desperately needed to destroy. In fact, I first researched the NAEP results after one such blistering screed by Beldar - since he was known to be a serial liar, I figured if he said our schools suck then they were probably pretty good 
. I was right 
.
As to Beldar working with the legislature - nah. On health insurance reform, the legislators went to him at the start of the process and said "if we adopt this plan that was proposed by the far-right Heritage Foundation, will you promise not to veto the crap out of it?" He agreed, and the Legislature did the heavy lifting from that point on to get a majority to vote for the thing even though it was weak tea.
And then there were the vetos. All the vetos! Romney vetoed 844 pieces of legislation, and more then 700 were overriden. That's more than 4 vetoes per week, or more than one a day for each day the Legislature is in session. It was a joke.
Romney is utterly loathed in Mass. IIRC, his polling numbers are worse in Mass than in any other state - there's a reason that those of us who know him best disapprove the most!
