Talk:Governorship of Mitt Romney

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To-do list for Governorship of Mitt Romney: edit · history · watch · refresh
  • Convert source citations that are web links to footnotes.
  • Fix "Controversies while governor". The last item does not have a title and is poorly written...

Contents

[edit] Previous Talk Pages

This article was split off from Mitt Romney on January 8, 2007.
Previous talk, before that date resides at:

-- Yellowdesk 01:13, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Housing

Housing was one of the main things Romney did... ask anyone... why was my section deleted? myclob 03:44, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

See Talk:Mitt_Romney#Cut_housing_section?. I think the section would survive, if reinstated, if it had outside context supplied that demonstrated someone besides Mr. Romney's press office thought it was a major effort, and those published outside perspectives also evaluated the consequences of the program. -- Yellowdesk 16:28, 11 January 2007 (UTC)
I gave a detailed explanation on the Talk:Mitt_Romney#Cut_housing_section? page. Indeed, if you asked most people in Massachusetts about the housing situation here during Romney's tenure, they would probably say that it got worse. See for instance: [1].Notmyrealname 19:11, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Here is the raw Housing information, that I think should have had something written...

!!2005

  • 03-21-2005, ROMNEY AWARDS $4.55M FOR FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER PROJECTS
  • 11-23-2005-, ROMNEY SIGNS LAW TO COVER SCHOOL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH SMART GROWTH HOUSING
  • 12-05-2003 Governor Mitt Romney announces $58.9 million for new housing
  • 12-12-2003; Governor Mitt Romney joins archbishop O' malley for new Lynn housing

!!2004

  • 01-26-2004, ROMNEY LAUNCHES $100 MILLION PROGRAM TO SPUR NEW HOUSING
  • 02-18-2004, ROMNEY WANTS TO HELP SENIORS STAY IN THEIR HOMES
  • 11-12-2004, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES $1.5M FOR FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER PROGRAM
  • 10-21-2004, ROMNEY AWARDS $1.4M TO PROMOTE NEW HOUSING ON CAPE COD
  • 31-2004 03- 31-2004, ROMNEY, HEALEY ANNOUNCE $2M FOR FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYERS
  • 03-08-2004, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES CREATION OF FAIR HOUSING ADVISORY PANEL

!!2003

  • 03-11-2003, ROMNEY ENCOURAGES CITIES AND TOWNS TO BUILD MORE HOUSING
  • 05-22-2003, ROMNEY, MENINO ANNOUNCE NEW AFFORDABLE HOUSING
  • 06-2003 06- 06-2003, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES $74.5 MILLION FOR STATEWIDE HOUSING
  • 07-23-2003, ROMNEY CELEBRATES NEW CHAPTER IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING
  • 02-18-2003, ROMNEY CONVENES AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE
  • 12-12-2003, ROMNEY JOINS ARCHBISHOP O'MALLEY FOR NEW LYNN HOUSING
  • 12-05-2003, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES $58.9 MILLION FOR NEW HOUSING
  • 10-01-2003, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES $8.9 MILLION TO CREATE 825 MORE HOMES
  • 08-25-2003, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES $17.6 MILLION TO CREATE MORE HOUSING

I've found all the Press Releases related to housing, posted them [Housing|here], and cut all the Romney quotes out of them. Now I just need to make a list of things Romney has done in massachusetts (not just a list of things he said), and write up a summery, as one does not exist [2]. I'm never going to get all this done, please [help]!

!"Housing" Quotes from Governor [Mitt Romney]

  • “If Massachusetts is to remain economically strong and competitive, it must have more housing that is affordable to those across a broad range of incomes. This local aid incentive will provide communities with additional funds to offset infrastructure and education expenses associated with a growing population.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[03-11-2003] Press Release
  • “The Boston State Hospital project is a model of our [smart growth] strategy for future development of thousands of acres of state surplus land across the Commonwealth,” said Romney. “Building more affordable housing like this project is one of the key elements necessary to jumpstart the [Massachusetts] [economy].”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[05-22-2003] Press Release
  • “This significant commitment of [state] and [federal] resources, along with millions of [private] investment dollars generated through the sale of tax credits, will increase the availability of housing for thousands of Massachusetts families,” said Romney. “Through this blend of resources, we can help ease our housing supply shortage while ensuring long-term, economic prosperity for our state.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[06- 06-2003] Press Release
  • “This new law will allow MassHousing to finance mixed-income homes without interruption. We must work harder, and be smarter, to increase the state's housing supply and have it affordable to those across a broad range of incomes.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[07-23-2003] Press Release
  • “Since my Administration’s inception nearly one year ago, I have focused on the need to create more housing and smart growth policies that will allow us to expand housing without contributing to sprawl,” Romney said. He added, “This project is a perfect example of the type of new housing we should create in our developed urban centers close to all the services that make possible a desirable quality of life.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[12-12-2003] Press Release
  • "Each year, we spend more than a quarter billion dollars each year to care for our [homeless] in the Commonwealth, but we need to focus more on long-term solutions by producing permanent housing opportunities for our citizens," said Romney. Romney added, "Today's awards will not only give a much needed boost to the state's overall affordable housing supply, but it will also go a long way in preventing future homelessness because nearly 20 percent of those units will be targeted to low-income individuals and families."
    • Governor Mitt Romney[12-05-2003] Press Release
  • “Our housing supply shortage is often cited as the number one barrier to business growth and job creation in Massachusetts and we are working overtime to build more housing” said Romney. “That is why my recently announced ‘Jobs First’ program includes additional local aid incentives for increased housing production and also proposes rewards for communities with state-owned surplus property to take action to spur residential development.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[10-01-2003] Press Release
  • “This financial commitment represents an important blend of public resources which will leverage millions of private dollars and help ease the state’s current housing supply shortage. In doing so, it will also serve as an investment in the future of our economic well being by making Massachusetts an attractive state in which to work and live.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[08-25-2003] Press Release
  • “We are on a mission to double housing starts in Massachusetts and this is one approach to help get us there without spending new taxpayer dollars,” said Romney. “These new resources are critical at a time when public funds are limited, but the need for new housing is enormous.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[01-26-2004] Press Release
  • “We need to give seniors the help they need to stay in their homes as long as possible. With a little help, we can keep seniors in their own home instead of putting them into what for many turns out to be an inappropriate institutionalized setting,” said Romney. He added, “Our goal is to help meet the needs of our elders as they define them, not as a government bureaucracy defines them.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[02-18-2004] Press Release
  • “We want to make it easier for more [families] in [Massachusetts] to realize the [American dream] of buying their own [home],” said Governor Romney. “The commitment of these funds from the [Bush] Administration not only represent downpayments for new homes, they also represent an investment towards a prosperous [future] for the [families] of our Commonwealth.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[11-12-2004] Press Release
  • “The Village at Marstons Mills represents a down payment on a more affordable future for Barnstable County,” Romney said. “High-quality, [affordable housing] is just as important as top-notch [schools], good [jobs], a first-class [infrastructure] and [safe neighborhoods]. My Administration is working overtime to create additional housing opportunities for [families] across a broad range of incomes.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[10-21-2004] Press Release
  • “The rising cost of housing has kept the dream of owning a home out of reach for too many families in Massachusetts,” said Governor Mitt Romney. “It is important that we continue to target our state resources into programs which bridge that financial gap and increase affordable homeownership opportunities for families throughout the Commonwealth.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[03- 31-2004] Press Release
  • “Fair and affordable housing should be a right, not a privilege,” said Romney, addressing a meeting of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations. “With the help of this newly formed committee, we will make that right a reality and ensure a vibrant and diverse Commonwealth for years to come.”
    • Governor Mitt Romney[03-08-2004] Press Release
  • “All hard-working families in the Commonwealth deserve a chance to be homeowners, but that has become increasingly difficult for many because we have some of the highest high housing costs in the nation. To alleviate that problem, I have pledged to increase our housing supply by doubling the number of housing starts in Massachusetts so that there are more affordable homes available to those across a broad range of incomes,” he added.
    • Governor Mitt Romney[03-21-2005] Press Release


  • “We need to build more housing to keep our state economically competitive. This bill acknowledges community costs that may be associated with increased housing production,” said Romney.
    • Governor Mitt Romney[11-23-2005-] Press Release —Preceding unsigned comment added by Myclob (talk • contribs) 14:21, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV Tag

I simply am moving the NPOV tag off the Mitt Romney article to the Governorship article based upon the discussion from users ZimZalaBim, Wizardry Dragon, Dmarney, Yellowdesk, and Notmyrealname. It seems after Dmarney reviewed the article he could only find obvious non-NPOV statements regarding the "tar baby" issue. Since the governorship section was turned into it's own article, the NPOV tag is simply following the issue. Sorry if I didn't make this clear earlier. Click the link for the discussion above if you want to look further into the issue. It seems once that issue gets cleared up the tag can be removed.

I must admit I am no expert on the issue and know absolutely nothing about it. I would recommend someone try to rewrite the "tar baby" with a more unbiased perspective and then remove the tag.

I originally placed the tag on the entire Governorship of Mitt Romney, however it is now placed in the Controversies while governor section as this is the section that contains the disputed issue at hand. Chupper 21:17, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV tag, same-sex marriage

I added the tag for the following reasons:

1. The section contains a wealth of weasel words. While this is contradictory to Wikipedia policy in general, several are in conjunction with particularly sensitive and controversial statements and syllogisms. Some striking examples include:

Critics of Romney countered that the politically ambitious governor, who would need the support of religious and social conservatives to win the 2008 Republican Party Presidential nomination, had used the opportunity afforded by the legalization of gay marriage to burnish his conservative bona fides.

It was felt by many critics of Romney's move that replacing the experienced Gorton with an inexperienced real estate professional lacking not only a law degree and university education but any tax judge experience was an attempt by Romney to keep the ATB from ruling in favor of gay couples.

2. The section is satiated with - one could say the relating of the segment, which reads monophonically, is driven by - unsourced statements. Consider the following:

To prevent couples domiciled in other states from getting married in Massachusetts, Romney instructed town clerks not to issue marriage licenses to out-of-state gay couples, except for those announcing their intention to relocate to the Commonwealth.

This was disingenuous, as the Laws of 1913 clearly were targeted against miscegenation and were part of a nationwide backlash engendered by the introduction of the Anti-Miscegenation Amendment to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1911.

3. The final reason is, I would suggest, not one of "bias of bias" and selective interpretation, but rather the reasonable deduction from the above noted foibles of the text. Hence, I would claim a palpable anti-Romney bias, at least on the issue at hand, the section throughout. Examine these inferences in relation to the above quoted, unsourced and weasel-worded allegations:

Thus, Massachusetts was complicit in circumventing the Full Faith and Credit Clause (Article IV, Section 1) of the U.S. Constitution.

With the conservative Roberts Court unlikely to follow the Warren Court's moral example in Loving v. Virginia, the ruling upholding the constitutionality of the controversial Law of 1913 likely will stand, and will continue to, in the eyes of same-sex marriage advocates, deny due process rights to gay couples domiciled outside of the Commonwealth.

In addition to resurrecting a morally repugnant law to deny out-of-state gay couples the opportunity to marry...

Thus, without the gay Gorton on the board, it was more likely that the same rights enjoyed by straight married couples would not be extended to same-sex couples legally married in the Commonwealth.


Regarding my own sensibilities, since the tendencies of which were implicitly questioned by Yellowtask in his/her message, I would only add that I find Governor Romney's beliefs to be deplorable on this topic. Of course, this view does not rectify a tendentious article segment, and it seems to me the text in question is inclined to a degree that bona fides need not be contested. Shoplifter 02:29, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Smith -I agree that this article is biased and needs to be fixed.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.101.183.92 (talk • contribs) February 9, 2007

[edit] Too much space to proposals

There is a lot of space devoted to proposals that Romney had that never went anywhere. I don't think these should be included. If we do keep them in, it should be made clear that they were never enacted/voted upon, etc. Otherwise it is unclear to the reader what Romney actually accomplished, and what was perhaps posturing. In education, I'm referring to the proposal for extra teachers and the laptop initiative.Notmyrealname 19:19, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

These things are actually a record of political positions stated or taken, and also demonstrate a leader's efforts when that leader is well aware that a proposal is a dead letter when putting it forward. A useful historicl record, and worth expanding upon by finding out who thought they were dead letters, and why. Relevant background to the presidential political campaign. -- Yellowdesk 06:09, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] In line links identified for conversion to footnotes

I Identified all (or nearly all) of the in-line links to source web pages with formatted comments like so:

  <!-- Note: convert this link into a footnote:
  -->[www.published_web_source.com]

This should make it easier for the intrepid editor to convert these things to properly formed footnotes showing:
- Author
- Article title
- Publication
- Date
- Date Retrieved

-- Yellowdesk 06:21, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This just isn't true:

"Upon leaving office, Romney argued that he had left the state with a large budget surplus, after he cut hundreds of millions of dollars of programs. However, the Patrick Administration, upon examining the budget, claimed that Romney had instead left the state with a deficit of around $1 billion."

It is under the controvery section... how does this assertian square with the fact that Romney had a surplus every year... you can't have two controvery statements... there can not be a surplus and a deficit at the same time... myclob 01:45, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Discussion about title of Political views of Mitt Romney article

-- Yellowdesk 04:47, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV & NPOV tags: removed for lack of discussion

I removed a {{POV}} tag added

Responsible tagging requires an indication on the talk page what the complaint is about.

Two other tags have been on the article for three months with zero followup discussion:

...both without an ongoing discussion indicating disagreement with other editors on talk page

The purpose of the tags is to engender conversation, and since there has been zero back and forth, there actually is no visible dispute or controversy. There is no consequence to having an article or section tagged when there is no dispute of consequence devoted to the section in question. If some editor wishes to state a point and propose an improvement, or argue with others, they are most welcome to do so, with the {{POV}} or {{NPOV}} tags, to promote an engaged conversation. For these reasons I have today removed the tags.

-- Yellowdesk 01:45, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "and has disavowed earlier statements in favor of legalized abortion"

This is an oversimplification... he has not "disavowed earlier statements in favor of legalized abortion". If you go back and look at the actual record, you will see that Romney always said he was personally pro-life, but that he "would not impose" his views on a state, like Massachusetts, that was pro-choice.

He is no longer running for Governor of Massachusetts. myclob (talk) 03:26, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] death penalty

I think this page should be linked to from his death penalty section...

http://myclob.pbwiki.com/Death+Penalty+Testimony+of+Governor+Mitt+Romney

This is Romney's testimony infront of Massachusetts house about the subject. myclob (talk) 03:26, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Environment

This section currently says;

In November 2006, Romney cut $7 million from the maintenance budget for the state's parklands, which are the sixth largest state park system in the country. Romney also cut $154,590 for environmental law enforcement, $288,900 for cleaner water in communities, and $181,886 for hazardous waste cleanup.[95].

Why does it only mention times when Romney cut the budget? Is someone trying to push an agenda?

Why not mention this? 03-16-2006, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES $516.5 MILLION TO SUPPORT SMART GROWTH IN MASSACHUSETTS?

Here are the Official Romney press releases about the environment... I think we could write a more balanced article...

2003

  • 01-22-2003, ROMNEY TIES JOB GROWTH TO CLEANER ENVIRONMENT
  • 02-06-2003, ROMNEY, HEALEY ENFORCE POWER PLANT REGULATIONS
  • 03-25-2003, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES OCEAN MANAGEMENT TASK FORCE
  • 05-20-2003, ROMNEY PROPOSES TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR OIL SPILLS
  • 06-13-2003, ROMNEY TEAMS UP WITH EPA TO PROTECT MASS COASTLINE
  • 09-19-2003, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES NEW MERCURY EMISSION REGULATIONS
  • 10-31-2003, ROMNEY SIGNS BILL TO RESTORE INLAND FISH AND GAME FUND


2004

  • 05-06-2004, ROMNEY UNVEILS CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN FOR MASSACHUSETTS
  • 08-04-2004, ROMNEY SIGNS LEGISLATION TO PREVENT OIL SPILLS
  • 08-20-2004, ROMNEY ADMINISTRATION SIGNS ANIMAL CRUELTY LEGISLATION
  • 09-27-2004, COSTS ARE DOWN, BUT ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT IS UP
  • 12-20-2004, ROMNEY REACHES AGREEMENT TO CLEAN UP CAPE COD POWER PLANT


2005

  • 02-10-2005, ROMNEY AWARDS SMART GROWTH ASSISTANCE GRANTS TO 12 CITIES
  • 03-18-2005, ROMNEY FILES LEGISLATION TO PROTECT STATE'S OCEAN WATERS
  • 03-16-2006, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES $516.5 MILLION TO SUPPORT SMART GROWTH IN MASSACHUSETTS
  • 07-07-2005, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES MASSACHUSETTS GREEN COMMUNITIES INITIATIVE
  • 10-07-2005, ROMNEY AND U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY BODMAN JOIN TO PRESENT EASY WAYS TO SAVE ENERGY THIS WINTER
  • 11-04-2005, ROMNEY DELIVERS OIL SPILL EMERGENCY RESPONSE TRAILERS TO BUZZARDS BAY COMMUNITIES
  • 11-04-2005-, ROMNEY SIGNS NICOLE'S LAW
  • 12-07-2005, ROMNEY ANNOUNCES STRICT NEW CLEAN AIR REGULATIONS TO TAKE EFFECT JANUARY 1

[edit] Article reorganization

This article had two sections, 'Other issues' and 'Controversies while Governor', that were disorganized grab-bags of isolated items, most of which made much more sense being moved into existing sections. For example, 'Taxes' and 'Surplus or deficit upon leaving office' both obviously belong in the 'Fiscal policy' section, education material was scattered, crime and justice material was scattered, material related to Romney campaigning for president the last year he was governor needed to be coalesced, and so forth. I have reorganized the article accordingly and those two sections are now gone. No material has been removed from the article! Just better structured, with better context. See also Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_United_States_presidential_elections#Status_of_.22controversies.22_pages for why dismantling of 'Controversies' sections is a Good Thing. Same principle applies here. Wasted Time R (talk) 22:29, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Assessment?!?

It would be useful if this article were to provide some summary assessment of the consensus views about where Romney succeeded and failed as Governor. Jeremy Tobacman (talk) 15:29, 8 February 2008 (UTC)