How persistently the issue dogs her on the trail remains to be seen. “We see these vetoes as Romney-Healey vetoes,” says Corey Wellford, spokesperson for Tom Reilly, attorney general and Democratic candidate for governor. Reilly and his fellow candidates must make sure others see them that way as well.
Pound-foolish
Although it’s easy for critics like Romney to poke fun at these expenditures from a distance, up close and in detail, many of the now-vetoed projects make sense. That’s because many of the proposals were designed to increase tourism and pursue other forms of economic development that would bring in revenue further down the line.
This notion was perhaps best symbolized by Romney’s dismissive, almost scoffing comments about a $150,000 study on Winter Moths that he vetoed. Those moths are eating trees all along the coastline at a rate that, if unchecked, threatens not only farmers but also the foliage that brings tourists and their money to the state each year.
Romney also vetoed $13 million for a cultural-facilities fund and another $6.2 million in tourism grants, all meant to boost a critical economic industry in the state. In the Berkshires, the vetoes took money intended for Sturbridge Village, the Berkshire Museum, and the Mohawk Theater in North Adams. Even Republican state-Senate candidate Matt Kinnaman had to call for overrides.
In the same vein, Romney vetoed an expansion in tax credits for historic renovation, which the legislature wants to boost from $15 million to $50 million a year. The veto threatens more than two dozen economy-stimulating projects, according to Preservation Massachusetts. In Worcester, that includes a performance center capable of staging touring Broadway shows; in New Bedford, an assisted-living complex.
Also nixed was half of a $30 million allocation for a brownfield-site rehabilitation, earmarked for assessing contamination and aiding in cleanup of currently unusable sites. Past brownfield funding by the state generated $42 in economic benefit for every dollar spent, according to one recent study.
And some of Romney’s vetoes are downright cold-hearted. First among those involves the plan to build a new Worcester fire station and public-safety center at the site of that city’s deadly 1993 fire. Romney vetoed the $2 million to pay for construction from the supplemental budget. Another nixed project relates to a soccer field in Brockton where, DeLeo says, the fields are so bad that kids can’t play without fear of injury. “I must have gotten hundreds of calls and letters about that soccer field,” says DeLeo. “For hundreds of parents, that’s the most important item in the budget.”
To many locals, whose plans have been withheld for several years due to a budgetary crisis, now is the time to start revitalizing local economies. In some cases, that means using a parking study to learn how to accommodate more shoppers downtown. In others, it means jump-starting a downtown facility that will lure visitors. From the outside, some of these proposals might look silly — like the Braintree gazebo that Romney mocked. But many locals remember a time when bandstand space for summer concerts bolstered downtown businesses; to them Mitt’s mockery looks mean-spirited and out-of-touch.
Her towns
Of course, by now nobody expects our ostensible governor, the Barnstormin’ Mormon, to know Braintree from Billerica. But Healey has no excuse: since taking office, she has been the administration’s official liaison to the municipalities.
