Just fresh from hearing from Rick Santorum how Mitt Romney had asked for more federal money to assist with security at the Winter Olympics in 2002 in the year following 911, we now find this.
Mitt Romney this week accused President Obama of kowtowing to ‘big labor’ and slammed Rick Santorum, one of his challengers for the Republican presidential nomination, as ‘labor’s favorite senator.’ But as governor of Massachusetts, Romney fiercely protected a costly and controversial perk for police officers after seeking and receiving the endorsement of the politically influential police unions.
Even as he pushed to slash aid to cities and towns and programs for the blind and raised college tuition, he fully funded a $45 million program that awarded salary bonuses to officers who earned advanced degrees….
‘When Romney was running for governor in 2002, he was steadfast in his support of the program. As a candidate, he showed up to the office of the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation and asked for the union’s endorsement,’ said Thomas Nolan, a retired lieutenant who was then vice president of the federation. ‘There was a firm understanding that the quid pro quo would be his agreeing to allow our Quinn bill benefits to remain intact,’ he said. ‘We felt assured that once he was elected, our benefits would be intact for four years and guess what? We got what we wanted.’
‘Mitt Romney has a high regard for the men and women who work in law enforcement, and he appreciates the work that they do,’ Andrea Saul, a campaign spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
The campaign also sent a long list of steps Romney took as governor to stand up to labor groups. For instance, he helped stop public employee unions from using state resources to solicit funds for their political action committees, and he tried to exempt small public construction projects from the state’s prevailing wage law. [How low can you go!]
But in 2003, Romney’s staunch defense of the Quinn bill surprised budget watchdogs, who had been fighting for changes in the program, which gave officers a 10 percent to 25 percent salary boost depending on their level of education.
‘I believe we get our money’s worth and that we need law enforcement officers with higher education and training,’ Romney told the Associated Press in February 2003 when he proposed a series of cuts to plug a $3.2 billion budget deficit.
Slashing funds for the blind and for education but paying more to police with higher levels of skills and training! How he expects to find anyone to support him after that I will never know. Good thing the American media is so on the ball in keeping an eye on Romney’s past.
Further comment: Just a worry that my last night’s after-midnight attempt at an ironic statement may not work so well in the cold light of morn. So I will be explicit in what I mean. Romney did what it took to overturn a state deficit of three billion plus but in doing it found money for certain forms of expenditure, such as providing extra funds for the police. This to me is a very excellent thing to have done, but the media in the US tries turning even this into a negative. That was my experience in the US. I was there for three weeks and not once, on any form of media, found a positive story about Romney. The one above is typical, but what I find so incredible about it is that the attempt at being negative underscores the kinds of actions someone with a conservative disposition ought to like.
Ron Paul 2012
The consistant candidate that will not be burnt by the media as there is nothing to burn him with.
kelly liddle
20 Feb 12 at 2:05 am
I must emit to hang a soft spot for coppers…..just sayin’
entropy
20 Feb 12 at 7:47 am
I must admit to having a soft spot for coppers.
I must spell check….
entropy
20 Feb 12 at 7:48 am
The new line of attack, long employed by Democrats, comes as the Romney campaign continues to paint Mr. Santorum as a heavy supporter of earmarks during his days in the U.S. Senate.
“One of Mitt Romney’s greatest accomplishments, one of the things he talks about most, is how he heroically showed up on the scene and bailed out and resolved the problems of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games,” Mr. Santorum told a packed hotel conference room. “He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake games — in an earmark, in an earmark for the Salt Lake Olympic games.”
He continued, “Does the word hypocrisy come to mind?”
Awwwww…… Steves’ hero – whose stock-in-trade is vicious and often unfair attack ads against his opponents – gets bitch slapped in response to just such an attack and Kates cries foul.
JamesK
20 Feb 12 at 7:58 am
Steve,
This from Hunter S Thompson’s Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 re then Democrat front-runner Ed Muskie. “Muskie is already finished. He had no base. Nobody’s really for Muskie. They’re only for the front- runner, the man who says he can beat Nixon- but not even Muskie believes that anymore; he couldn’t even win a majority of the Democratic vote in New Hampshire on his own turf”.
The polls now show Romney well and truly trailing Obama. They also show Santorum has an almost identical gap to Obama. All of a sudden Romney’s central claim he is the only one who can beat Obama rings hollow. If he loses his “home” state of Michigan the parallels with Muskie will be nearly complete.
Republican Watcher
20 Feb 12 at 8:19 am
Ron Paul ahead of Obama in Ohio.
.
20 Feb 12 at 8:31 am
It seems to be the case in this election that regardless how Obama does on national polls, he really is on the nose and likely to be beaten in the swing states.
Token
20 Feb 12 at 9:26 am
Hmmm Republican Watcher, what is your source on the information on Muskie?
From all I know your point is a non-sequitur when it comes to Romney.
From all I read, though he was tottering after being challenged by the uber-Lefty McGovern in the ’72 Iowa Caucus, he was on his way to the nomination when he lost it over a smear over his wife.
His tears in New Hampshire lead the Dem’s lost faith that he could handle the campaing full of smears they expected Nixon would throw at them (which Watergate proved were well founded).
BTW, Hunter S Thomson also claimed Muskie was an addict for a painkiller, yet in 1977 confirmed he invented that story. He is not a good source dude.
Token
20 Feb 12 at 9:38 am