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Mitt Romney has a long history of attacking firefighters and their unions, going back to his days in Massachusetts

By Alex Seitz-Wald
June 2012

Mitt Romney came under fire this weekend from Democrats after he suggested that we shouldn’t hire more firefighters. Then top Romney surrogate John Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire, doubled down on Romney’s firefighter comments today, telling MSNBC they were not a “gaffe.” This is hardly the first time the presumed GOP nominee has tangled with firefighters.

In fact, he has a long, bitter history with them. As governor of Massachusetts, Romney often ended up sparring with firefighters and their unions. He proposed stripping collective bargaining rights for firefighters and police officers in a city that needed a state bailout, and cut funding to a fire station to be built on the site where six firemen died. He also proposed tripling the state police budget to deal with homeland security concerns in the years after 9/11, but didn’t offer a dime for firefighters, angering many at the time.

In 2004, when the city of Springfield was facing bankruptcy, Romney proposed a $52 million bailout package that included suspending collective bargaining and civil service benefits for the city’s unions, including public safety officers. “He hates us,” Robert McCarthy, the president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, told the Associated Press at the time. “Unions are what made this state what it is,” he said, but Romney “won’t even talk to us.” Romney spokesperson Nicole St. Peter defended the suspension of union benefits, telling the AP that the “control board” the governor appointed to oversee the city’s finances “needs maximum flexibility to restore Springfield’s financial footing.” The Democratic-controlled state Legislature eventually overrode Romney and preserved the bargaining rights, though the control board remained controversial in the city.

It’s worth noting that stripping the union rights of firefighters was further than Wisconsin Gov. Walker was willing to go ...

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2012/06/11/romneys_fight_against_firefighters/

47%

47th in job creation

So I donated $47 to Obama's campaign.

I hope we'll hold Rmoney to 47% of the vote or less.

And welcome to DU!

FACT CHECK: Romney’s Economic Record As Governor Was One Of Failure

Despite the polished videos and speeches that we’ll hear tonight, the truth is that Mitt Romney’s economic record as Governor was one of failure. Under Romney, Massachusetts was 47th out of 50 in job creation and 1st in per capita debt. And he did it all while raising taxes and fees on middle class families and businesses by $750 million a year, leaving the state with a $1 billion budget gap, and outsourcing state jobs to India.

ROMNEY RAISED TAXES AND FEES BY $750 MILLION ANNUALLY ON MASSACHUSETTS' MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES

Washington Post Fact Checker: “The Campaign Claims Romney Balanced The Massachusetts Budget Without Raising Taxes, But He Closed Tax Loopholes And Raised Fees To The Tune Of $750 Million Per Year.” [Washington Post, Fact Checker, 6/12/12]

National Conference of State Legislatures: Massachusetts Imposed More Fee Hikes Than Any Other State in the Nation In 2003. [Congress Daily, 8/28/03]

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation: Fee And Tax Increases In Romney’s First Budget “Will Surely Hit Taxpayers’ Pocketbooks As Hard As Any Tax Increase And, Many Would Argue, Less Fairly As Well.” [Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation 8/11/2003]

Cato Institute On Romney’s Claims He Stood By A No-New-Taxes Pledge As Governor: “Mostly A Myth.” [Cato Institute’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors: 2006, 10/24/06]

MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE:

http://www.barackobama.com/press/release/fact-check-romneys-economic-record-as-governor-was-one-of-failure/

People were leaving Massachusetts in droves under Romney's leadership. People were looking for jobs. Romney grossly underfunded schools, causing many towns and cities to enact overrides to Proposition 2 to get funding for schools. Massachusetts schools dropped in performance under Romney, from one of the best systems in the nation to 8th best. The Massachusetts legislature had to over-ride three Romney vetoes to keep Romney from killing the health care bill that Romney had signed and now trumps as one of his successes. The person that should take credit for making Massachusetts health care reform work is Governor Deval Patrick, he took Romney's failed health care plan and made that plan work. Patrick has certainly improved education, raising student performance to number one in the nation.

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