MittWatch: The Money, the Mormons, the Mug

I am certain that it is unimportant to democrats but, in payment for signing the smoking ban, Romney received the free use of private jets supplied by Johnson & Johnson as well as Pfizer. They make the chemical nicotine "smoking cessation" products with a 98% failure rate. Millions of $ in free travel. Some might call that a bribe. I do! He will not be elected.

>>>>>The nice thing about fees is that you can avoid them by not using the service.

YEH who needs that driver's license?

You can list all the accomplishments you want. They have been ineffective when it comes to producing results. Look up the stats, during this recovery our job growth has been weak compared to other states.

Swift signed a cap gain increase in 2002 and Romney did nothing to reverse it. This has been killing us ever since. Instead he wasted energy trying to bring income tax from 5.2 to 5.1, like that's going to be a big stimulus to growth.

The state has been losing ground and that didn't stop under Romney.

Well done Murphy!!!! Thank you for the succinct explanation and clarification regarding the false claim that Mitt "raised taxes" in MA. I wish the media would get it right for once!

Try again, "wellbasically".

Jobs were heading out of MA when Romney came into office after the dot-com bubble burst. He reversed that. There are thousands more jobs than when he was elected Governor.

Romney didn't raise taxes, he raised fees ($500 million). The nice thing about fees is that you can avoid them by not using the service. Romney raised the fees of dozens of government services to better reflect the actual costs of those services. As a fiscal hawk, that's fine with me...I see no reason why the government should subsidize bar exams and marriage licenses below the true market value.

Romney also closed corporate tax loopholes ($210 million). That's enforcing tax law, just what you'd expect from a hard law-and-order guy like Romney. It's not raising taxes any more than sending an escaped convict back to prison is a sentencing.

Furthermore, Romney reversed a $250 million retroactive capital gains tax. He offered sales tax holidays that stimulated hundreds of millions of dollars in small business sales. He made the investment tax credit permanent. He gave tax breaks to medical manufacturing companies. He gave real estate tax breaks to seniors. The net total tax cuts Romney pushed through were greater than the hikes in service related fees.

And on top of all of that, Romney helped close a $3 billion budget shortfall when he came in office by cutting state spending by over 7% in the first year. Actually cutting spending is unheard of! He vetoed hundreds of spending appropriations bills, balanced every single budget, and submitted an income tax reduced from 5.3% to 5.0% in his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th budget proposals. He reduced the costs of his administration by 20% in four years, firing more state workers than any other state in the nation.

And while doing all of that, he found ways to guarantee health care to every MA citizen, offer free state college to the top 25% of students, and reformed schools to bring MA student scores to the top of the nation in all four standardized tests...all without raising taxes.

From Massachusetts? Our job growth sucks. Budget shortfalls every year.

I agree with the first comment. He has a track record of success that no other candidate has. Not even Rudy. Mitt is exactly what this country needs and he has proven that he can do it. His flip flops are really not what the media makes them out to be. So what, he changed his mind and his record shows that. He is consistent. Anyone can look up his history. Mitt is our Man.

Once his opponents figure out that Romney raised taxes in Massachusetts, he's a goner.

What really ticks me off is how much the media focuses on Romneys looks, and treat him as if he were nothing but an empty suit. He is anything but that. His looks are a negative for him, because it takes away the attention people should be focusing on his ideas and accomplishments. He has accomplished more than any of the other candidates. He is smarter than any of them - He would help our country. This country needs a man like Romney for our president. Forget what he looks like please!