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News Article from 2007: Romney's vetoes seldom stood
Legislature pushed bills through anyway
By Daniel Barrick / Monitor staff
May 3, 2007
In his latest television ad, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney boasts of vetoing budget bills that don't meet his standards. The commercial is meant to bolster the impression of Romney as a scrupulous steward of public dollars.
"I know how to veto," Romney says in the ad, which began broadcasting nationally last week. "I like vetoes. I've vetoed hundreds of spending appropriations as governor." That's true. But what the ad doesn't say is how ineffective the vast majority of Romney's vetoes were.
For example, in his last year as Massachusetts governor, Romney vetoed nearly 250 items in the state budget. All of those vetoes were overturned by the legislature, effectively removing Romney from the final stage of the state's budget process. That outcome is consistent with much of Romney's veto record. Nearly all of Romney's vetoes - of bills that dealt with access to birth control, increased funding for state zoos, and the creation of a Massachusetts Asian-American commission, among other issues - were reversed by the legislature, sometimes by unanimous votes.
"He likes vetoes, but most of his were inconsequential," said Jim Rappaport, a former chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party and a frequent critic of Romney. "They were like writing in the sand: The waves came in and wiped them out."