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Bill Weld on Government Reform
Libertarian Party nominee for Vice Pres.; former GOP MA Governor; 2020 GOP Presidential Challenger
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Accepts donations from individuals and PACs
On campaign finance:- Former special counsel and FBI Director Robert Mueller donated to Weld's 1996 Senate campaign.
- During the 2016 presidential race, Weld accepted donations from individuals and PACs.
Source: Business Insider background for 2019 GOP presidential debate
, Sep 24, 2019
Blow up unnecessary state agencies
- Economy and government: Supports cutting taxes and reigning in spending. Opposes Trump's tariffs.
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A fiscal conservative, as Massachusetts' governor Weld reigned in spending, cut taxes some 15 times, and vetoed minimum wage hikes.
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He's a free trader who said in 2016 that candidate Donald Trump's "huge unilateral tariffs" would damage the world economy.
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Weld promised to "blow up" unnecessary state agencies after taking office as governor in 1991. As a Libertarian candidate in 2016, he pledged to cut the federal government by 20 percent to reduce waste.
Source: PBS News hour on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
, Feb 15, 2019
Supports term limits; they bring in fresh blood
A resident pressed the candidates on term limits, an issue mostly untouched in the campaign so far. Weld, a supporter, said he is as an example of fresh blood that came into politics and made a difference.
Kerry, who opposes term limits, said the real issue involves reforming campaign finance laws. "The problem is money--the average person can't run," Kerry said.
Source: Harvard Crimson on Kerry/Weld debates
, Oct 19, 1996
Reinvent ourselves from failed dogmas of big government
In his January 1991 inaugural address, Governor William Weld put the Massachusetts political establishment on notice that he was about to sweep the old order away. He defined his mandate precisely and clearly: "Last fall the people of Massachusetts voted
to disenthrall themselves from the failed dogmas of big government." And so, said the new governor, the public sector was going to shrink. He promised a leaner, more "entrepreneurial" state, one tending "to steer rather than row," one that "understands
that sometimes the most helpful thing to do is to get out of the way... Fewer rules and more results--that's my definition of entrepreneurial government." His newborn administration would set about "reinventing the
way state government functions," dismantling "bureaucracies 50 years out of date, sluggish and centralized, in which hierarchies rule and orders are issued from the top of a power pyramid."
Source: Jeff Jacoby in City Journal
, Jan 1, 1996
Page last updated: Feb 25, 2020