Kerry Healey on Budget & Economy

Focus on local aid and mobilizing people to call for it

HEALEY: We need to increase local aid. My administration proposed a 17% increase in local aid this year along with a 8% increase in education aid, plus the beginning of a tax rollback. All in the same budget. What did the legislature do? They only gave cities and towns 8% more this year. I have the fiscal discipline to focus on the things that really matter so that we can increase local aid but also get the tax rollback in there.

MIHOS: But you can't get it done. You've been trying. You won't work with them, you vilify them each and every day.

HEALEY: The people who are watching here tonight can mobilize and get that done. When people are educated they will pick up their phone and call up their legislator and demand what is theirs and they deserve the rollback.

ROSS: Your office had the capacity to veto any piece of the budget that you wanted to veto and I don't see the billion dollars that you're talking about.

HEALEY: They had the capacity to override it. It's 77% Democrats.

Source: 2006 MA Gubernatorial debate on Fox News with Chris Wallace Sep 25, 2006

Work cooperatively with legislature on economic stimulus

Q: How are you going to be any better than Governor Romney in trying to get this economic stimulus bill?

A: My sense is that I have the ability to work cooperatively with the legislature to get things done. I have had a major roll in getting Melanie's Law passed. And that was, I think, a real test of one's ability to work in a bipartisan manner. Another example of my ability to get things done within the legislature would be the passage of the witness protection bill, that we recently signed.

Source: Boston Globe interview with Kerry Healey Apr 26, 2006

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