By Paul Moreno 

April 20 -- Last November, following his narrow victory in the governor’s race and the Republicans’ loss of seats in the US Congress, Paul Cellucci triumphantly lectured the national party, advising them to emulate him. 

“I really do think the Republican party at the national level should really be looking to governors for some leadership here,” he said.  “The governor sets the agenda, and I have a pretty good record of working with Republicans and Democrats, getting things done, getting results.” 

Barely three months into his term, it is clear that Paul Cellucci is a political nonentity in Massachusetts.  National Republicans should indeed take note—of what happens when a party abandons its principles and adopts those of the Democrats in order to get elected. 

Cellucci’s failures are manifold.  His push for the legislature to pass a death penalty law backfired so badly that national observers interpreted it as the beginning of a popular reaction against capital punishment.  The only problem was Cellucci’s fecklessness. 

Cellucci also accomplished the stated goal of his gubernatorial opponent, Scott Harshbarger:  the removal of John Silber as chairman of the state Board of Education.  The governor so mishandled his campaign to install James Peyser as commissioner that he had to agree to Silber’s ouster in order to have Peyser become chairman while the favorite of the education establishment became commissioner. 

On Tuesday, Cellucci’s campaign to build the Republican presence in the legislature fell flat as a Democrat was elected to the governor’s old senate seat. 

It also seems unlikely that the governor will be able to attain the “tax cut” he promised—actually a repeal of the “temporary” tax increase enacted a decade ago.  When the speaker of the House, perhaps to help assuage some of the governor’s repeated embarrassments, suggested a cut in the tax rate of 0.2%, the Senate president immediately slammed the door on it. 

And can he with any justice condemn the legislature for cynicism when last year he repeatedly bragged of a “tax cut” which was actually a return of over-billing?  Moreover, Cellucci continues to spend like a liberal Democrat, proposing a budget of over $20 billion, while stories continue to accumulate about fraud, waste and mismanagement in existing programs. 

The “Mark McGwire of tax cuts,” as he styled himself, looks more like the Bill Buckner of Beacon Hill.  He is a fit leader for a Republican party that is withering away because it stands for nothing.  Rather than a model for national Republicans to emulate, Cellucci provides an object lesson and a by-word for them. 
 

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