Move over, Sam Houston. In announcing a run for the Republican
gubernatorial nomination in New York, former Massachusetts Gov.
William F. Weld seeks to follow in the Raven’s footsteps by being
elected governor of two different states.
The New York Times editorial page, a source few
Republicans would consult when searching for conservative
leadership, gave Weld a warm welcome: “He’s moderate, he’s
available and heaven knows the Republican Party isn’t overstuffed
with name-brand candidates eager to get on the ballot next
year.”
In the Gray Lady’s news pages, GOP consultant Nelson Warfield
was quoted comparing the Bay State refugee to famous New York
liberal Republicans like Jacob Javits and Nelson Rockefeller. “Weld
is a unique and endangered species: the migratory liberal
Republican,” Warfield said. ”His habitat is limited to the
extreme Northeast, and he is an extremely rare bird.”
What can New Yorkers expect from Bill Weld? Allow a former Weld
constituent (and, in the interest of full disclosure, supporter of
his Massachusetts gubernatorial bids) to offer some insights.
The constant description of Weld as a “moderate” Republican is
not inaccurate, but it is misleading. Moderates like Pennsylvania
Sen. Arlen Specter, Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe and the second- and
third-term New York Gov. George Pataki are not just the left of the
Republican platform on social issues. They are also usually to its
left on economics. Moderate Republicans tend to be less eager to
cut taxes, more generous with social spending, and generally
cautious about deregulation.
Bill Weld, on the other hand, truly mixes fiscal conservatism
with social liberalism. As governor of Massachusetts he cut taxes
sixteen times, balanced the budget annually, pursued privatization,
vetoed minimum wage increases, and even rejected higher levies on
cigarettes to pay for health care for children. (Let’s repeat that
last one: He vetoed a cigarette-tax hike that would have paid for
children’s health care — in Massachusetts.)
Although he grew progressively slacker on spending as his tenure
wore on, Weld’s first budget actually reduced expenditures below
the previous year’s level. Hardly a Rockefeller Republican, he
instituted work requirements for welfare recipients before the 1996
federal reform legislation and boasted that on taxes he was “a
filthy supply-sider.”
Yet Weld does live up his socially liberal reputation in spades.
Many moderate Republicans — think California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger or former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge — are
pro-choice but willing to ban partial-birth abortions. Not Bill
Weld. He agreed with Sen. John Kerry’s votes on partial-birth
abortion and in 1992 called even ninth-month abortions “a price I
would pay in order to have government stay out of the thicket.”
In Massachusetts, Weld created the Governor’s Commission on Gay
and Lesbian Youth and was generally in the vanguard of gay-rights
causes. As recently as 2004, he delivered the homily at two former
staffers’ same-sex wedding and endorsed the Goodridge v.
Department of Health decision before a Log Cabin Club conclave
during the Republican National Convention. He has since told the
New York Post that he opposes same-sex marriage beyond
Massachusetts.
DOES THIS STRANGE COMBINATION of thorough economic conservatism and
social liberalism make Weld a libertarian? Not unless libertarians
also support expansive environmental regulations, gun control, and
affirmative action. Although he has favored medical marijuana and
needle-exchange programs, he does not, as is occasionally assumed,
support drug legalization and has bragged about prosecuting “drug
thugs” while serving in the Reagan Justice Department.
If New Yorkers elect Big Red governor, they shouldn’t expect him
to stick around as long as Pataki or Mario Cuomo. Weld bores
easily. He famously said of the Massachusetts governorship, “I used
to go on vacation a week at a time and I wouldn’t even call in.”
His loss of interest grew with time. Although Weld expressed to
reporters his desire to run for a third term just so he could “kick
[Joseph Kennedy’s] ass,” he seemed to get tired of the office
shortly into his second term.
Weld ran an unfocused race against Sen. John Kerry in 1996,
losing by seven points as Bill Clinton carried Massachusetts in a
landslide. In less than a year, he resigned as governor to mount a
quixotic fight to become Clinton’s ambassador to Mexico, only to
have his nomination killed by Jesse Helms. (Helms’ official reason
for blocking Weld was that he was “soft on drugs,” but a more
probable motive was Weld’s suggestion during a debate with Kerry
that as senator he might not vote to retain Helms as chairman of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.)
This political equivalent of attention-deficit disorder would be
amusing if it weren’t for its implications for a Weld governorship.
New Yorkers shouldn’t expect Weld’s tenure to improve with age.
When he took office in Massachusetts, Weld was tough on
spending. Over time, he reversed his tightwad ways and signed
budgets that grew 50 percent above inflation. Far from continuing
Weld’s early practice of net spending cuts, by 1997 the
commonwealth was spending $5 billion more than when he was sworn
in.
Fifteen years ago, Weld rode into the Massachusetts State House
as a sworn enemy of the Beacon Hill Democratic establishment. By
1994, he was campaigning with the symbol of that establishment,
then Senate President Billy Bulger, and joking about being his
campaign manager. He helped install Bulger as president of the
University of Massachusetts, a post the Democratic pol was
eventually forced out of by Mitt Romney.
One of Weld’s first acts after being elected to a second term
with 71 percent of the vote — carrying a plurality of
Massachusetts’ registered Democrats — was to sign into
law a 55 percent pay raise for the state legislature.
Voters in the land of the Yankees may take this Red Sox fan’s
advice with a grain of salt. But based on this Bay Stater’s
experience, Bill Weld is a lot like the month of March. He roars in
like a lion and saunters out like a lamb.
