Romney: President Obama A 'Job Killer'
SALEM, N.H. (CBS) - Out on the stump, Governor Mitt Romney is running on his record.
He told the crowd in Salem today, "In Massachusetts I came in and our budget was out of whack by three billion dollars."
He says he wants to bring his experience balancing the budget on Beacon Hill to Washington.
WBZ-TV's Karen Anderson reports.
Romney tells voters: "We came in and cut spending. We didn't just slow the rate of growth. I cut spending. I reduced it. I got it down. How did I do that? I cut some programs back, I eliminated programs. I combined agencies. I found ways to reduce costs."
We decided to take a closer look.
Governor Romney did cut spending, according to the Mass Taxpayers Foundation, by half a billion dollars.
What he doesn't mention on the GOP trail is that he also raised revenue.
John Walsh, Mass Democratic Party Chair, says, "He raised fees in Massachusetts 750 million dollars. And across the board the cost to register a motorcycle went up, the cost to register a gun went up, he tried to institute a fee to charge people 10 dollars to register that they were blind."
Romney is also running on his record as a job creator.
He told the crowd, "I want to get Americans back to work. And I want to tell you I have had the experience that allows me to take on these challenges."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports.
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Romney had success at Bain Capital.
But we checked with the Mass Taxpayers Foundation and when Romney was governor, Massachusetts ranked 47 out of 50 states in job creation.
"I think the essence of his case is he looks good in a suit," says Walsh. "When he arrived as Governor of Massachusetts the unemployment rate was lower than national average when he left it was higher."
