Programs & Campaigns

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney -- Busy Signing Books While Refusing to Sign Laws

(Boston, August 1, 2004) Between Midnight and 5 AM on Saturday July 31st, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney vetoed H. 1252, the Dissection Choice bill which would have guaranteed all students the right to humane alternatives to once living animal specimens. His last minute political maneuvering was a successful ploy to kill bills and not allow any overrides.

The veto was a shock given that H.1252 arrived on his desk after a speedy and unanimous pass through the House and an overwhelming 35 to 3 bipartisan majority vote in the Senate. “If an over whelming majority of bipartisan support is not enough to get the Governor’s signature then what is?” asked Theo Capaldo, Ed.D., ESEC/NEAVS President.

Romney’s official veto letter gives his unapologetic explanation. It is not students, animals, the environment, strapped school budgets, the will of the voters, or the work of his legislators that apparently motivates him. Rather, in his words:

"…biomedical research is an important component of the Commonwealth’s economy and job creation. This bill would send the unintended message that animal research is frowned upon."

According to Capaldo, "Governor Romney didn’t even attempt to hide his fiscal priorities using the typical rhetoric that his decision was for the health and well being of the people. Rather, he told it like it is: it’s all about money, period."

In calling a dollar a dollar, says ESEC, Romney’s reasoning has serious problems. It is true, as Senator Ted Kennedy once noted that Massachusetts has more biotechnology firms than 48 other states. Last year Massachusetts was awarded $2,207,983,944 in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, making it the second largest recipient of federal money.

According to Barbara Stagno, Program Specialist for ESEC/NEAVS, Harvard, MIT, Southborough Primate Center, and the many universities and teaching hospitals have guaranteed that Massachusetts is typically one of the top three recipients of NIH dollars. Add to this the many private biotech companies, and Romney is correct: Massachusetts is economically dependent on biotechnology.

However, Romney’s logic stops here. He misses the mark. The other two top recipients of NIH tax payer dollars, California ($3,385,641,498) and New York ($1,886,172,141) * have had dissection choice laws since 1988 and 1993, respectively. Dissection choice legislation has not affected their research dollars one iota -- leaving Romney’s logic and reasons for his veto suspect.

Added Capaldo, “Sound investigation would have proven to him that there is no relationship between dissection choice legislation and jobs and money earned from animal research. He would then have made an informed decision which voters have a right to expect from any elected official.”

“Romney’s motivation for his decision is suspect,” noted Stagno. Many join ESEC in questioning if political self-interest got his winning vote. Romney ran with the support of biotech corporations. If Romney had been a long-time resident of the state, according to Stagno, he would have known that Massachusetts voters are friendly to schools, students, animals and the environment. “In allaying the irrational fears of the biotech industry, the governor may have shot himself in the foot with a large contingent of voters who care more about students’ rights to be compassionate than a wealthy company’s profit margin,” offered Capaldo.

ESEC/NEAVS has now received support for their dissection choice campaign from national organizations including the Humane Society of the United States, Mass Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, National and American Anti-Vivisection Societies, Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, In Defense of Animals, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and others as well as teachers, students and parents from Massachusetts and across the nation.

ESEC vows to continue campaigning to guarantee that every student in Massachusetts be informed that they can make a choice. ESEC will help and even legally defend students who end up in the classrooms of the 25% of Massachusetts science teachers who admit they do not offer alternatives. A 2001 Tufts study of Massachusetts science teachers showed that a full 76% of male and 80% of female teachers already offer alternatives. A strong majority (64%) of teachers who responded were in favor of dissection choice legislation.

ESEC’s efforts will not be deterred. In time Romney will leave Massachusetts and the bill will then be reintroduced into a legislature who “really get that the statistics on what is happening in Massachusetts science classes are just not good enough. It is the right of every student to have their ethical, moral and religious values to not participate in the harmful use of animals and their concern for the environment respected. We will wait, and do it again, because it is the right of every compassionate student,” pledged Capaldo.

Mitt Romney will be touring for “discussion” and book signing of Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership and the Olympic Games. The bill’s supporters plan to be there to remind him he ought to be signing laws that help students, animals, the environment, school budgets, and science -- and not wasting the state’s time signing books for personal profit.

*(according to http://grants1.nih.gov/ )

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