Vote for Mark Roosevelt

Although Roosevelt trails Weld in the polls, his principles are sound and his ideas more progressive than Weld's.

Much of the credit Weld has received for social reform should go to Roosevelt, who wrote the bills and campaigned for their passage. Roosevelt wrote the bill mandating protection for gays and lesbians against discrimination that Weld signed. And credit for Weld's educational reform should go to Roosevelt, who authored last year's Massachusetts Education Reform Bill.

Roosevelt also supports a welfare reform plan that would allow people on welfare to receive two years of education and training in order to find jobs and become self-sufficient. Weld's system, in contrast, kicks people off the rolls after 60 days, forcing them into poverty.

In addition, Roosevelt wants to consolidate government paperwork and reduce regulations, making it easier to lute new business to Massachusetts.

Weld has spent much of his term riding the coattails of former Gov. Michael S. Dukakis's tax increases, supporting Massachusetts's social welfare programs and cutting taxes at the same time by depending on Dukakis's tax revenue.

Unlike Roosevelt's wholesome vision of social services working with business to improve the state, Weld wants to increase Massachusetts's revenues by attracting casinos and encouraging interstate gambling.

Weld has failed in the last four years to bring new business to Massachusetts and the jobs that he has created are mostly part-time jobs. Full time employment has actually dropped under Weld.

Weld doesn't deserve the four more years. Instead, Massachusetts needs the direction that Roosevelt will provide commitment to educational reform, determination to rework welfare, aggressiveness on crime and fiscal restraint.