[4] His choices for the executive cabinet included well-known figures such as Democrat Robert Pozen, former vice chairman of Fidelity Investments, and Douglas Foy, who had served as president of the Conservation Law Foundation.

[10] Upon entering office, Romney found that the emergency spending cuts and tax increase that the legislature had enacted under his predecessor, Jane Swift, months earlier had proven insufficient.

[16] The 2003 emergency budget revision proposal also included funding cuts affecting public colleges and universities, treatment for schizophrenic and other mentally ill patients, and various other social services.

[23][40][41] The Romney administration even sought an exemption to avoid having to comply with a federal law passed in 2004 that mandated that states like Massachusetts lower their corporate tax rates.

[56] Upon leaving office in January 2007 (the middle of fiscal year 2007), Romney argued that he had left the state with a large budget surplus, after he cut hundreds of millions of dollars of programs.

[75][76] On April 12, 2006, Romney signed legislation that mandates that nearly all Massachusetts residents buy or obtain health insurance coverage or face a penalty (up to approximately $2000 for 2008 or equal to half of the lowest cost premium offered) in the form of an additional income tax assessment.

They determined that there was enough money in the "free care pool" to implement the Governor's plans, but that it would require more people to buy health insurance at full price in order to pay into the subsidized fund.

[76] When Romney's official portrait was made for the Massachusetts State House, the composition included a leather binder with a medical seal representing the healthcare legislation.

[90] In 2004, Romney and the legislature established and funded a program to reward the top 25 percent of Massachusetts high school students with a four-year, tuition-free scholarship to the state's public universities or colleges.

He has also drafted other education reforms, including the recruitment of 1,000 skilled math and science instructors, bonuses of as much as $15,000 a year for top-performing teachers, and new intervention programs for failing schools.

[95] Opponents argued that funding pressure would lead to schools dropping comprehensive sex education programs for the freely available abstinence-only ones, which under federal law were required to teach that any sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects, and which were prohibited from discussing the potential benefits of contraception.

Romney won the endorsement of the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts, a Republican gay-rights group, who in 2005 accused him of reneging on his 2002 campaign commitment to support some benefits for gay couples.

While he does not support gay marriage, Mitt Romney believes domestic partnership status should be recognized in a way that includes the potential for health benefits and rights of survivorship.

"Marriage is not an evolving paradigm," said Romney, "but is a fundamental and universal social institution that bears a real and substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of all of the people of Massachusetts.

[120] Romney responded by joining former Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn and eight others to file a complaint with the state's Supreme Judicial Court to force the legislature to vote on the proposed amendment.

Romney was criticized for reviving a Jim Crow era piece of legislation that had avoided being nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision due to it not saying anything about race.

"[127] Romney subsequently released a statement in support of a proposed amendment to the Massachusetts state constitution defining marriage as existing only between "one man and one woman" in order to overrule the court's decision.

The bill, filed April 28, 2005, sought to reinstate the death penalty in cases that include terrorism, the assassination of law enforcement officials and multiple killings.

The legislation called for a pool of certified capital case lawyers to ensure proper representation for the accused and allowed jurors who do not personally support the death penalty to serve in the guilt phase of the trial.

[citation needed] Working with the state legislature, Romney developed the "Welcome Home Bill" which provides guardsman with reduced life-insurance premiums and free tuition and fees at Massachusetts universities and community colleges.

[174] Romney vetoed a bill in 2004 that would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain in-state tuition rates at state colleges if they graduated from a Massachusetts high school after attending it for at least three years and signed an affidavit affirming that they intended to seek citizenship.

[188][189][190] The decision to not participate in RGGI was revealed on the day that he announced he would not run for re-election, spurring accusations that he had switched his stance in order to gain support from industry groups for a possible presidential campaign.

He also cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from the budget for environmental law enforcement, efforts to promote cleaner water in communities, and hazardous waste cleanup.

[90] Romney was disinclined towards making political deals with the legislature, saying: "I ran on the platform of cleaning up the mess on Beacon Hill, [and] reform means changing the way things are.

[215] In 2004, the legislature passed a measure over his veto that took away the governor's ability to appoint a body to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate and instead set a schedule an early special election.

[90] This was in large part an attempt to keep a seat in Democratic hands should Senator John Kerry's campaign in the 2004 United States presidential election, succeed.

[90][215] Overseeing a $3 million fund-raising effort for what he called Team Reform,[215] he financed radio and television convincement campaigns on issues such as tuition for children of illegal immigrants.

"[76] On December 14, 2005, Romney announced that he would not seek re-election for a second term as governor, fueling speculation about a run for the White House in 2008[219] in the face of rising dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in the state.

[221] In some cases his statements made while campaigning elsewhere in the country came back to affect him in Massachusetts, such as when he caused offense by using the term "tar baby" in Iowa in reference to the potential pitfalls of taking responsibility for the Big Dig.

[234] Many in Massachusetts grew dissatisfied with Romney's frequent out-of-state travel and shift toward promoting socially conservative issues as he began to focus increasingly on national rather than state politics.