Ten O'Clock News

[reporter] 'Edward King arrived at the State House shortly after the November election victorious, but bruised. It had been a rugged campaign. Headlines about his questionable business practices at Massport, and his conservative stand on social and fiscal issues, had alienated many of his fellow Democrats. But, he still had the support of some key, experienced, politicians, like Kevin Harrington and Paul Gazi, whom he asked to guide him through the transition period. But it was clear from the beginning, that one of King's potentially biggest assets, lieutenant governor Thomas O'Neil, was not going to be put to use. King also began ignoring some of Harrington and Gussie's advice, by appointing former Massport colleagues and campaign contributors, many of whom had as little political experience as king himself. It set his course for the next three months. A chart of King's first 100 days, might have begun like this. On inauguration day, it was obvious the legislative leadership was eager to give King strong support, but they grew nervous, as a series of scandalous revelations, about four of the governor's appointments, diminished King's reputation as a

manager, and placed a heavy cloud over the infant administration. Stephen Guptill resigned as Elderly Affairs Secretary, Stephen Clifford quit as Insurance Commissioner, Thomas de Silva was fired as Associate Metropolitan District Commissioner, and John Haggerty resigned as MDC commissioner. Little more than six weeks in office, the can-do governor was buffeted, from all sides. During his budget address to the legislature, King tried to recoup his losses.' [King] 'I regret, that in my zeal to tackle the tasks of controlling the sprawling bureaucracy of our government, and to improve its operation, that would move rather rapidly, in the selection and the overall process. I now realize, that we should have been more careful. We are now, and have been, for at least a month and a half, more careful, and will continue to be.' [Reporter] 'It was a wisely calculated move, that turned the tide. He was asking the 200 member General Court, to approve his first state budget, at a time when his credibility was low.

Even King's harshest critics admit that it took guts to make such a public apology. The governor's drinking age Bill, aided by the emotionalism of a tragic North Shore car accident, which killed four teenagers, was approved. Then, he submitted to the legislature the key ingredient to fulfilling his campaign promise, of cutting property taxes. A bill to prevent any growth in local taxes. But then another series of events, all based on decisions King personally made, drew more criticism than ever. First, King announced he would not grant AFDC recipients, the cost of living increase they had been expecting - a move encouraged by some, and denounced by others. But politically, it cost him the support of Lieutenant Governor Thomas O'Neill, who took the occasion to publicly break with the governor. Then the administration decided to limit home care service to the elderly, after July 1st. Even King's staunchest supporters, like House Speaker Thomas McGee, privately were outraged at this move. King beat a hasty retreat, and said the memo was a mistake. Another king decision drew as

much negative reaction from his allies, as from his critics. The governor's Commission on the Status of Women, had issued a negative report, on the effect of King's State Budget on Women and the Poor. The governor fired all 45 members. The effects were still being felt, when a federal court issued a temporary restraining order, against King's welfare fraud investigation, because of charges of harassing welfare recipients. Finally, this week, King suffered his biggest defeat. The House and Senate overwhelmingly rejected King's zero based cap, on local property taxes, substituting a bill which allows for 4 percent inflation. The governor told reporters this could be the end of his promise to roll back property taxes, by 500 million dollars.' [King] 'So as you know, the cap has been changed, from zero, to four percent. And I believe that this could possibly wipe out the hope of any meaningful property tax reduction this year.' [Unidentified speaker???] 'The governor honestly believes, that he, if you will, represents the kind of, peoples' lobby.

And, I think he's been very disappointed and still incredulous, to a certain degree, that people who are concerned about property tax payers payments, the elderly, for example, people on limited, or fixed income, a series of things, that, you know, we hear about in different contexts, haven't been organized or haven't really pressured the legislature.' [Reporter] 'The big question: how do you assess his first hundred days?' [Unk speaker] 'Very tough. A very, very tough first hundred days. Obviously, a number of different factors have contributed to it. The appointments. The infamous four, if you will, could not help public confidence. I think, without trying to undersell, or underestimate, what has happened in the first hundred days, my perspective is one, to learn from it, learn from the appointments, learn in terms of the constituencies, and two, to really try, to ensure that a governor

who wants to do a number of things that I think people in the state want to have done, has the benefit of being able to perhaps make that happen. And uh... the first hundred days, at one level, are never a fair test. I look forward to the second hundred days.' [Reporter] 'Perhaps down, King is by no means out. He's still confident in his own abilities, and still inspires confidence in others.' [Unk Speaker ???] 'Governor, Massachusetts is fortunate to have in you, a person who is forceful, and knowledgeable, in the area of economic expansion, and development. When the economy goes well, most of the things go well. A prosperous Massachusetts economy, will give the private and the public sector the necessary dollars to address, in a decisive way, important social and human problems.' [Reporter] 'Edward King has emerged from his first 100 days, badly scarred, but the base of his support, the business community, is still behind him, and King is still determined to make good

his campaign promise to cut taxes. If King finds that he cannot substantially reduce the property tax rate, which is likely to be the case, he may try to cut the state income tax. So, while his critics predict more blunders, King feels if he cuts any taxes, by any amount, he will survive his turbulent initiation to Beacon Hill politics. Janet Wu for the 10 o'clock news.