Editing Paul Cellucci (section)

==Governor of Massachusetts==
[[File:Paul Cellucci gubernatorial photo.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Cellucci as Governor]]
{{see also|1998 Massachusetts gubernatorial election|1997–1998 Massachusetts legislature|1999–2000 Massachusetts legislature|2001–2002 Massachusetts legislature}}
Cellucci became the Governor of Massachusetts in 1997 upon the resignation of [[Bill Weld]].{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} On November 3, 1998, Paul Cellucci was elected as governor, narrowly defeating Democratic attorney general [[Scott Harshbarger]].  He had successfully fought off a challenge from State Treasurer [[Joe Malone (politician)|Joe Malone]] in the September primary.  He was sworn in as the 69th Governor of Massachusetts on January 7, 1999.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

Cellucci was a fiscally conservative, anti-tax governor who had the ability to work in a bipartisan fashion with an overwhelmingly Democratic State Legislature.  In 2001, the [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] [[Cato Institute]], in its fifth biennial fiscal policy report card,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Moore|first1=Stephen|last2=Slivinski|first2=Stephen|publisher=[[Cato Institute]]|url=http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa391.pdf|title=Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2000|work=Policy Analysis No. 391|date=February 12, 2001|access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Moore|first1=Stephen|last2=Slivinski|first2=Stephen|publisher=[[Cato Institute]]|url=http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/fiscal-policy-report-card-americas-governors-2000|title=Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2000|date=February 12, 2001|access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref> gave Cellucci an "A" grade and said he "earned the distinction of having the best record of reducing taxes and restraining spending growth" among the nation's 50 governors.  Governor Cellucci spearheaded the statewide initiative to reduce the state income tax from 5.95% to 5%, which was approved 59% to 41% by the voters of Massachusetts in November 2000.

Cellucci was also successful in maintaining the state's high education standards for most students. Those standards, which required students to pass exams in basic Math and English to receive a high school diploma, were a major piece of the Education Reform Act of 1993 and were phased in over time. The teachers unions wanted to weaken the standards just as they were about to take effect, but Cellucci worked with Speaker of the House Thomas Finneran and Senate President Thomas Birmingham, both Democrats, to hold the line on this issue.

The standards have remained in effect and in its June 4, 2007 report card on "No Child Left Behind," ''Time'' magazine found that Massachusetts students score the best on the federal tests. However, in 2000, Cellucci signed a budget bill that lowered the state's longstanding "maximum feasible development" standard for special education to the federal mandate of a "free and appropriate public education," which set a much lower standard for the provision of special education to students with disabilities. The latter standard remains in effect.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2000/08/02/43mass.h19.html|title=Mass. Lawmakers Vote To Change Special Ed. Standard - Education Week|newspaper=Education Week|date=August 2, 2000|access-date=April 23, 2018|last1=Galley|first1=Michelle}}</ref>

The biggest controversy during Cellucci's tenure was the huge cost overruns on the "[[Big Dig]]" – an enormous project to replace the elevated central artery highway in Boston with a tunnel.  Cellucci removed the project manager, [[James Kerasiotes]], and put his Secretary of Administration and Finance, [[Andrew Natsios]], in charge of the project.

Cellucci, in 1998, signed into law one of the toughest gun control measures in the United States. He was also known to take a conservative approach to crime. He supported ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'' and abortion rights. For this reason, [[Cardinal Bernard Law]] disinvited Cellucci from speaking at a commencement ceremony of Hudson Catholic High School, Cellucci's alma mater.{{When|date=April 2018}}

In 2000, Cellucci proposed an amendment to the Massachusetts constitution to strip felons of the right to vote. The amendment was approved in a referendum.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2019/05/29/how-massachusetts-prisoners-lost-the-right-to-vote|title=How Massachusetts Prisoners (Recently) Lost the Right To Vote|date=2019-05-29|website=News|language=en|access-date=2019-05-29}}</ref>

Cellucci appointed many women to high ranking positions, including Margaret H. Marshall as the first female Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Her appointment marked the first time a woman headed a branch of government in Massachusetts history.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}