Nation-Building >> Vt Gov Dean outlines goals, possible run at presidency in 2004 | return to front page

This appeared in The Brown Daily Herald on Friday, February 22, 2002, and has some interesting comments that follow the article.
Here are some excerpts:
Dean said his main theme on budget issues was one of fiscal conservatism. “Social justice comes from a balanced budget,” he said. Dean cited his own terms as Vermont’s governor as an example of this conservatism. “People knew I wasn’t going to waste their money. We can’t start programs we can’t afford,” he said.... Prison reform, healthcare and education are some of the governor’s pervasive concerns, Dean said.

Starting early on in the first weeks of a child’s life and providing services through such venues as Vermont’s Success At Six intervention program, Dean said, would be more effective for reaching unemployed, discouraged, single or young mothers, cost effective for the taxpayer and ultimately, better the youth immeasurably....
“Governors come off to people as ‘I’ve been there, I’ve had to make the tough decisions,’” Dean said. “But in Washington, governors believe the President’s relationship to Congress is the same as between themselves and the state legislature, but Congress has much more power than they think. The President needs to say, ‘We’ve got to stick to a budget.’ You can’t borrow your way into prosperity, you have to build it.”