Boston ( CNN ) -- Mitt Romney is a smooth salesman . When he was a candidate in 2002 , his pitch to the people of Massachusetts was that he could fix all that ailed us . As the Bay State 's top salesman , he said , he would `` bring great jobs here . '' He claimed he would at last be the governor to reform state government . We bought it . Most of us now would warn , `` buyer beware . '' Under Romney , the Massachusetts economy sputtered to 47th in the nation in job creation -- and that was in relatively good economic times . Real wages declined ( while rising across the nation ) . Instead of helping workers and small businesses adjust to changes in the global economy , Romney cut critical work force training programs and millions in economic development funds . Instead of promoting Massachusetts to attract jobs , he used the state as a punchline on the national Republican political circuit . That 's not all . When I came into office immediately after Romney , hardly anything had been fixed . He left behind a bureaucracy whose work force grew during his term , an unsustainable public pension system and a culture of poor accountability throughout state government . Young people and jobs were leaving our state . Our roads and bridges were crumbling , and his Republican predecessors ' poor oversight of the infamous Big Dig project in downtown Boston resulted in billions of dollars of cost overruns , substandard workmanship and debilitating debt that he made no effort to remedy . In the face of budget challenges , what did Romney do ? He raised nearly every fee and surcharge that did n't bear the title `` tax '' and cut funding for the schools . In a state where education is our calling card , Romney was responsible for the second largest per pupil cut in education funding in America during his second year in office . I respect Romney 's business success . He has also always been a gentleman to me . But in his only turn as a CEO in government , he failed to deliver . His one profoundly important achievement in government -- enacting universal health care -- is something he shuns on the campaign trail , not because he is n't proud of it but because it does n't fit his current conservative sales pitch . So what happened ? How could it be that a man who set out to send the Massachusetts economy soaring into the stratosphere instead ran it into the ground ? Why did a fellow who promised to reform state government fix so little ? Romney sincerely believes that people are better off on their own : on their own to deal with their unemployment ; with under-resourced public schools and no way to pay for college ; with neglected infrastructure ; with a job market that needs skills they did n't have . He does not fundamentally believe that government should help people help themselves . And he has a record as governor of Massachusetts to demonstrate how much damage his leadership does to people , their families and our future . Since Romney left , we have made very different choices in Massachusetts . As a result , we are getting very different outcomes . We are growing twice as fast as the national economy and adding jobs now faster than most other states . Manufacturing is making a comeback . We are first in the nation in student achievement , in health care coverage , in economic competitiveness , in energy efficiency and in veterans services . We have earned the highest bond rating in the state 's history . Government is also smaller , and many of the programs Romney promised but failed to fix , we actually fixed . None of this is by accident . It is happening because , like President Obama and unlike Romney , we understand that government does have a role to play in helping people help themselves . We know that when government invests in the education of its people , its infrastructure and innovation , it creates the conditions for both businesses and families to grow and thrive . Most important , we understand that there are faces behind budget line items and that wise governing means seeing and dealing with the human , community and environmental bottom lines alongside the business one . Today , Romney is trying to sell the same choices to the American people that he sold to the people of Massachusetts not so long ago . Massachusetts bought it then and got slow or no job growth , stifled innovation , neglected public infrastructure , and crowded and under-resourced schools . Those choices did n't work before , and they wo n't work now . Like I said , buyers beware . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Deval Patrick .
Massachusetts governor : Romney failed to deliver as governor . He says state 's government failed , and Romney did n't deliver state government . Health : His major achievement , health care law , is one he now shuns discussing . He says Romney 's record reflects a view that healthcare is a problem , not a solution .