“Competitiveness Council” Rings Hollow as Employers Keep Leaving Massachusetts
BOSTON, MA – Last week, Brian Shortsleeve, Marine, business leader, proven government reformer, and Republican candidate for governor, called on the Healey administration to explain why Cape Cod Potato Chips is shuttering its Hyannis facility and moving production out of state. Since then, the exodus has only grown. Companies like Thermo Fisher, the largest publicly traded company headquartered in Massachusetts, have announced layoffs and downsizing here as part of a broader and increasingly alarming pattern.
“In recent weeks, major Massachusetts companies haven’t just been struggling, they’ve been announcing closures, downsizing, and shipping jobs out of state,” said Shortsleeve. “That makes Maura Healey’s so-called ‘Competitiveness Council’ sound less like an economic commission and more like a eulogy committee. While Beacon Hill forms blue-ribbon panels and issues press releases, real jobs are disappearing in real communities.”
Shortsleeve is now demanding answers to six additional questions that go directly to Maura Healey’s lack of leadership, accountability, and results:
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Governor Healey created a ‘Competitiveness Council,’ yet during its existence some of the Commonwealth’s largest employers have announced layoffs, downsizing, or departures. What concrete, measurable results has this council produced, and why should anyone believe it’s more than a press-release exercise?
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At what point do repeated closures and job losses stop being dismissed as national trends and start being acknowledged as a failure of state leadership? How many more companies need to leave before you admit Massachusetts’ policies are driving employers away?
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You frequently tout Massachusetts’ workforce and innovation economy. If those advantages are so strong, why are companies choosing to expand in states like Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania instead of here?
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Has your administration conducted or will it release a formal exit analysis identifying how high taxes, energy costs, regulatory delays, and state mandates factor into these decisions? If not, how can you claim to understand a problem you refuse to measure?
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When major employers announce layoffs or closures, your administration issues statements of concern. What specific policy has been reversed, repealed, or paused as a direct result of these job losses, if any?
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As governor, is your priority protecting existing jobs and employers, or advancing costly ideological mandates even when they push businesses out of the Commonwealth? Which policies are you willing to abandon today to stop the bleeding?