Massachusetts Politics
Swift served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1990 to 1996. In that seat she was active in education reform issues and was instrumental in the passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993. This legislation created the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System which has been instrumental in quantifying academic performance statewide.
As a Senator, Swift was considered to be a "policy wonk." According to Governor William Weld's chief of staff, "She was among the best, if not the best of senators." It was in this capacity that she developed her political themes of increased accountability, down-sizing government, reducing taxes, and reforming education and social services.
In 1996, rather than seek re-election to the State Senate, Swift was a Republican candidate for United States Congress in Massachusetts's 1st congressional district. She was defeated by incumbent Democratic Congressman John Olver.
After leaving the Massachusetts State Senate, Swift served as an executive with the Massachusetts Port Authority. She was appointed by Governor Weld as Massachusetts' consumer affairs secretary in 1997, serving until her swearing-in as Lieutenant Governor in 1999.
Read more about this topic: Jane Swift
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“I have come to the conclusion that the closer people are to what may be called the front lines of government ... the easier it is to see the immediate underbrush, the individual tree trunks of the moment, and to forget the nobility the usefulness and the wide extent of the forest itself.... They forget that politics after all is only an instrument through which to achieve Government.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)