By Gintautas Dumcius
and Michael P. Norton
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON, OCT. 31, 2006….Sweeping Democratic candidate Deval Patrick into governor’s office will create “one-party government” not seen since Michael Dukakis’s days at the State House, Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey’s running mate said Tuesday.

During the Dukakis administration, the last time Democrats held both the House, Senate, and the Corner Office, there were “significant tax increases across the board,” Reed Hillman, a former state trooper and state lawmaker, told business leaders gathered here to discuss concerns about state competitiveness.

In Dukakis’s last four years, state spending went up 54 percent, Hillman said, eventually leading to layoffs of policemen, teachers and firemen. “Tax increases destroy jobs. I can’t say it more succinctly than that,” he said, noting that Healey has signed a pledge not to raise taxes and Patrick hasn’t, instead pledging to work with the AFL-CIO, which “should be a little scary to businesses.”

Patrick has repeatedly said he has no plans to increase taxes.

“We need a balance, we need two-party government,” Hillman continued, pointing to the Democrat-controlled Legislature, Congressional delegation, and “almost every mayor” in the state. “I would say whether you’re a Democrat, or an unenrolled, or a Republican, you have a stake in two-party government.”

In front of a small crowd at the Omni Parker House breakfast to discuss a conservative Pioneer Institute new report that suggests the state is losing its competitive advantages, Hillman also pushed unemployment insurance, auto insurance, and welfare reforms, and the creation of one highway agency.

Before delving into the institute’s report, released yesterday, Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams) offered a quick rebuttal, calling Hillman’s talk of one-party rule a “fallback position.”

“I was under the impression that the Republican Party was not in favor of affirmative action,” said Bosley, representing the Patrick campaign and drawing laughter from the crowd. “And if you think we’re one party as Democrats, come to a Democratic caucus.”

With conservatives, liberals, and “middle of the road” Democrats, “we fight like hell in those Democratic caucuses,” Bosley told a crowd of over 100 individuals from local business circles.

In his remarks, Hillman said the state has one of the highest unemployment insurance tax rates in the nation. At $688 per capita per year, the tax creates a “huge disincentive” for businesses looking to locate in Massachusetts and incentive to look to New Hampshire, where the tax is half of what it is here, he said.

Individuals also only need to work for 15 weeks to qualify for benefits here, the shortest period in the U.S., and can collect unemployment insurance for up to 7 and a half months, he said. “Kerry and I are committed to reforming that and make Massachusetts more competitive to businesses,” he said.

Massachusetts employers have long paid unemployment insurance rates that rank among the highest in the nation. A report filed with the Legislature last week by the state Department of Workforce Development showed Massachusetts with the third highest estimated annual per-employ