Lokvani's Lunch Meeting With Governor Mitt Romney

LokVani-LokVani: "Lokvani was pleased to accept an invitation to a lunch meeting with Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey at the Statehouse on Friday, January 29, 2005. This was the second 2nd International Publications lunch attended by lokvani at the State House; the event was attended by about 20 ethnic publications from the area.

Lokvani was the only Indian-American publication at the meeting - which included Chinese-American, Portuguese, Irish-American, Armenian, Finnish and Jewish publications. Many publications present were over 100 years old. Lokvani, though less than five years old, laid claim to being among the ones with most subscribers.

Both Governors said that they were pleased with the discussions that developed last summer and expressed interest in continuing an open dialog with various members of the Ethnic Media in MA. Governor Romney before announcing his 2006 Budget wanted to hear the thoughts and concerns that face the immigrant communities. This meeting was casual, with the governor and lieutenant Governor answering questions and concerns raised by the journalists.

Romney identified five priorities for the coming year:
reining in health care costs;
boosting education funding, producing more affordable housing;
reducing the red tape involved in business permitting in Massachusetts; and restraining growth in public employee contracts."