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Argeo Paul Cellucci (born April 24 , 1948 ) better known as '''Paul Cellucci''', is an American politician and diplomat, former Governor Of Massachusetts , and former Ambassador to Canada . He was born in Hudson, Massachusetts on April 24 , 1948 into an Italian-American political family and graduated from Boston College and Boston College Law School and Hudson Catholic High School . He served as a member of the Massachusetts state house of representatives from 1977 to 1985. He then became a member of the Massachusetts state senate, serving from 1985 to 1991. From 1991 to 1997 he was Lieutenant Governor Of Massachusetts , becoming the Acting Governor Of Massachusetts in 1997 upon the resignation of William Weld . He was elected as governor in 1998. He is a Republican . Cellucci weathered a political firestorm when it was revealed that he owed $750,000 of personal Debt while advocating fiscal austerity. He successfully fought off a primary challenge from State Treasurer Joe Malone in 1998. In 2001 he resigned to become Ambassador to Canada. Cellucci is considered by his detractors to have been an ineffective governor who exercised little oversight over the Big Dig allowing massive cost overruns. After 9/11 , Cellucci has commended how Canada handled the crisis, especially Operation Yellow Ribbon . He has mentioned the operation many times, as well as the Memorial Service on Parliament Hill to honor the victims as some of the ways how Canada responded, as well as people going to the U.S. embassy in Ottawa to pay their respects to the victims of the attacks, the latter came into his mind again during the 7 days in June 2004 that marked the Death And State Funeral Of Ronald Reagan . Cellucci's daughter Anne is married to a Canadian hockey player, Craig Adams . In March 2005, Cellucci left his job as ambassador to become a vice-president of Magna Entertainment . CONTROVERSIES AS AMBASSADOR In April 2003, Cellucci faced controversy when he spoke out against Canada for its lack of support for the U.S.-led Invasion Of Iraq . He argued America was waging war for its own security, and that the United States would "never hesitate" to support Canada in a similar circumstance. He also earned the ire of many Canadians for his repeated warnings about the political consequences for Canada if it opted not to join the U.S. Missile Defence program, or to pass a bill Decriminalizing Marijuana . These statements, frequently perceived as implied threats, caused Cellucci to be sarcastically christened "the U.S. ambassador-turned- Proconsul " by former Liberal cabinet minister Lloyd Axworthy in an opinion piece titled ''Say no to missile defence'' published on April 29 , 2003 in '' The Globe And Mail ''. Canada has since declined to participate in the U.S. missile defence program. FOLLOWING HIS RESIGNATION Cellucci officially resigned his Ambassadorship on March 17 , 2005 . The next day, on March 18 , 2005 , Magna Entertainment announced they had hired Cellucci. Magna chairman Frank Stronach said Cellucci's role will be to help reform the US regulations around horse racing and gaming. Since leaving his position as Ambassador, Cellucci has penned a book called ''Unquiet Diplomacy'', a Memoir of his time as ambassador. In the book he praises Canada as "a truly great nation", but also sharply criticizes the government of former Prime Minister Jean Chretien , with whom he repeatedly clashed. On September 23 , 2005 , shortly after an interview where the current Ambassador, David Wilkins , stirred controversy over comments he made on the case of Maher Arar , Cellucci gave an interview where he partially reversed his position on Arar. While he was Ambassador Cellucci had declined to participate into the inquiry into the Americans " Extraordinary Rendition " of Arar to Syria, and whether any Canadian officials played a role. In his September interview Cellucci acknowledged, ''"Part of the unfairness was that we took a Canadian citizen, shipped him to a third country without consulting with Canada,"'' During the lead-up to the Invasion Of Iraq Cellucci had put pressure on Canada to join in the invasion, based on the American and UK evidence that Saddam's administration possessed a dangerous arsenal of Weapons Of Mass Destruction . In his interview Cellucci acknowledged: ''"We’re not always right, and on that particular one it looks like we weren’t right, although we know at some point in the past he did have these weapons."'' REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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