Weld, for example, recently joined the Honorary Board of the Our America Initiative, the nonprofit advocacy organization led by Johnson, the governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003. Weld has also begun putting forth his views as a featured writer for The Jack News.

His first column last week was on the need for congressional term limits. Referring to the looming debt ceiling debacle facing Congress next month, Weld said, "Those are time crunches of their own making and dysfunction, and in the private sector, would be job-ending irresponsibility."

Congress' abysmal performance this year is all the more reason why "now is a good time to talk about term limits."

A fiscal hawk unmatched by few

Weld, elected governor of Massachusetts in 1990 with 51 percent of the vote, increased that total to more than 71 percent four years later.

He bested his number, he says, by serving all the people – not just the voters from his then-political party, the Republicans.

Working with multiple parties was and is a necessity in Massachusetts.

Indeed, despite the state legislature being controlled by a Democratic majority, Weld managed to cut taxes 21 times and did not permit any tax increases. He did this by identifying areas of government inefficiency and spending that was not serving the public interest.

For example, Weld championed programs that helped welfare recipients get jobs to reduce their long-term reliance on government assistance, and in turn create a more productive society.

In 1992, he was rated the most fiscally conservative governor in the United States by the Wall Street Journal. At the same time, the state's unemployment rate plummeted from the highest among the 11 most industrialized states to the lowest by the end of his first term.

Speaking out against extreme partisanship

Weld has also begin to publicly address the lessons of multi-partisanship that he first deployed in Massachusetts in the 1990s.

He spoke at a recent panel that he moderated at the National Conference of State Legislatures' annual Legislative Summit in Boston. Before an audience of hundreds of legislators, Weld said face-to-face interactions among lawmakers were vital.