February 2010 Archives

SouthCoast Today EDITORIAL

February 14, 2010

Charlie Baker is going to be asking the voters of Southeastern Massachusetts to turn from Gov. Deval Patrick and the Democrats in the November election.

He will be counting on convincing voters here that he is the savvy business leader who can dig the state out of a frightening financial and economic mess.

That might be a tough sell all by itself for the former head of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, which was placed in receivership by the state's insurance commissioner shortly after he became its chief executive officer and which needed nearly $250 million in a state-sponsored bond issue to remain afloat. He also was the state's secretary of administration and finance during part of the Big Dig project.

New Bedford Standard-Times: Republican gubernatorial candidate Baker cool to rail expansion
February 11, 2010
Contact Jack Spillane at jspillane@s-t.com

Charlie Baker brought his Republican gubernatorial campaign to New Bedford and Fall River Wednesday but he did not come bringing good news for the two-decade-long local effort to bring commuter rail to the region.

The following is a statement from Communications Director Alec Loftus in response to House Republican attacks on behalf of Charlie Baker:

"In an attempt to deflect attention from Charlie Baker's responsibility for the Big Dig and crushing debt, House Republicans used their state computers to mail in a political attack that was as tedious as it was false.
 
"Republicans are desperately attempting to hide the truth about Charlie Baker, who was a leader in multiple administrations responsible for running up debt in Massachusetts to unconscionable levels.
 
"In stark contrast, three separate bond-rating agencies, Moody's, Fitch, and Standard & Poor's have affirmed the Patrick- Murray Administration's strong fiscal leadership with a AA bond rating.
 
"Baker and his Republican surrogates in the State House are now trying to re-write history about his role as chief architect of the Big Dig financing scheme. Just ask former Big Dig Chief Matt Amorello, who was right at Baker's side during his latest campaign kickoff."

By Robert Z. Nemeth

Now that the historic contest for the U.S. Senate seat is behind us, attention is turning to the next major political battle of the year: the gubernatorial election. The three-way race is between the incumbent Democrat, Deval Patrick, state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who left the Democratic Party to run as an independent, and a Republican, Charles Baker. Christy Mihos, a Cape Cod businessman, who unsuccessfully ran for the job in 2006, is also in the race. ...

... I talked about the upcoming campaign and the governor's chances of winning a second term with Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, whose political future is closely intertwined with that of Mr. Patrick. A consummate loyalist, he dismissed criticism of his boss and expressed optimism about the future. "The last time I checked the polls, we were winning," he told me.

Read Nemeth's full column.