Who can tell me about Charlie Baker, R, running against Martha Coakley for Gov of Mass.?

[DrewFlorida]

I have a nephew who lives in Ma., he has asked me for advice about Charlie Baker. My nephew is a borderline republican, brought up by my foolish brother who works in IT at Bain Capital and tows the republican line. My nephew however seems to want to make an informed decision, the only problem is, I don't know anything about Charlie Baker. Of course I've started a google search for information, but I thought people on DU might know a bit more, especially those who live in Ma.

Thanks in advance, for your help.

[world wide wally]

1. I can only suggest one thing.

Have him look at the record of very other Republican Governor in the country and realize that they are of one mind.

[DrewFlorida]

2. Thank you, but I was looking for something more substantive.

It's all good, I've spent some time on google and found plenty of info to give him a well informed body of evidence that Baker is exactly what you said.

[jas158]

3. What's to know

I've been following this race with some great interest and all I can say about Charlie Baker is that he is running for governor. On every issue he either says nothing or else makes meaningless promises. For example, the biggest reason I've heard from other Democrats for considering Baker is his pledge to ensure local revenue increases at the same rate as state revenue. In other words if state taxes go up, then local communities get an equal increase to help end unfunded mandates. This sounds great, but he has pledged to slash taxes, even going as far as to suggest tax free zones in Boston to "entice" businesses. Aside from the obvious problems with those kinds of plans, this directly makes the pledge to increase local funding moot.

And I'll be entirely honest that Martha Coakley wasn't my first choice in the primary, but she is willing to take a real stand for regular people. She has supported Question 4, the referendum to mandate earned sick time for all full time employees, and she outlined a plan to create universal Pre-K. Baker has said simultaneously that he is in favor of these kinds of benefits and services and that he would not seek them. The MassGOP platform is just about as conservative as any other, e.g. standing against marriage equality and abortion rights in a state that has long settled those issues. Baker's brother is gay and he has made ads saying that he personally defends marriage equality but he certainly doesn't seem willing to stand up to his own party on this or any issue. As much as I am not the biggest fan of Richard Tisei, at least he had the conscience to boycott their convention. Baker just wants to be governor and will say whatever he needs to say to whomever needs to hear it in accomplishing that goal.

Long story short a vote for Baker is a vote for Baker and nothing else.

[DrewFlorida]

4. Since I posted this earlier today, I've found a great deal about "Big Dig Baker".

As the secretary of finance in 1998 he was the main architect of a financing plan for the "Big Dig", his plan ended up raising the costs of the Big Dig by almost $1 billion dollars more than projected, costs that are still being paid off today. He also ran a nonprofit healthcare entity called Pilgrim Healthcare which was bailed out by the state while he tripled his salary to $1.7 million per year. Then he went on to be a partner in a venture capital firm which got caught giving a $10,000 illegal donation to Chris Christie's campaign. He is supposedly a Libertarian although like most republican/libertarians, he's really just a con-artist capitalist vulture.

[jas158]

5. Single Party Rule

Yeah, the Dems haven't been hitting him hard on those fronts, perhaps because they think it's too old for people to care, perhaps because they think it's too early to go negative. But of all the reasons I hear Baker claiming that it would be good if he were governor, the problems of one party rule seem to his most ubiquitous. And it's not that I disagree with the premise, just that if the party in question is the Republican Party, there's a problem.

He loves to make bold claims about how good things were for Mass when the GOP administrations he worked for were in power. What he never mentions is that those administrations were in the 90s when all boats were rising anyway. The real test would be if there were a GOP administration in the 00s, and as luck would have it there was. The Romney administration is pretty good evidence that in Mass it is not because of contributions of Republicans, but in spite of them that we succeed. The policies he advocates would gut Mass as much as any Republican agenda even if he like to couch those policies in "socially liberal" terms to make it more palatable to the commonwealth.
Trouble is his conservative colors keep shining through when it comes to women.

He has claimed that the Hobby Lobby decision "doesn't change a thing" in Mass, which might be technically true in the immediate sense, but shows he doesn't care about national changes that could and would affect Mass. He refused to condemn the NFL's handling of spousal abuse cases. Perhaps most recently he talked down to a female reporter, calling her sweetheart when he got a little tired of the interview. So I have to say if the other "team on the field" is going to be the GOP, I'll stick with the single party rule.

[Arkana]

6. Nothing to tell.

Baker is a glomb. He has no real personality, but his policies are boilerplate crap: shrink government, "fiscal responsibility", eliminate "welfare fraud" (which we all know is code for cut food stamps because fuck poor people).

As Republicans go, I suppose he could be considered a moderate simply because he's not frothing-at-the-mouth crazy and because he's pro-gay marriage and pro-choice. However, since you can't win in MA without being both of those things, even if you have an (R) next to your name, I'd encourage him to think about what will happen to MA health care with the former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim in charge of it.

Martha Coakley's no dynamo, and yes, she bears the scars of being dumb enough not to campaign against Scott Brown, but she was a good AG and she'll make a good governor. Charlie Baker is Mitt Romney 2.0 and if we are dumb enough to vote him in, the result will be the same, guaran-fucking-teed.

[MADem]

8. RMoney claimed to be pro-choice, too--until he wasn't. They LIE. nt

[MADem]

7. Charlie Baker is a corporatist and a sexist asshole. He will lie, lie, LIE with a big fake smile

to get his way. He is deceitful and not to be believed. Anyone who votes for him is dumber than a RMoney voter.

Some material:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/columnists/jessica_heslam/2014/09/heslam_sweetheart_c_mon_charlie
(and that is the Rightwing paper talking)

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/09/24/abraham/452eE6Bzo8GQ4waiSRhObK/story.html

[Corey_Baker08]

9. I Know Im Certainly Not Related To Him...

lol

[KinMd]

10. Even if Baker wins

the state legislature is overwhelmingly Democrat. This session Dems 36-4 in the Senate 128-32 in the house