For Immediate Release

September 30, 2014

 

Contact: Pat Beaudry

Phone: 617.939.0800

 

Change of Heart Is Latest in Long Line of Flip Flops from Failed 2010 Campaign

 

Boston— After hearing Republican Charlie Baker at last night’s Springfield debate admit climate change is real, the Massachusetts Democratic Party offered a reminder to voters about his weak position from his failed 2010 campaign when he refused to even recognize a changing climate.“While I’m glad Republican Charlie Baker finally recognizes science, voters deserve to know why it took so long for a Harvard-educated CEO to admit he’s ‘smart enough’ to know climate change is real,” said Massachusetts Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign Chair Ben Downing. “Accepting the changing climate is more than just about science, it’s an economic issue for Massachusetts. We have 80,000 people who wake up every morning to go to work in the clean energy sector, and we need to keep this industry growing. Republican Charlie Baker just cannot be trusted to do that.”

 

In 2010, Republican Charlie Baker was quoted as saying this about climate change: “I’m not saying I believe in it. I’m not saying I don’t…You’re asking me to take a position on something I don’t know enough about.’’On February 11, 2010, the Boston Globe editorialized,  “Changes in climate caused by greenhouse gases are the premier environmental issue of our day, so it is surprising to see Republican candidate for governor Charlie Baker evading questions on the issue with feeble claims about not being smart enough.”

Baker went so far as to say, “I don’t think whether I believe that or not matters in this conversation.”

Climate change is the latest issue in which Republican Baker has stuck his finger in the political winds to reverse the unpopular policy positions voters rejected. This includes: flip-flopping on South Coast Rail, increasing the minimum wage, aiding the homeless, approving Cape Wind and funding higher education.

 

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