Party Chair Calls Out Baker’s Out-Of-Touch Speech and Lack of a Plan for Massachusetts

BOSTON – Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Gus Bickford released the following statement in response to Governor Charlie Baker’s State of the Commonwealth address:

“Governor Baker seems happy with his status quo administration, but Massachusetts voters can see that his lack of a plan for the big challenges we face is hurting our state.

“The number of opioid overdoses and the cost of healthcare keep rising, but the Governor won’t take on the pharmaceutical industry that is driving those increases. The MBTA is in shambles every day, and the Governor thinks progress is forming yet another commission to study the state’s transportation needs. More than a year after voters rejected his charter school ballot question, the Governor still doesn’t have a plan to fully fund our public schools. After the Legislature rejected Baker’s plan to kick 100,000 working parents off of Medicaid last year, the Governor’s GIC decided this week to throw 200,000 people off of their Massachusetts health insurance plans.

“If Governor Baker attended a Women’s March, regularly rode the T, or even held a single public town hall meeting where voters could talk to him face to face., maybe he’d understand the big problems we face. The millionaires who fund his campaign accounts think things are good under Charlie Baker’s status quo, but the rest of us know that Massachusetts needs a plan to invest in transportation and education, resist the Trump Administration, fight the opioid epidemic, and lower the cost of healthcare. It’s clear that Governor Baker doesn’t have that plan.

“Instead of owning up to the big challenges we face and proposing solutions, Governor Baker is resorting to misleading statements and selective memory to defend his status quo.”

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