For Immediate Release
August 12, 2014

Contact: Pat Beaudry

Phone: 617.939.0800

Voters Left to Assume Republican Charlie Baker has Same Positions as He Did in 2010.

BOSTON—In the most recent in a string of refusals by Republican Charlie Baker to be on the record regarding his stances on issues significant to Massachusetts voters, Republican Baker has declined an invitation to a public forum on immigration hosted by the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition this Wednesday.

While all Democratic gubernatorial candidates are participating in tomorrow’s forum, Republican Baker is yet again skipping an opportunity to have an honest conversation with Massachusetts voters regarding a critical issue.

The immigration forum is the latest event Republican Baker is refusing to attend, adding to a list including forums on LGBT issues, the environment and arts, culture and creativity.

“How can voters trust Republican Charlie Baker when he refuses to attend public forums and tell voters where he stands on immigration, environmental and LGBT issues and much more? Republican Baker has continued to duck and hide rather than confront the fact that his and his Republican Party’s ideas are way out of line with mainstream Massachusetts voters,” said Democratic Coordinated Campaign Chair Ben Downing. “So far this election, Republican Baker’s best answer to questions he doesn’t want to address is to simply say, ‘It doesn’t matter’. As Governor, it does matter where you stand on our environment, it does matter where you stand on LGBT rights and it will certainly matter to the hundreds of thousands of immigrant households who have no idea if we are still seeing the 2010 Republican Charlie Baker who said the homeless would need to show identification to get into a shelter under a Republican Baker administration.”

In a Commonwealth with hundreds of thousands of immigrant households – as well as a recent focus on national immigration policy and how it relates to state governments due to the surge of refugees fleeing to our southern border from Central America – stances on immigration are expected to play an increasingly significant role to Massachusetts voters this election season.

Republican Baker has been attempting to soften his harsher stances on Massachusetts’ immigrant populations, which were rejected when he was a 2010 candidate for Governor – including his support of the Arizona-inspired Perry Amendment, which required state troopers to investigate the immigration status of certain residents rather than the criminal activity that affects their communities.