REPUBLICAN CHARLIE BAKER WELCOMES JEB BUSH TO MASSACHUSETTS, HIGHLIGHTING THEIR SHARED HISTORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Op-Ed on Republican Baker-Bush Similarities Draws National Attention

BOSTON – With Republican Charlie Baker welcoming Jeb Bush to Massachusetts today for a high dollar fundraiser on Cape Cod, their shared history of denying climate change is receiving national attention.

“Republican Charlie Baker’s history on climate change is just another instance in a long list of changing his positions with the political wind,” said Massachusetts Democratic Coordinated Campaign Co-Chair State Sen. Ben Downing. “ The facts remain that as recently as 2010 Republican Baker refused to accept the existence of climate change. Whether it be flip-flopping on minimum wage, SouthCoast rail or climate change, voters know they couldn’t trust Republican Baker in 2010 and he’s proven to be the same person in 2014.”

Democratic National Committee Chair and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz authored an op-ed this morning that can be read in full here. Below is an excerpt:

So why won't Bush and Baker be talking about win-win solutions on climate change?

It is because Bush, like most prominent members of the Republican Party, won't accept the science of climate change. When asked if he believed that global warming was primarily man-made, Bush claimed, "I'm a skeptic. I'm not a scientist." This sentiment has been echoed by other leading Republicans from my home state. Florida Governor Rick Scott has gone from saying he has "not been convinced that there's any man-made climate change" to responding "I'm not a scientist." Tea party favorite Senator Marco Rubio dismissed the conclusion of climate scientists as the scientists' "opinion."

Until recently, even [Republican] Charlie Baker shared that view. During his last campaign for governor in 2010, Baker refused to answer whether he believed in the reality of climate change, saying "You're asking me to take a position on something I don't know enough about. I absolutely am not smart enough to believe that I know the answer to that question.''

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