The victory lap for Gov.-elect Charlie Baker is over. He has roughly two months until inauguration to determine just how bad things are on Beacon Hill before inheriting the problems.
The electorate is expecting him to bring solutions on Day One to some of the dire issues facing the commonwealth. One thing that won’t be welcome on his first day on the job is the blame game.
Baker is too smart to point fingers at his predecessor right out of the gate. Remember, Deval Patrick’s party still controls the Legislature by huge margins, and Baker won’t make many friends blaming the Democrats’ darling Deval.
Republican political consultant Rob Gray said, “Any new governor coming in needs to stay true to their campaign, both in tone and policy agenda that they laid out. But at the same time not be antagonistic toward a Legislature that might not agree completely with those policy proposals. You need to take a practical approach, and Charlie has spent his career being practical.”
Baker should avoid former Gov. Mitt Romney’s playbook during his first year in office where he tried to slash social service programs dramatically, which infuriated reps and senators.
Romney was saddled with a billion-dollar budget deficit when he took over. Baker will also have money issues with the imploding health care budget, but also departments requiring restructuring such as the Department of Children and Families.
He needs to shake up state agencies that treat our tax dollars like monopoly money. But he can’t do it by slamming the last governor who allowed the mismanagement to go on.
The Baker administration has already held meetings with both the Senate president and speaker of the house, which at least gives the public the impression that getting along with Dems is a key component to his leadership.
Patrick Griffin, a Republican consultant, said just look in the rearview mirror if you want to see what kind of governor Baker will become. “The best indicator of future success is past demonstrated performance,” Griffin said. “When you look at his time during Harvard Pilgrim’s turnaround, I see a guy who didn’t blame anybody, but said we need to fix it and fix it together. That’s the proper way to do it.”
Lastly, if Baker does need to blame the Patrick administration, air that dirty laundry during the first year of office — that’s the expiration date for faulting your predecessor.
Jaclyn Cashman is co-host of Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” show.
Copyright © 2024 Jaclyn Cashman.
