Shocker: Charlie Baker's a Liar

Baker went on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan Show today to talk about his campaign and -- surprise, surprise -- lied about the campaign in spades.

"The third big thing you have to figure out is whether you think there's a message and a rationale for your candidacy, and for me the whole thing from the beginning was we're spending too much money, we're not reforming state government, and if we don't do both of those things, we're never going to create a climate here that's going to get people and businesses to invest in Massachusetts. And that from the beginning is how I wanted to frame this race."

Of course that's how he wants to frame the race -- because it's complete fantasy. Painting State Government in a bunch of lies is a great place to start a campaign from when you're the Republican opponent, because then Baker doesn't have to make the case against what's actually happened, but what he pretends happened. It's much easier to make your case when you make everything up -- until someone calls you on it, as people have been doing to Baker a lot lately. Yet, when Deval Patrick's creating 19,000+ jobs in a month right after (or still in the midst of) the worst recession ever, Baker's going to have to cling to the hope that no one's paying attention to all those people calling him on his lies.

And let's be clear: Lying is exactly what Charlie Baker's doing, and it's looking like a pattern. Baker says the state is spending too much, yet Patrick not only didn't increased spending, he decreased it significantly since the days of Romney. So, Baker's biggest complaint in his "message" for office is based on a lie. Right from the school of Dick -- Cheney. Really, Charlie, it's not even believable at this point. You shouldn't have quit your day job.

Furthermore, the notion that state government "is not reforming" is also completely false. It may not be reforming as fast as we want it to, but Deval Patrick's been at the forefront of pushing reform in office and has a lot to claim success about -- ethics, pensions and the Pike were all reformed in part by Deval Patrick. They were beginnings, but very good beginnings that Republicans failed at for 16 years.

Baker also had the audacity to bring up the repeated lie that the state isn't 'sharing in the pain,' pushing his ill-thought proposal to axe 5,000 state jobs that we all know is pure bullshit, a number with no analysis or foresight behind it, beyond sounding cool in a Republican campaign. Additionally, he keeps pushing the idea that this elite, Harvard-edumacated dude is some common man, which is pretty galling to the people who really struggle to pay their bills and put their kids through school.

"If I had to boil it down into one thing, it would be the notion that Beacon Hill plays by its own set of rules, meanwhile I'm out there living by a completely different set of rules, I have to suck it up, live with less, figure out how to pay my bills, pay my mortgage, pay my kid's education and Beacon hill is just running along on autopilot and I'm peeved about that."

First of all, Charlie Baker is living by his own set of rules, Baker's absolutely right about that: There aren't too many people raking in $1.5 million a year like Baker was at Harvard Pilgrim toward the end. I think he can spare us his complaints about having to "live with less," because that's not a credible complaint by him to most of the six million residents of this state who live with substantially less. Millions of people in Massachusetts would absolutely love to live with the kind of "less" that Baker's had over the past few years. No one begrudges success, but why can't the dude be honest about it?

Secondly, Baker went on to agree with the hosts' litany of lies made right after that quote, and included some of his own, for example:

• State employees pay only 10% of their health care costs. Bullshit.
• State employees retire with $80,000 pensions. Bullshit. Very, very few people in State Government retire with that kind of pension. Certainly less than 5%.
  
• Then Baker continues their lies and deception, saying people in state government, "Retire at the age of 50 or 55, and everyone else is going to be working ten minutes before they fall into the..." he was going to finish with ditch, I think. Of course, Patrick's pension reform bill has state employees retiring much closer to 65 than 50. Again, Baker lies.
  
• To increase the hypocrisy, Baker's trying to get buddy-buddy with the police unions, one of the few sets of people in public employ who can still retire at "50 or 55" under the new pension rules, sometimes even with pensions exceeding $80k, because of ridiculously expensive and unnecessary things like police details. Who's the reform guy, again?
  

It's utter nonsense.

One of the hosts asks how many people "will get the axe?" Baker says, "5,000 people." Then goes on to say, "My goal is to consolidate the executive branch."

It's just not true. There's no way he cuts 5,000 jobs from state government, after Deval Patrick cut more than 2,600. It would destroy state government, without solving any kind of problem (cutting 5,000 people wouldn't even come close to solving our budget problems, for example). It's just an empty promise, or, put in another way, another lie.

"You talk to the people who are out there and who are working hard every day... they all look at what they've been going through the past couple years, and they wonder why the state government hasn't been going through the same thing.... Let's face it, the taxpayers pay the bills, the taxpayers deserve a state government that plays by the same rules... and right now, the state government doesn't play by the same rules."

Wow. Just wow. What freaking bullshit. Patrick's cut 2,600 jobs in executive agencies since coming into office, and there's been 4,155 people cut from state government in total, according to the Boston Globe. Furthermore, people working in state government have had to take pay cuts and furloughs to avoid even more job cuts -- something that amounts to a hefty sum for many employees. How are these things not the state 'sharing in in the pain?'

Baker seriously forgot about being pwned by "Erica," not too long ago, on this very subject, probably on the same radio channel. Perhaps he needs a refresher?



Right before the first quote I used, Baker had the prescience to say this:

"I made my kids watch the whole end of the Brown-Coakley race and said, guys I want you to know that there's going to be days when you wake up and turn on the TV and wonder who that guy is who's supposed to be your father."

How true that must be for them. I wonder if it happened today?