Rooke endorses Baker on steps of City Hall

Date: 10/25/2010

Oct. 25, 2010

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

SPRINGFIELD -- City Councilor at Large Timothy Rooke crossed party lines on the steps of City Hall and endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker on Oct. 19.

Rooke, a Democrat, cited his displeasure with incumbent Deval Patrick's spending policies as a primary reason for his support for Baker.

"I want to be very clear that I am endorsing Charlie Baker for governor and [Richard] Tisei, his running partner, because I feel the state needs to move in a different direction," Rooke said. "We have to be more accountable to the taxpayers and we have to have proven track records of making difficult decisions. I think Charlie Baker has demonstrated that, not only in his private sector life, but on the campaign trail."

Rooke said, among other things, his dealings with the governor's office regarding the relocation of the school department led to his decision to endorse another candidate.

The school department offices were moved to the former federal building on Main Street with a 20-year lease through Mass-Development. According to Rooke, if the new location had been put up for public bid with private companies, such as Monarch Place, which were interested in leasing the space, it could have saved over $11 million in taxpayer money over the next 20 years.

"I called the governor's office, I spoke to his aides, I spoke to the secretaries at [the Office of Administration and Finance] and all of those calls and that advice I had given was ignored," Rooke said. "When I look and try to make a decision, it really comes down to who would I trust with my pocketbook or my wallet?"

Rooke said that he believed Baker's decision-making abilities are needed after Patrick's use of taxpayer money during his term.

"When you're a leader, you have to make difficult decisions. You can't give everyone everything and you can't give it all away and I think that's what we've had with Deval Patrick," Rooke said.

Baker said that change to government spending policies in the Commonwealth was necessary and that change would not come should Patrick be elected to a second term.

"My dad used to talk a lot about sports teams and he had a pretty interesting way of describing how he thought the Red Sox or the Patriots or the Bruins were going to do each year, particularly after they had a bad season," Baker said. "He'd say, 'You know, son, you don't change the players, don't expect much to change.' And that's exactly where we sit as a state at this point in time.

"If people don't like the way the state's going, if people don't like the direction Massachusetts is heading in, if people think that state government is spending too much and taxing too much and not doing the right things with their money, then they should change the players on Beacon Hill."

Baker used the example of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which are used to distribute state-issued food stamps and cash benefits.

"People are using them in bars to buy liquor, people are using them to buy scratch tickets, people are using them at casinos," Baker said. "This day and age, everybody knows those debit cards can be programmed to be used in specific circumstances and specific situations and the governor has not done so."

Baker said the next governor will inherit a state deficit of $2 billion deficit.

"And that's despite billions in rainy day fund money, billions in federal stimulus money and billions in new taxes," Baker said. "That is not responsible fiscal stewardship. That is kick the can down the road to the next day, to the next administration and to the next problem."

When asked how his administration would help Western Massachusetts recover from the recession, something several communities have struggled to do, Baker said that regional economic planning is a necessity, but first, the state as a whole needs to have a "predictable and reliable message to businesses and families, day-in and day-out" and the cost of doing business in the state needs to improve.

"Forbes Magazine actually ranked us 50th in terms of the cost of doing business in their most recent survey," Baker said. "So at the macro level we need to do things to become more affordable and more dependable."

At the local level, Baker said government needs to investigate different areas of the state and get to know which industries drive that community.

"For example, out here there is a lot of precision manufacturing -- small business, many of them privately held, that can create good jobs and right now, they would like to hire somewhere around 500 people," Baker said. "If the state were smart and if the state were strategic about this, Massachusetts would have a certificate program out here to provide the kids and adults in this area who don't have jobs the skill set that they need to go to work."

Baker also said he was appalled by the governor's cutting of funds for services for veterans, including cuts that were made at the Soldier's Home in Holyoke.

"I think the governor's decision to cut back on services at the Soldiers Home is disgraceful," Baker said. "Those people served out country. Many of them were wounded and their colleagues and their brethren were killed. It is the ultimate sacrifice they make for their country and their community. Shame on the governor for not appreciating the importance and significance of the Soldier's Home. Not on my watch."