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Date: 11/9/2022
WESTFIELD — As his term comes to a close, Gov. Charlie Baker visited Westfield State University on Nov. 2 to tout his new book, “Results,” and to look back on his two terms in office.
Baker was joined by Westfield State University President Linda Thompson in the Scanlon Banquet Hall, where dozens of students, faculty and elected officials were packed in.
Baker told the crowd that many books written by politicians concern the “what” and “why” of certain issues and their time in office, but “Results,” released in May, delves into the “how” and goes into details of how certain chapters of his governorship were handled.
He said one section of his book gives his perspective on managing the coronavirus pandemic in the state. He talked about the famous incident in which the New England Patriots’ team airplane was used to import face masks from China in the first weeks of COVID-19.
When Massachusetts first tried to get a large supply of masks from China, the shipment went through New York City, where they were taken. Baker said he directly accused former President Donald Trump of using the federal government to confiscate the masks before they could get to Massachusetts.
“So now I have to figure out how to get them here, and then I have to figure out how to get them here without them being stolen,” said Baker.
So he called the family of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and concocted a plan to get the masks from China through Alaska with cooperation with the Alaskan governor, who had state police monitoring the plane before it came here. This happened six more times with other planes, Baker said.
With the 2022 midterms looming, Baker took time to address the national political climate and how it compares to his household growing up. His father is a lifelong Republican and served in two different presidential administrations. His mother was a lifelong Democrat. They may have disagreed on politics, Baker said, but it never became a wedge between them.
“They never voted for the same person, but they were, usually, happily married for 60 years,” said Baker. “Growing up at my dinner table, it was a conversation. It wasn’t a fight, it wasn’t even really a debate. It was an inquiry.”
The lesson Baker’s parents were trying to teach their children was that people should seek to engage and actually listen to the people they may disagree with.
“I think in many respects that one of the biggest challenges we have nowadays is that we have a lot of good talkers, not as many good listeners,” said Baker. “You can’t really solve the problem if you can’t listen.”
One problem that Baker said he thinks he has solved is inefficiency at the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Baker said that after carefully observing RMV foot traffic and changing how individual visits to the registry are handled, he was able to end the notoriously long lines and wasted time.
To do this, Baker said, he had his staff stand in the lines of RMV offices in Massachusetts to see where things could be improved, and where the inefficiencies could be found. The result was a slight modernization of the RMV.
“You’re coming in to renew your license, you’re coming in get your plates changed, You’re coming in to get your registration changed and your license because you just moved to Massachusetts, you’re coming into to sell your mom’s car, and none of you have the things you need to have,” said Baker to laughter from the crowd.
Now, he said they added “traffic directors” at the beginning of the line to guide people to the specific line they need to be in based on the reason for their visit.
“When you come in now, they are going to ask you what you are coming for, and either send you to the simple line where you just need your driver’s license renewed, or the complicated line over there,” said Baker.
He added that they now have stations where people can print out the relevant documents they need using their phone, so they never has to go through the pain of waiting in line to learn they are missing a document and have to start over again. A typical wait went from 90 or more minutes to being so fast Baker began to wonder if they should downsize RMV spaces because they didn’t need to hold so many people anymore.
He said the changes he made to the RMV played a big role in keeping them open throughout the pandemic.
Baker was first elected as Massachusetts governor in 2014, narrowly beating Martha Coakley with 48.4 percent of the vote. He won a second term in 2018 against Jay Gonzalez with 66.6 percent of the vote. Late last year, he announced that he would not be running for a third term.
In recent years, Baker has been ranked one of the most popular governors in the country by opinion polls, in spite of the fact that he is a Republican serving in a state that overwhelmingly supports Democratic candidates. As such, some have wondered whether Baker may be a good candidate to one day run for president, and one attendee at Baker’s talk asked him directly: will we ever see Charlie Baker run for president?
The answer from Baker was not a commitment in one direction or another, but he indicated that the idea of a presidential run is unlikely from him, mostly because of the effect it would have on his family.
“You never say never in politics,” said Baker. “But it would be a very long pole in the tent for my wife and my kids.”