Republican Governor Candidate Baker Talks Jobs, Education and Bipartisan Compromise

Republican Governor candidate Charlie Baker said Massachusetts is home to many innovators.

Many of the state’s innovative firms were started here in MetroWest, Baker told a room full of MetroWest Chamber of Commerce members.

More than 100 business and civic leaders attended a luncheon to hear Baker speak at The Verve Crowne Plaza on Route 9.

Baker is in a close battle with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, a Democrat, to be the next governor of the Commonwealth. Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, is not seeking re-election. Voters will decide who will be the state’s top leader on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Baker cited as innovative firms Framingham-based Genzyme, Bose, Staples and TJX Corp. He also mentioned MathWorks and Doctors Express.

“We have this incredible energy and this incredible intellectual capital and fortitude, which makes us kind of who we are,” said Baker about the state he hopes to lead. “It’s that vitality and that curiosity and that constant interest of thinking differently about things that has always serves us well. It is something we always need to retain and to never lose sight of as we more forward.”

Baker said one of the greatest strengths of the Commonwealth is its innovative thinking and approach to business, but he said Massachusetts can do better.

He said Massachusetts needs to be more business-friendly. He said the permit process need to be easier and take less time. He said Massachusetts needs to reduce its carbon footprint and make energy costs more affordable for businesses. He said those two things will also help to spur job growth.

The former Harvard Pilgrim Health Care CEO said Massachusetts does not have the “same focus and the same urgency we ought to have towards job creation.”

Massachusetts is still “way too complicated, way too bureaucratic,” said Baker. “We take too long to make decisions, and it’s too expensive.”

Growing up, Baker said he lived in a divided household as his mom is a Democrat and his dad is a Republican.

“I grew up listening to them debate the issues of the day, across the dining room table with a tremendous amount of vigor” so much so that many of my friends only came to my house for dinner once,” said Baker.

Baker said he appreciated the back and forth debate between his parents. Sometimes he thought his mom was right and sometimes he thought his dad was right, said Baker. He said in that Needham house, he learned to make his case and back it up.

Baker said he watched the back and forth play out in “real terms” when he worked in the Weld and Cellucci administrations, with Republican governors and a Democratic legislature.

Baker said “a lot of the success the Republican administration had in the 1990s, was not so much in spite of the fact that we were Republicans, but because we were Republicans and the legislature was Democrats.”

“It forced both of us to hold each other to a higher standard,” said Baker. “And to engage in a much more aggressive debate and to be willing to get a little more uncomfortable in both directions through the push-and-pull, that I have always called constructive friction of policy making.”

Baker said that is what this state needs again - a Republican governor and a Democratic legislature.

He said if elected he will ask MetroWest leaders, including Framingham Town Manager Bob Halpin, who was in the audience, and leaders throughout the Commonwealth, to identify 2-3 top priorities for their community that a Baker administration could focus on and solve.

Baker while engaging during the luncheon Monday, did spend time discussing Springfield, Lowell and Worcester with MetroWest business leaders, as he hit parts of his platform. Baker said it is important for all regions to understand they are unique and don’t have the same strengths and needs.

One need across all parts of the state is for education and to close the achievement gap.

Baker said he doesn’t want a zip code to dictate what type of education a child gets.

He said in visiting schools across the state the ones that are succeeding and helping students reach their potential have a great principal and a staff and leadership willing to think outside the box and to bend the rules. Baker said schools need to start learning from those schools, which are succeeding. They need to share best practices.