home

=__Charlie Baker (R) Gubernatorial 2010 Candidate__=


 * History:** Charles Baker, Jr, was born November 13, 1956, in Elmira, New York. His father Charles D. Baker who graduated harvard, was a buyer for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, while his mother Betty Baker remained at home. Baker grew up with two younger brothers Jonathan and Alex in Needham, Massachusetts, his family also had a second home in Rockport. He grew up playing football, hockey, and baseball; he has described his childhood as "pretty all-American".

Baker's father was a conservative Republican, his mother a liberal Democrat, and the family was often drawn into political arguments at the dinner table. His father became vice president of Harbridge House, a Boston management consulting firm, in 1965. In 1969, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Bakers father became Deputy Under Secretary of the Department of Transportation under President Richard Nixon, and the next year became the department's Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs. His father went on to serve as Undersecretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services under President Ronald Reagan. As a child Baker had a disposition to pursue a career in politics.

The family returned to Needham in 1971, where Baker attended Needham High School. In high school he served on the student council and joined DeMolay International, a youth fraternity organization. He reluctantly attended Harvard University because of the way he thought people would see him. Nonetheless he graduating in 1979 with a BA in English, After Harvard He attended Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. At Kellogg he received a MBA in Management. After graduating, Baker served as corporate communications director for the Massachusetts High Technology Council. In 1991, he became Massachusetts Undersecretary of Health and Human Services under Governor William Weld. In 1992, he was appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services of Massachusetts. He later served as Secretary of Administration and Finance under Weld and his successor Paul Cellucci.

 After working in government for eight years, Baker left to become CEO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates and later Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, a non-profit health benefits company. During this time he served three years as a selectman of Swampscott Massachusetts, and considered a run for governor in 2006. He stepped down in July 2009 to run for Governor of Massachusetts.

**C****harlie Bake****r's Stance on Political Issues:**

**Education:** Charlie Baker believes that we need to keep the status quo in terms of funding for education, for the educational system here in Massachusetts is what attracts many employers to settle in our state. Employers want to have educated workers, and if we provide one of the best educations in the country, then employers will come to Massachusetts to make use of our educated young. To make sure that every child in Massachusetts receives a quality education, Baker supports the openings of more charter schools and the existence of the MCAS system.

**Immigration:** Charlie Baker has finally taken a realistic approach towards immigration, stating he would ask the state legislature to pass strict laws preventing illegalimmigrants from receiving public benefits. If illegals don't contribute to the state, then why should the state help them? Deval Patrick has refused to create such legislation, allowing public funds to possibly support illegal immigrants, causing a reduction in services to taxpayers. To help reduce the state deficit, it is imperative that immigration reform happens - we need change we can believe in.

**Unemployment Rate/Government waste:** Charlie Baker understands that to reduce unemployment, which currently hovers from 9 % to 11%, we must create jobs by inviting corporations into our state. To encourage more corporations to move to Massachusetts, and provide hundreds of jobs, media type="youtube" key="0Fj3EpV1t7Y?fs=1" height="346" width="432" align="left" Baker has proposed to lower the Corporate tax rate from 8% to 5%. Charlie Baker supports eliminating the shroud that covers state pension plans, which results in the loss of thousands of taxpayer dollars to a few individuals. First off, he would make the pension system more fair, paying workers based off their average career salary, instead of the average of their last three years of work, which is the time that these employees usually make the most money, leading to an unfair pension system and a significant loss of money to the state. Some workers even abuse this system, by asking for promotions and pay raises a few years before they retire, so their pensions do not reflect the work they have done to the state. Some retirees make unproportionately high pension checks. In order to curb this, and to provide more money for the general welfare, Charlie Baker has proposed a $90,000 limit on pension funds and a new law that would require 2/3 of our legislature to vote on special appropriations to the pensions of a few individuals.

(Charlie Baker Campaign Ad) **Environment:** Baker not only wants to fix the economy, he wants to help the environment too. By encouraging green companies to move to Massachusetts, he will help encourage the growth of green, renewable energy sources. He will promote energy efficiency programs to help encourage consumers to opt for clean technology and energy, which will help reduce our dependencies on foreign oil and lower the cost of energy all together (when green technology is combined with conventional energy sources)

media type="youtube" key="W93a2RqN6vg?fs=1" height="220" width="367" align="right" During the debates, Charlie Baker has pointed out the Tim Cahill and Deval Patrick worked together, reaching a deficit and raising our taxes, instead of cutting waste. Voting for them would be voting for the last 4 years, and we need change we can believe in. Charlie Baker also states that our previous governors have been the least aggressive toward the budget and other issues when compared to governors of other states. During the Massachusetts gubernatorial debate on September 26, Baker stated that one of his main reasons for joining the race for governor is that he is "extremely disappointed with the governor(Patrick) and treasurer's(Cahill) inability to create a real balanced budget in Massachusetts." Baker also says that Cahill had a lot of time to inject himself into the commonwealth, and that at the end of the end of his term in office, the state has a higher sales tax, a 2 billion dollar defisate (**Charlie Baker Attack Ad)** and a 3 billion dollar increase in spending. When the govoner raised spending by 20%, that he said nothing about that, or when the governer started to use "rainy day fund" money before it started to rain, that Cahill said nothing about that either. One of Baker's major disagreements with Stein is in the topic of education. Baker believes that standardized testing is essential to the education of Massachusetts students, while Stein feels that these tests are ineffective.
 * Gubernation Candidates Criticisms:**