GOP governor hopeful Baker says Gov. Patrick 'sold out' Lawrence

Related Photos

Jon Golnik, Republican candidate for Congress in the 5th District, takes the microphone to address the crowd at the statewide candidates night forum last evening at the VFW Hall in North Andover. Carl Russo

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

August 12, 2010

By Mark E. Vogler mvogler@eagletribune.com The Eagle Tribune Thu Sep 09, 2010, 11:09 AM EDT

NORTH ANDOVER — Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker last night said Gov. Deval Patrick "sold out the people of Lawrence" by not pushing to have the city placed in receivership or have a financial control board.

"The governor, I believe for political reason, chose not to go with a control board, and instead, handed the keys over to the newly elected mayor," Baker told a crowd of more than 130 at the North Andover VFW hall last night.

"As it exists today, we still need a receivership, we still need some sort of aggressive, independent review board for the city of Lawrence and we don't have it," said Baker, one of several statewide candidates who appeared at a forum sponsored by the Merrimack Valley Tea Party.

"The governor sold out the people of Lawrence on this one, OK. ... He sold out the businesspeople of Lawrence — the people who have businesses there who have got to be worried every single day about whether or not their businesses are going to be able to survive. And he sold out the kids of Lawrence," Baker said.

Baker, who for months has publicly called for receivership or a control board for Lawrence, also criticized Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua for trying to hold onto his state representative's job during the early days of his administration.

Lantigua "didn't think he needed to be the mayor, 24/7, 365 ... that he could continue to be the state rep at the same time," Baker said.

"That should have been the warning bell to everybody that this guy didn't understand the size and the significance of the problem that Lawrence faces," he said.

Lantigua and Patrick are both Democrats.

Baker said that conditions have only worsened over the past six months because the governor didn't "do the right thing."

"Chelsea and Springfield both had receiverships and control boards and they got better ... and they got better quickly because you had pros in there with leverage and authority to make decisions," Baker said.

"That's what we need in Lawrence. We don't have it. We desperately need it and I really hope that at some point the governor gets the message on this one because what's going on right now isn't fair to anyone in Lawrence, especially the people who live there and have to depend on the city and the city services for their future and their kids' future," he said.

Baker predicted that the need for better financial management for the city would not be addressed until after the fall elections.

Meanwhile, other communities "that are going to be expected to step it up" to help the city are not going to be able to provide mutual aid, fire protection and other needs of Lawrence residents.

Other candidates appearing last night:

Woburn City Clerk Bill Campbell, a Republican candidate for secretary of state, drew loud applause from the crowd, when he said he supported voter identification at the polls. He also ignited cheers when he vowed to take steps to make sure Massachusetts citizens serving overseas in the military would be able to vote.

"I'd move the primary date so our troops' ballots count on election day," Campbell said.

"We don't have enough time between the primary and final election," he said.

Karyn Polito, a Republican running for state treasurer, advocated taking the politics out of state government by saying "no to pensions for politicians."

"I have fought the culture of corruption on Beacon Hill. That's why I'm running," said the five-term state representative from Shrewsbury, who wants to see Beacon Hill return to "a citizen-type Legislature" instead of one where politicians build professional careers.

State Treasurer Tim Cahill, who is running as an independent for governor, said he thought Polito would make a good candidate to replace him. Cahill said he would work to return the state sales tax to 5 percent from the current 6.25 percent if elected.

• • •

Join the discussion. To comment on stories and see what others are saying, log on to eagletribune.com.