When Charlie Baker ran for governor, he argued that one-party rule is bad for Massachusetts — and that, if elected, he’d hold the Democrat-dominated legislature in check in a way that his opponent Martha Coakley couldn’t.
Take, for example, Baker’s discussion of the state’s troubled Health Connector during a debate hosted by WBZ last month.
“That has a lot to do with the lack of accountability and transparency that comes with one team on the field, one party rule,” Baker said during the debate. “And we need to fix that.”
If those were fighting words, though, the Democrats who dominate the Legislature don’t seem to mind.
On Monday, when House Speaker Bob DeLeo left his office after meeting with the governor-elect, he looked to be in a cheery mood. And in the brief press conference that followed, DeLeo described Baker not as a potential adversary, but as a partner in waiting.
“For the House, I can tell you I thought that our meeting went extremely well,” DeLeo said. “We covered a number of topics. But I think probably the biggest issue that we did talk about was the importance in terms of us working together to get things done for the Commonwealth.”
“Knowing governor-elect Baker as I do,” DeLeo added, “I don’t think, as far as I’m concerned, that that is going to be any issue at all.”
Senate President Therese Murray was upbeat, too. Since she’s leaving her post next year, that may not matter much — but her successor in waiting, Senate Majority Leader Stan Rosenberg, was downright effusive.
“Unlike our friends in Washington, we have no gridlock here,” Rosenberg said. “In the Legislature, we listen to the Republican members of the House and Senate very clearly, and very strongly, and we work together to form legislation. Ideas are not Democrat and Republican. They’re the best ideas to move the Commonwealth forward.”
For his part, the governor-elect seemed just as optimistic.
“My hope and expectation,” Baker said, “is that we’ll have a very positive and constructive working relationship.”
Baker did acknowledge that he, DeLeo and Rosenberg won’t agree on everything. But he made that sound like no big deal.
“As the son of a Democrat and a Republican, I grew up in a house where I watched two people disagree a lot without being disagreeable,” Baker said.
So far, Baker’s honeymoon with the Democrats seems to be going well. The question now, of course, is how long it will last.
