HE GREETED MARTY WALSH with a big hug. He spoke from the heart as a fellow parent when he addressed the scourge of opiate addiction that took the life of an Easton couple’s son. And he poignantly declared how much he wished his mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, could have been there for his big day.
Charlie Baker, consummate policy wonk and master of the nuts and bolts of budgeting and public policy, took the oath as the 72nd governor of the Commonwealth on Thursday. But when NECN’s Alison King asked Baker mentor Bill Weld, following the inaugural address at the State House, what stood out to him in the speech, the former governor said it was the emotion Baker projected as much as any policy points.
Baker is not likely to ever score big for the eloquence of his oratory. But in his first address as governor, delivered in a House chamber overflowing with politicians, family, and friends, he hit more than once on issues that seem to resonate with him not only because they make policy sense but also because they stir a more basic emotion.
It came through when he talked about the continuing tragedy of 1,500 homeless families living in motels because we haven’t figured out a way to end family homelessness. And when he committed his administration to working with Walsh and incoming attorney general Maura Healey on the crisis of opiate addiction, an issue both of them have identified as a major challenge in need of urgent attention.
If there’s one area where Baker’s version of compassionate conservatism most naturally flows it is in his support for charter schools, a position in which Republicans often try to seize the moral high ground in advocating for better schooling options for low-income families stuck in poorly-performing urban school districts. He said it is “wrong for any of us to stand on a front porch or in a city neighborhood sympathizing with a mom or dad when they tell us their child is not getting the education to succeed in life and then oppose lifting the charter cap” or making other changes needed to ensure that district schools are working effectively.
It is the same Charlie Baker that came in for some tough treatment during the campaign over the gushing he did for a beleaguered fisherman who could never be located. Regardless of the real story behind the fish tale, what seems clear is that Baker is a guy who emotes.
Anyone doubting that should read Yvonne Abraham’s column in Thursday’s Globe on Baker and his mother. Or watch this speech, which he delivered a year ago to the Lakeville Big Brother/Big Sister program, recounting his background while still a college undergraduate as a mentor to a troubled youngster. It gives real credibility to his testimony in Thursday’s speech to the power of a Roxbury mentoring initiative that pairs a baseball program with college scholarships for young minority males.
During the campaign, Baker went out of his way to pay attention to communities that often get short shrift from the powers that be. He practically embedded himself in minority neighborhoods to show he was a Republican cut from a different cloth, a practice he continued right after today’s swearing-in with a visit to a Dorchester community center.
“A Republican with a heart” isn’t a bad profile to project as governor in a state that tends to lean more liberal. But it’s a dimension to Baker’s persona that will clearly collide with the traditional Republican in him who also said the deficit the state is facing is the result of “a spending problem,” not a lack of revenue.
With Baker, both pieces seem needed to form an authentic picture. The tension between them may become the storyline of his tenure.
PHOTOGRAPH BY STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
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