THE GOOD NEWS for Anthony Amore is that Gov. Charlie Baker is endorsing his run for state auditor. The bad news for Amore is that this is news at all.
It ought to be a given that the lone Republican vying for the open auditor’s seat, which incumbent Democrat Suzanne Bump is giving up, would get the backing of the state’s two-term Republican governor. But nothing is a given these days in the state’s beleaguered Republican Party, which claims fewer than 10 percent of registered voters.
Not only is the popular Baker – along with his lieutenant governor, Karyn Polito – the only statewide office holder the party can claim, MassGOP leaders act like Baker’s exit can’t come soon enough.
The party has veered hard to the right under its Trump-backing chairman, Jim Lyons, who has clashed with Baker. As Baker prepares to take his leave after deciding against seeking a third term, he has so far concluded it’s slim pickings when it comes to statewide candidates to carry the party flag, with Amore his only endorsement for now at least.
The party has fielded no candidate yet for state treasurer. Its attorney general candidate is a Trump supporter who garnered just 30 percent of the vote in a run for the same office four years ago. The one announced candidate for secretary of state, Rayla Campbell, warns that the state’s rich and proud history has recently seen “a flavor of communism and socialism mixed in and I don’t like it.” Meanwhile, the Republican governor’s race features conservative former state rep Geoff Diehl, who has also sharply criticized Baker, and little-known businessman Chris Doughty, who has yet to show whether he can put up a fight against Diehl.
Against that backdrop, Amore, who waged an unsuccessful run four years ago for secretary of state and is cut from the same moderate Republican cloth as Baker, seems to be a breath of reasonable air to the departing governor.
“As an independent and experienced watchdog, Anthony will be able to keep the checks and balances on Beacon Hill and help preserve and continue the work the Baker-Polito administration has done over the last seven years,” Baker wrote in a campaign email on Monday announcing his endorsement.
“It’s an honor and it’s energizing,” Amore said of Baker’s endorsement.
Amore said he hopes the endorsement serves as a signal to voters that he’s not part of the party’s hyper ideological hard right turn. “It means voters should understand that I would bring the same sort of governing philosophy that Gov. Baker and Lt. Gov. Polito brought to the State House, which is an attitude of good governance and a moderate view that it’s about professionalism,” said Amore.
The auditor’s office seems like the right race for that kind of message from a Republican in a state otherwise dominated by Democrats. The office’s formal charge is to conduct regular audits of the more than 200 state agencies, looking for signs of waste, fraud, or abuse.
“You can make the case that if you’re going to have someone in state government who doesn’t march to the same drummer, the auditor is probably the one to have,” said former Boston city councilor Larry DiCara – who quickly added that he’s enthusiastically supporting Chris Dempsey, one of two Democrats vying for the post.
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Executive Editor, CommonWealth
About Michael Jonas
Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section.
Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston.
Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters.
About Michael Jonas
Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section.
Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston.
Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters.
“I don’t think people on either side of the aisle think complete one-party control in a state is a good idea,” said Amore, who is the director of security at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and previously worked to establish new security screening systems at Logan Airport and then nationally for the TSA following the 9/11 attacks.
Amore says he’s trying to stay out of the divide within his own party and stay focused on convincing voters of that need for at least a hint of two-party rule.
“The turmoil has been well-documented, it doesn’t need more comment from me,” he said. “All I can do is put out my vision for the office, my vision of prudent Republicanism, and let the voters decide.”
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