Flack for Setti Warren takes page from Trump’s playbook

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Setti Warren’s flack, Kevin Franck, may alienate every member of the #mapoli press corps before Gov. Charlie Baker even announces his re-election bid.

Franck was instrumental in taking down Scott Brown during the 2012 U.S. Senate race as spokesman for the Massachusetts Dems. He certainly knows how to rib Republicans, but lately his focus has been on needling the media.

His recent tweeting might work against his boss, given that Charlie Baker is popular with the press.

Last week Franck responded to a Boston Herald story about salary raises at WGBH, where we learned host Jim Braude rakes in nearly $364,000 annually. Franck tweeted, “I guess Braude’s pro-Baker bias makes sense now. Rich guys look out for each other.”

So he’s trying to goad Braude? To what end? The green room at Greater Boston might have a bit of a chill in the air if Franck escorts Warren to the next interview.

President Trump takes a beating from the press and the left every time he tweets about #fakenews and news coverage of him. So it’s surprising a liberal is taking a page out of his book. But when I spoke to Franck on the phone about my criticism of his tweaking tweets he just shrugged it off — owning his criticism towards the media.

“The last thing we need is media unquestioningly repeating what the government tells them, but unfortunately that’s how the Beacon Hill press corps often covers Charlie Baker,” Franck said. “Twitter is a great way to call out the insiders before they get too chummy.”

The Boston Globe tweeted out Joan Vennochi’s column where she “explains how @MassGovernor could lead on the health care debate. #mapoli.” This solicited a tweet from @kevinfranck saying, “When the Globe can’t praise Baker, they give him advice. It’s really amazing how much the Globe functions as Baker’s comms shop.”

The Globe loves to support a rising Democratic star and Setti Warren could be that candidate. Unless Franck makes an enemy out of the paper.

Reacting to a WBUR story on Baker’s pick for the state’s highest court, Franck tweeted, “There’s no information in this story that wasn’t in Baker’s press release.”

Franck is apparently also a poet writing several #mapolihaiku posts:

“In Mass., reporters defend the powerful and mock those who challenge”

And at the very least he’s not oblivious to the fact that he might be deploying a bad game plan for complaining about press coverage for his candidate: “a flack jerk tweeting insiders say: not helpful and yet he persists” Before taking the job with Warren, Franck contributed to Boston Herald Radio and wrote columns for the paper. His quick wit and interesting insight made him an asset.

Hopefully, we start seeing more of that guy again soon.