GOP group decries pol’s appeal to Dems
Urge voters to ‘blank’ corner-office race
Gov. Charlie Baker is defending his Republican bonafides, with a conservative group urging Republican voters to leave the governor’s race blank on the ballot in next month’s election.
The Massachusetts Republican Assembly has launched the “Blank Baker” campaign against him in response to his “long pattern of stabbing fellow Republicans in the back,” according to the group’s press release.
“He is an embarrassment to the party. … He’s not supporting President Trump and President Trump’s agenda and he’s not following the Republican platform at all,” Assembly President Mary Lou Daxland told the Herald.
“He’s really running as a Democrat and that’s why the Democrats love him. It’s as simple as that,” she said.
Baker’s reluctance to say he will vote for Republican Senate candidate Geoff Diehl at a gubernatorial debate last week is one of the main reasons Daxland said the group is telling fellow Republicans to “Blank Baker.”
When asked about the campaign, Baker countered, “I’m very proud of the fact that many of the initiatives we’ve pursued have received bipartisan support, in some cases unanimous support, from both branches and I think that’s one of the things people appreciate about the way we operate.”
Touting his Republican chops, Baker cited his “fiscal discipline,” turning an over $750 million budget deficit into a “significant surplus” without raising taxes.
The group claims Baker was the only prominent Republican in the nation to “abandon due process and common decency” by opposing the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the face of uncorroborated sexual assault allegations.
Former Mitt Romney adviser Ryan Williams, however, said leaving the ballot blank for governor is a “foolish move,” because the strategy would only help elect Baker’s Democratic challeng- er Jay Gonzalez.
“These people are largely irrelevant. It won’t make a difference in the final result on Election Day,” Williams said about the conservative group. “I don’t think this group can be taken seriously given their approach to the election; they’re a pro-Gonzalez group given their strategy. They shouldn’t be taken seriously by any Republican voter.”