Rift grows between Baker, Walsh
Mayor’s Massport chief pick loses out
The once budding bromance between Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh has soured, the latest blow coming when the Baker-appointed Massport board rejected Walsh’s choice for CEO.
And right in the middle of this suddenly frayed relationship is embattled Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, who personally led the Massport search and backed the winning candidate, Lisa Wieland, over Boston Planning and Develnever opment chief Brian Golden.
A source close to the situation said Pollack tried to call Walsh but was rebuffed by the irked mayor, who refused to talk to a Baker surrogate instead of the governor.
Walsh handed off Pollack’s call to an aide, and is still waiting to hear from the governor himself to explain why Golden was passed over for Massport CEO.
“The relationship (between Baker and Walsh) has now changed over this,” one source said.
One of the questions the mayor and others have is why Baker allowed Pollack to take over the CEO search and hand-select the successor to former Massport chief Tom Glynn. Golden has always had a good relationship with Baker, but he had a fighting chance for the top Massport job, not with Pollack pushing for Wieland.
It’s not the first time Walsh and Pollack have clashed. The two butted heads recently over MBTA fare hikes, with Pollack refusing Walsh’s request to delay the fare increases until repairs on the damaged Red Line were finished.
Pollack herself is now enmeshed in a new scandal at the Registry of Motor Vehicles over the registry’s shocking failure to suspend the license of a West Springfield truck driver charged in the tragic accident that killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
A review by Pollack’s MassDOT found that for more than a year the registry has been ignoring infraction alerts from other states, allowing hundreds of drivers to stay on the roads even though their licenses should have been pulled.
Pollack demanded the resignation of RMV chief Erin Deveney but now some are calling for Pollack herself to resign. Baker has stood by his MassDOT secretary, saying he has full confidence in Pollack.
It’s puzzling why Baker would allow his relationship with Walsh to be jeopardized over the Massport dust up. In a Democratic state, the Republican governor needs the mayor, who has vast influence and is a popular figure with voters.
If Baker wants a third term, having Walsh as an ally would be smart politics. Now it wouldn’t be surprising to see Walsh himself run against Baker.