Expect gov to get needled
Gov. Charlie Baker faces grandstanding lawmakers on Thursday hours after he bowed to public and political pressure, releasing more coronavirus vaccines to hospitals and millions of dollars to an initiative to provide more equity to underserved communities.
Baker must testify before a joint legislative committee and is expected to get tough questions about the state’s balky vaccine roll out program.
It will be a test of the Legislature’s muscle and willingness to take on Baker, who has mostly gotten kid gloves treatment from legislative leaders for most of his two terms.
Baker’s reversal on vaccine supply on Wednesday, giving thousands more doses to local hospitals, was a tacit admission that what he was doing to vaccinate Massachusetts residents wasn’t enough.
He could use a little humility and thick skin when he faces lawmakers.
It should be an riveting day at the State House, where until recently Baker had enjoyed fairly deferential treatment — even by Democratic legislative leaders. Those days are seemingly over.
The hearing is an opportunity for new House Speaker Ronald Mariano to take charge and insist that the bungled rollout be fixed.
Baker doesn’t like to be criticized and questioned. He likes to be the smartest guy in the room.
It hasn’t been a good look over the last few weeks, especially when Baker admitted his “hair’s on fire” over the bungled rollout of the state’s vaccine website.
And he’s still blaming the federal government for not creating enough vaccine supply to meet the demand of residents.
“We don’t have enough of it,” Baker said on Wednesday. “That creates enormous anxiety for people.”
The hearing comes just days after Democrats — led by potential 2022 opponent Maura Healey — ramped up criticism of Baker’s handling of the bumpy vaccine roll out.
Message received. Baker on Wednesday announced he was funneling $4.7 million to make the vaccine more available to 20 of the state’s hard-hit communities.
Healey earlier this week leveled criticism at Baker for not giving more equity to underserved towns and cities.
The Republican governor hasn’t said whether he’ll run for a third term next year but the new reversals in policy would indicate he’s at least sensitive to criticism.
The issue of “equity” is an especially sensitive issue for Baker, whose vaccine program until now was aimed at directing people to mass vaccination sites.
About 50,000 new appointments for the vaccine go online on Thursday, and that will be a test of the state’s horrible website.
“We certainly expect the site’s performance to be significantly better,” Baker said. “We expect (the appointments) will go fast, but as we said before, the whole issue here requires a certain amount of patience.”
That’s something that’s in short supply these days.