Baker re-election bid begins with new Allston campaign HQ
Gov. Charlie Baker has quietly begun revving his re-election campaign, plunking down more than $46,000 this month to secure a new headquarters in Allston that already has about 10 staffers and a still empty office for the candidate.
The 9,000-square-foot space on Lincoln Street will not come cheap: At $23,125 a month, it costs more than four times what any of his potential Democratic opponents are paying in office rent, a sign of the financial heft the Republican wields early in the race.
But campaign aides say the office, which they say they found through an agent, has strategic advantages. Tucked off Cambridge Street, it’s close to the Mass Pike and a few miles from the State House. It has two conference rooms and a more “modern” feel than the slightly larger, 10,000-square-foot Allston office Baker rented for his 2014 run, campaign adviser Jim Conroy said.
Baker actually returned to that Commonwealth Avenue building in August — but to cut a ribbon celebrating its development as an 80-unit apartment building.
“If the old space was still there, we would have happily gone back,” Conroy said.
Instead, campaign staff began filling the Lincoln Street office earlier this month, first with about a half-dozen fundraising staffers and Baker’s top political hands in Conroy, campaign manager Brian Wynne, and Billy Pitman, who left the governor’s press office to join the campaign.
Baker has been there once, to tour it. The campaign has set aside an office for him and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito to share, but it’s empty right now.
“Based on the fact that they’re sharing an office, the expectation is they won’t be spending a lot of time there,” Conroy said.
The 26,000-square-foot building is run by LM Asset Management, whose manager, Brian Lash, is CEO of Target Logistics — also a building resident. Lash, who’s donated $1,000 to Baker since he took office, was not available for comment yesterday, according to someone who answered the company’s phone.
Baker and Polito put down $46,250 as an initial payment in early December, according to campaign finance records. The pair had a combined $10.3 million in their campaign accounts as of mid-December.
The office costs far outweigh what Baker’s wouldbe opponents are paying. Jay Gonzalez is spending $5,000 a month for his Cambridge campaign headquarters while Newton Mayor Setti Warren has reported paying $3,000 a month to rent his office on Albany Street in Boston.
Bob Massie has reported paying $5,500 since August for shared office space in Somerville.