Charlie Baker, Press Conference Highlights 7/29/2009

CHARLIE BAKER STARTS MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR CAMPAIGN

Pledges Budget Overhaul as Top Priority


(Boston, Massachusetts) Charlie Baker made his campaign for governor official today, filing
paperwork with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance to open a
campaign account and start accepting contributions. Baker said that his top
priority as governor would be a massive overhaul of the state budget, which
is severely out of balance and is putting the state at risk for an economic
disaster.

"State government has a gigantic spending problem, and the people on
Beacon Hill have no will to fix it. They've actually managed to turn a
crisis into a calamity," said Baker. "We need to start from scratch on the
budget, and with a governor who is fiscally responsible, fearless of the
special interests, and committed to balance."

Baker said that the current leadership on Beacon Hill has taken a
number of irresponsible actions on the budget, including adding thousands of
new state employees, spending down the stabilization fund before there was a
crisis, raising taxes, and making spending promises and commitments that
they can't keep. These mistakes will hamstring the economic health of
Massachusetts for at least a decade unless there is a leadership change in
2010 that forces responsible budgeting. Said Baker, "Once the budget gets
away from you, bad things happen and continue to happen until you have the
courage to fix them. There's not a lot of courage on Beacon Hill right
now."

Baker noted that the current state budget carries structural
deficits that will extend far into the future, meaning that the only way out
is a major overhaul of how the state does business.

Baker also announced that he has appointed State Senate Minority
Leader Richard Tisei as Campaign Chairman. "I am really pleased to have
Richard on my team. He helped Bill Weld get elected then straighten out the
budget and stop new taxes in the early 1990's, and that kind of know-how
will help me immensely," said Baker.

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