Charlie Baker’s Republican Convention speech

Let me tell you a little about who I am and why I’m running for Governor.

I’m a Massachusetts kid. I’m 53 — and I’ve lived here for 48 of those 53 years. I grew up in Needham and went to school there.

I still remember the names of every teacher I had growing up, and my wife Lauren and I can tell you anything you want to know about the public schools in Swampscott.

I saw the Stompers play the Paradise, and Aerosmith almost played a dance at my high school.

And when I was young and foolish, I worked the door and the bar at the Oxford Ale House in Harvard Square in Cambridge.

I also know which team Curt Schilling roots for.

I’m proud to say I’m the product of a mixed marriage. My mom’s a Democrat and my dad’s a Republican — but they’re both here today. Thank you mom and dad — for EVERYTHING!

Listening to the two of them debate the issues of the day across the kitchen table taught me all I need to know about the importance of checks and balances and two party government.

And if we ever needed two party government on Beacon Hill, it’s right now!

This is a great state — filled with hard-working, generous people…

The small businessmen and women — working every day to serve their customers, or to make the next payroll, or to meet the family budget…

The families raising their kids, the neighborhood volunteers…the people busy working to secure their futures…THEY’RE the reason I’m running for Governor.

I stand ready to serve them, and I’m ready to serve each and every one of you!

Let me tell you why.

Lauren and two of our three kids are here today.

Our children are 19, 16 and 12. In the next ten to fifteen years, they’ll plant their flags and make a life somewhere. We hope they’ll plant their flags here in Massachusetts.

But four more years of what we have now — four more years of drift, wasteful spending, tax hikes, and one party rule on Beacon Hill — will be devastating to our economy — and our kids won’t leave because they want to.

They’ll leave because they’ll have to.

Ask small business owners. I talk to them all the time.
They say, "Charlie — it’s getting harder to do business in Massachusetts…"
"…Nothing is predictable — not taxes, not rules and regulations, not the fees and fines. How are we supposed to succeed?"

So one day, I went up to Beacon Hill and said, "Folks — we need to get serious about straightening out our business climate — about cutting taxes, cutting spending, and cleaning up our regulatory mess — because people are leaving."

And the insiders up there shrugged their shoulders and said, "People leave because of the weather."
I thought about that and said, "Hey — a lot of these folks who left went to New Hampshire!"
It’s not about The weather.

It’s about The Climate!

It’s about the TAX climate! The FISCAL climate! The REGULATORY climate and the JOBS climate!
This is the worst business climate of our lifetimes, but what does Governor Deval Patrick think?

He says he wants to finish what he started! He thinks that Massachusetts is heading in the right direction!
Well, Governor — tell THAT to hard working families making due with less, while the state payroll continues to rise and political appointees fill jobs after "nationwide searches."

Tell THAT to small businesses who struggle to pay their bills, while Beacon Hill feeds the beast that is state government with THEIR money.

In their first year in office, Governor Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray turned the $700 million budget surplus they inherited from Republicans Mitt Romney and Kerry Healey into a $300 million deficit.
But that was just the beginning. In Year Two, they spent $500 million more than they took in, raised taxes by almost a billion dollars, and used $300 million in Rainy Day Fund money to balance the state’s budget.

And this was BEFORE it started to rain!

And when the economic crisis came, they raised taxes — again — by another $1 billion, and they cut local aid — twice. They filled over 1,300 vacant positions, and they gave state workers a raise.

They tried to hire State Senator Marian Walsh — remember her? — into a $170,000 a year job that had been vacant for 12 years.

They closed 11 Registry offices, and even tried to slap on a new $5 fee just for talking to someone at the Registry — until WE put a stop to it!

And they gave $35 million of your money to the city of Lawrence — without a fiscal control board or a receiver.

They did just about everything — except reform state government. It’s the same complicated, bureaucratic, hall of mirrors it’s always been.

This is what happens when one party rule runs amok on Beacon Hill.

But we can fix this. I know this because I’ve been here before.

When Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci got elected in 1990, they faced a similar crisis. Back then, one party rule under Democratic Governor Michael Dukakis brought us billion dollar deficits, high unemployment and big-time tax increases.

When I joined the Weld Administration, people on Beacon Hill told me we’d never balance the budget without raising taxes, and we’d never reform state government. They were wrong.
By the time I left in 1998, we’d cut taxes 27 times, balanced every budget, and reformed welfare, criminal justice and public education.

But most importantly, we got stuff done and got people back to work. The Massachusetts economy generated 400,000 new jobs over that eight year period, and unemployment fell from almost 9% to 3%.

This isn’t a complicated race.

The choices are clear.

If you like more out of control state spending, then vote for Deval Patrick. He’s your guy!

If you believe state government does not need serious reform, but more patronage and insider deals, then vote for Tim Cahill. Cahill was asked the other day what he would do to cut the budget and reform state government. After 8 years as State Treasurer, he said he didn’t know.

But if you believe — like me — that Massachusetts cannot afford four more years of tax and spend mediocrity — that you — the people of this great state — deserve a far more affordable, accountable and responsive state government than the one you’ve got today. Then vote for me! I’m your guy!

If one of these two insiders wins in November, they’ll just do what they’ve done for the past four years. Wring their hands about cutting services to the bone, while they back their trucks up to the loading dock of state government and fill it up to feather their cronies’ and their special interests’ nests on your dime.

I worked my way through school on a loading dock at a welding supply and bottled gas company. I know a thing or two about how they work. As your Governor, I’ll stand out on that loading dock and SLAM THAT DOOR SHUT on the special interests, the insiders, and the politicians who are looking to serve their interests at your expense.

So, let me ask all of you:
Do you want four more years of taxing and spending our state into oblivion?

Do you need four more years of arrogant politicians rewarding their cronies with more hack jobs on our taxpayer dime?

Do you want four more years of sweetheart pensions and benefits while regular folks are out of work and scraping toward retirement?

Neither do I.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for a turnaround in Massachusetts, but I need you to stand with me.

Will you stand with me to cut the bureaucratic red tape, and get Massachusetts back to work?

Are you ready to stand up and make government work for you — the people who pay the bills — NOT the folks on Beacon Hill?

In my Administration, we’re going to stop spending money we don’t have starting on DAY ONE.

We will cut taxes. I support rolling back both the income and the sales tax back to 5%. If we take the money off the table, then they can’t spend it.

We’ll put a moratorium on new regulations, and scrub every existing regulation on the books to make sure it’s working for you.

I’ll make state government live within its means — just like every family, and every small business does in Massachusetts right now.

I will stand with police officers, DAs and ADAs to chase down, capture and incarcerate the people who terrorize our neighborhoods and jeopardize the security of our state. Never forget. Public safety is a key component of economic development.

Before I finish, I want to take a moment and speak from my heart about why I’m asking for your vote.

Lauren and I talked a lot about whether running for Governor would be a good idea or a bad idea before I got in. I’m not a career politician and this isn’t about climbing some political ladder. I won’t be the best speaker in this race, and I won’t tell the funniest stories.

For me, this is about having a chance to put 30 years of success in both the public and private sectors to work for the people of Massachusetts at a time when our state faces very serious challenges.

Over 300,000 people are out of work, our unemployment rate is almost 10 percent, and thanks to Governor Patrick and the folks on Beacon Hill, the next Governor will inherit a monstrous fiscal mess.

But I’m up for it. This is still a great state — full of smart, creative, community oriented people. I’ve walked into a mess before — and you deserve a state government that lives within its means and plays by the same rules you play by.
But if Beacon Hill just muddles its way through the next four years — raising taxes, cutting local aid and behaving badly, my kids — and maybe yours — will leave.

Lauren and I — like so many of you — will be getting on a plane to visit our grandchildren instead of getting in the car. And that would be a shame.

It’s not about the title. I’m running to do the job, and today, I ask for your vote.

If I am fortunate enough to have your vote today and in November, you’ll get everything I’ve got every single day.

We will win in November and with your help, we can make Massachusetts work again!