Scandal-plagued parks department challenges Baker
A few months after Governor Deval Patrick took office in 2007, a group of dispirited Republicans gathered at a Hingham country club to hear from one of their party’s few remaining bright lights.
“Reform agendas are what sell in Massachusetts,” said Charlie Baker, then a health insurance executive but still clearly interested in Beacon Hill politics. “Most people think change, particularly when it comes to the status quo in government, is a good thing.”
Nearly a decade later, Baker is now governor and has come face to face with just how difficult change can be. A series of small-bore scandals within the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs — involving misused emergency sirens and political intimidation — have tested Baker’s skill as a fix-it specialist.
The agency has a long history of political scandal, dating back to Governor William Weld’s tenure in the 1990s. Now it is Baker’s turn, and he is promising more changes to come at the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which falls under the agency.
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