Governor Patrick’s current winning streak — an impressive series of policy and political extra-base hits that includes an unexpected vote of confidence from the business group Associated Industries of MA — continued yesterday and today with two hard-hitting pieces in … the Herald!? That’s right: the Herald yesterday hammered Charlie Baker for watching his salary at Harvard Pilgrim triple (from about $550,000 when he started to $1.7 million when he left), while the insurance premiums it charged skyrocketed. (That’s yesterday’s front page on the right.) And today it followed up with a piece repeating the basic info about salary and premiums, and including Lt. Gov. Murray’s (predictably) outraged reaction.
From yesterday’s story:
As Republican Charles Baker seeks to capture the independent vote that bolstered U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s win, a Herald review shows Harvard Pilgrim tripled the former CEO’s annual salary as it hit consumers with a 150 percent increase in premiums. Brown rode to victory as an independent voice on health care, a position critics say Baker will have a tough time following with those numbers…. Baker’s salary as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim surged from $548,351 in 1999 to a high of $1.7 million in 2008. He earned $1.3 million in seven months in 2009 before he resigned to run for governor last summer, filings with the state Attorney General show.
Over the same period, premiums at Harvard Pilgrim went up by 100 to 200 percent.
When Baker took the reins in 1999, rates on Harvard Pilgrim’s most popular plans ranged from about $166 to $187 a month per member. Those rates soared to $425 to $483 a month, as of April, according to filings with the Massachusetts Division of Insurance.
And today, here’s the Lt. Gov.:
“If he was serious about helping consumers, helping small businesses have more affordable premiums, he wouldn’t be jacking his own pay at a time you’re hammering small businesses, cities and towns and families with these double-digit premium increases,” Murray said. “(Premium) rates have been a job-killer while they’re raising pay. It’s outrageous.”
Good strategy. The more closely the Patrick/Murray campaign can tie high health insurance premiums to the difficulties small businesses are having, the better. That’s particularly the case because Baker seems to profoundly not get it. Here he is in yesterday’s Herald, accusing the Gov of changing the subject:
“This probably beats talking about spending and taxes and unemployment if you’re him,” Baker said.
Ah, but Charlie, this is talking about unemployment. There is actually a connection between skyrocketing health insurance premiums and businesses laying off or not hiring employees. Welcome to the real world.
Win. And thanks, Herald! đŸ™‚
The man who ran for Mayor of Worcester in 2005? The man who announced at his victory party that he was dumping Worcester to run for LG? Yeah, Timmy cares. About Timmy.
And was on the city council before then. Plenty of politicians keep their current jobs while running for new ones. Neither Obama nor McCain resigned from the Senate to run for President. Nor did Brown, Coakley or Capuano quit their jobs. It happens all the time, so your protest is rather specious.
I’m not talking about keeping a current position. I’m talking about the deception of duping the electorate. Tim was an old friend of mine. I voted for him in 2005. Not again.
We attended Catholic functions. We both had the same “good” philosophies about youth sports. Timmy’s little brother succeeded him as coach of Blessed Sacrament parish. We even had summer basketball teams in the Worcester JV league. Leitrims after a newton Square game.
Yeah, yeah.
Either the Herald thinks that they eliminated Mihos, and it’s time to eliminate Charlie..OR…
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p>They think a primary will be better copy over the summer, and so plant doubts about Charlie just before the convention so Christy gets his 15%.
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p>My money on the latter…
When is someone going to ask Pothole Charlie if he agrees with Scott Brown’s vote against extending Federal unemployment benefits for Massachusetts workers who can’t find jobs, when there are 6 applicants for every available job? When is someone going to ask Charlie the Health Insurance Tycoon if he agrees with Scott Brown’s vote against summer job for poor kids? Why is Charlie the Smartest Guy in Massachusetts who screwed us up with the Big Dig financing getting a pass on these questions? Do we really want a governor who will be a cheerleader for Scott Brown when he votes against Massachusetts, or a governor who will push Scottie to give us some help?
Senator Kerry has been on the frontlines fighting for aid for the unemployed, without any help from Scott Brown. For example, from the 3/12/2010 Boston Globe:
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p>”New England Democrats are trying to build bipartisan support in Congress to change a federal law that slashes the benefits of workers who take low-paying part-time or temporary jobs while collecting unemployment.
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p>”Senators Jack Reed of Rhode Island and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts tried unsuccessfully this week to eliminate the penalty for working by inserting a provision into proposed legislation to continue federal unemployment benefits extensions until the end of this year. The legislation passed the Senate by a 62-36 vote Wednesday.”
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p>That’s just one example. There are dozens more.
Non-vote against extending unemployment benefits in 2004. Oh, excuse me, Kerry was running for president. john Edwards, Joe Lieberman, and Bob Graham thought it important enough to suspend their campaigns to return to Washington to vote. The measure lost by Kerry’s non-vote. You really gotta clean that glass house you live in.
Hi All:
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p>While I was at the Roche Bros. Supermarket in Westwood collecting signatures to get on the ballot two Sundays ago, there was a man there collecting signatures for Charlie Baker for Governor.
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p>He was approached by a thirty – something year old woman who asked, ‘”Is he a real guy?”‘
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p>I almost fell over after the worker touted Charlie Baker as being a “real guy”. At a billionaire boys club meeting, he might be considered to be a real guy. To anyone who actually works diligently for a living and makes less than 50K a year, he is light years distant from being a real guy, or from having much understanding of the problems and concerns of the poor, the working poor or the middle class.
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p>His disconnect by raising his salary substantially after raising rates for health coverage offered by his company by double digits is proof positive of his distance from ever being a “real guy”.
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p>Respectfully Submitted,
Sincerely,
Wayne J. Wilson, Jr.
Democrat for State Senate
Suffolk & Norfolk District, Massachusetts