A New York Times story on what should be the completely unsurprising observation that Republican governors in heavily Democratic states are running away from Trump rather than toward him includes this sentence about our own chief executive:
“Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, who enjoys wide popularity in his state, has worked closely with the Democrat-controlled legislature to increase the minimum wage and create a paid family and medical leave program.”
Umm, the Lege and the Gov “worked closely” on this? Don’t think so. Let’s try this:
“Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, who enjoys wide popularity in his state, went along with the Democrat-controlled legislature in largely yielding to powerful grassroots groups intent on increasing the minimum wage and creating a paid family and medical leave program (by going to the 2018 statewide ballot if necessary), while extracting a few concessions to business groups opposed to those initiatives. The whole thing took about a week start to finish.”
The Democratic-controlled legislature also approved a net loss in take home pay for many who already work at the low end of the wage scale who previously were paid time and a half for working on Sundays and Holidays, a huge bonus for business owners and a further blow to the idea that people ought to have a community day of rest or be able to celebrate holidays together and not commercialize more aspects of life in the Commonwealth.
As evidence that the Massachusetts Democratic Party is fighting a losing battle on this one, I give you the following tweet from Robert Reich: “Charlie Baker proves it’s still possible to be a Republican lawmaker and also have brains and scruples.”
NYT: How about fixing your style guide to read: “Democratic” not “Democrat”?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)