Charlie Baker, who hit Health Connector, now has website problems of his own

Charlie Baker wasn’t shy about criticizing the state’s Health Connector website when he ran for governor in 2014. At one point, he told WBUR it was “job No. 1” to fix the faulty site rolled out under his predecessor.

Now the health-care-CEO-turned-governor is facing a website crisis of his own with his administration’s faulty coronavirus vaccine appointment finder. And he’s drawing some of the harshest criticism of his tenure as he mulls whether to seek re-election for an unprecedented third term.

“Charlie Baker — the uber manager who previously ran a health care system — is doubly punished for mismanaging a life-and-death health care crisis,” Democratic strategist Dan Payne said, adding that it could hurt the perennially popular governor should he decide to run again in 2022.

The Bay State’s botched vaccine rollout is far from Baker’s first scandal in the Corner Office. But as lawmakers at all levels and on both sides of the aisle ramp up their criticism, Baker’s so-called “Teflon coating” seems to be wearing thinner.

“I have a job that’s way more complicated than I thought it was going to be, OK? And people have all sorts of thoughts about how well I’m doing it or how well I’m not doing it,” Baker said Thursday on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio.” “That is nothing compared to people who’ve lost everything just because they were on the wrong side of the COVID arc when all hell broke loose last March.”

Baker hasn’t yet said whether he’ll run for a third term, though speculation is swirling that he’ll return to the private sector. Baker political adviser Jim Conroy said Thursday, “The governor’s focused on managing the commonwealth’s COVID response, not electoral politics.”

Republican political consultant Chip Jones said, “If he runs for a third term, they’re going to run somebody solid against him and he’s going to get primaried from the right.”

Democratic former state Sen. Ben Downing is already raking in cash for his gubernatorial bid. Harvard professor Danielle Allen and Scott Khourie of Quincy are also mulling runs.

State Attorney General Maura Healey, another potential candidate, tweeted after the website crash that it’s “frustrating at best” and “at worst, it means that the people with limited time and access to technology won’t get an appointment.”

Republican Geoff Diehl, who’s also considering a bid, told the Herald that just like with the Health Connector, “we’re learning that when it comes to using websites to connect people to their health care needs, you have to have a careful plan laid out.”

Baker is facing blowback from nearly the entire federal delegation and state legislators on both sides of the aisle. The Legislature, now under Speaker Ronald Mariano’s leadership in the House, is looking to haul members of his administration in to testify about distribution issues. State Rep. Shawn Dooley, R-Norfolk, has called for Marylou Sudders, Baker’s health and human services secretary, to be removed.

“He’s not getting the love from Mariano and Mariano’s leadership that he got from (former House Speaker Robert) DeLeo,” Jones said. “What’s happening now is you’re seeing more open political attacks on him.”

Baker’s not the only governor taking heat. Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are also under fire.

But for a governor that’s enjoyed some of the highest favorability ratings in the nation, it seems to be taking a toll. Baker twice on Thursday ran through the litany of natural and man-made disasters he’s faced since taking office, telling the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, “You sign up for this, you don’t necessarily know what you’re going to get.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3ubdOLs