Pence pep talk doesn’t sway Baker

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

GOP VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE Mike Pence pitched a gathering of Republican governors in Colorado on Tuesday, but even a “terrific” speech by a fellow governor wasn’t enough to win over Gov. Charlie Baker.

“I thought his talk was terrific, because it was as he is. It was a positive and optimistic speech. And he talked a lot about his time as governor of Indiana. He talked a lot about his time in Congress. And he talked about how important it was for the country to continue to maintain a positive outlook for the future,” Baker said.

Baker said Pence spoke for about 20 minutes on Tuesday to a gathering in Aspen, Colo. for the Republican Governor’s Association Executive Quarterly Roundtable meetings, but did not change his view that Donald Trump lacks the “temperament” to be president and Democrat Hillary Clinton has “believability” issues.

“No, I’ve been pretty disappointed with our choices,” Baker told reporters Wednesday in Springfield.

Trump selected Pence as his running mate ahead of the party’s convention in Cleveland, which Baker did not attend. Baker has said he would not vote for Trump, Clinton or Libertarian Gary Johnson, another former governor from New Mexico who is running with Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

The New York Times reported that Pence said, “We’re still winning hearts and minds every day despite an avalanche of negative media coverage.”

A day after traveling to Colorado for the RGA meetings, Baker visited Springfield for Democratic Sheriff Mike Ashe’s last annual clambake – a tradition for nearly four decades.

Baker heaped praise on Ashe, who is not seeking another term, saying his efforts to reduce recidivism has been absorbed into the Baker administration’s approach to criminal justice.

“Some of the stuff that we’ve funded in our workforce development and our reentry efforts around folks coming out of prison have been built off some of the work that he did,” Baker said.

The governor declined to weigh in on former Red Sox ace Curt Schilling’s expressed interest in challenging US Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat who would be up for re-election in 2018.

Neither Warren nor Baker has said whether they would run for a second term in two years, and the governor said that if he is on the ballot in 2018 that would be the focus for him and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.

“I think like a lot of people in Massachusetts and in New England, I admire the guy as a baseball player big time, and as a pitcher. But it’s pretty early to be talking about 2018, and generally speaking, if Karyn Polito and I decide to run for re-election, that’s going to be the focus of my time and attention in 2018,” Baker said.