Charlie Baker has no problem giving money to help elect Democrats.
The incumbent Republican governor of Massachusetts has made many political donations over the years. While the majority of those campaign donations look to be to Republican candidates, not all of them went to members of his party. Baker has donated nearly $7,000 to Democratic candidates in the Commonwealth in the past 20 years, according to the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
Baker donated to Democrats 18 times from 2001 to 2015, OCPF data shows; those donations total $6,825.
The biggest Democratic recipient of Baker’s money was former Massachusetts House Speaker Thomas Finneran (D-Boston). Baker gave him $1,500 in $500 increments between 2002 and 2004. That’s not the only Massachusetts House Speaker he gave money to, either He also gave money to current Massachusetts House Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Quincy) before he was Speaker. Baker contributed $350 to his campaign in 2004.
Baker has also given money to leadership in the other chamber. He contributed $400 to former Massachusetts Senate President Robert Travaglini (D-East Boston) in 2005. Plus, he contributed $750 to Therese Murray (D-Plymouth): $500 in 2002 and $250 in 2005; Murray served as Senate president from 2007 to 2015.
Other Democrats that Baker contributed include: former state representative Carlo Basile (D-East Boston), who he gave $1,000 between 2012 and 2013; Jim Segel ($600), a candidate for treasurer in the 2002 Democratic primary; then-state representative Peter Koutoujian (D-Waltham) ($400) in 2004, who is now the sheriff of Middlesex County; former Massachusetts attorney general Thomas Reilly ($250) in 2004; former state representative Harriett Stanley (D-West Newbury) ($125) in 2001; former state senator Guy Glodis (D-Auburn) ($300) in 2003, who later went on to serve as sheriff of Worcester County; incumbent state representative John Rogers (D-Norwood) ($250) in 2004; and former Springfield city councilor Timothy Rooke ($1,000) between 2012 and 2015. The most recent donation to Rooke came while Baker was the sitting governor of Massachusetts as a member of the Republican Party.
The Democratic donations were a small fraction of his campaign contributions in that time; he gave $53,320 to candidates registered with the OCPF in the past 20 years. He did so over 140 total contributions, most of which went to Republicans.
While Baker made many of his donations to Democrats in the early 2000s, he was a Republican at the time. He supported then-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney donating $2,000 to him between 2002 and 2005. Romney presented himself as a more liberal Republican at the time — something that earned him a reputation as a flip flopper when running for president in 2008 and 2012 as he tried to present himself as a conservative.
The press office for Governor Baker could not be reached for comment on Sunday or Monday this week.
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