LACK OF TRANSPARENCY ADDING TO BAKER WOES
Gov. Charlie Baker insisted it was “not my call” to withhold a trooper’s report that details his son’s alleged groping of a woman on a Boston-bound JetBlue flight last week, in what some are calling a disturbing lack of transparency amid ongoing state police scandals.
State police denied Friday they were investigating the June 20 incident, saying only “this matter is not in the department’s jurisdiction” and referring comment to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In a press conference Monday, Baker made no mention that the police agency his administration oversees was involved in investigating his son, saying only that his son is cooperating with federal authorities. A.J. Baker has not been charged. Yesterday, the Herald confirmed that state police questioned A.J. Baker after he was taken off the flight last week and wrote a report. The Boston Globe first reported details of that report after it was unofficially leaked yesterday. “It’s not my call,” Baker said yesterday after an event in Lynn, when questioned by the Herald on the failure to release the report.
“The decisions that get made with respect to that sort of information get made by the investigating entity, which in this case is the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Baker added, again avoiding any mention of state police involvement.
The report describes the woman’s exclamations of alarm, supported by multiple witnesses, as she claimed that the younger Baker touched her breast. A.J. Baker told state police he was sleeping during the incident.
Flight 1354 out of Washington, D.C., landed at Logan International Airport about 11 a.m. “where it was met by local authorities,” JetBlue said last week.
Yesterday, a visibly angered Gov. Baker brushed aside further questions
about state police involvement.
“A.J. is cooperating — I said that,” Baker said before aides whisked him away to his motorcade.
Critics say the situation calls for total transparency.
“Transparency is always the best policy, especially when there’s an appearance of favoritism in the process — Baker’s existing scandals are rooted in the same kind of allegations,” said GOP candidate Scott Lively, who is challenging Baker in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Several top state police officials recently resigned after troopers were ordered to rewrite an arrest report to remove embarrassing details about a judge’s daughter.
Lively said the leak of A.J. Baker’s investigation report shows some may be questioning how the state police are operating.
“Normally when there’s a whistleblower-type activity, it’s because someone is very unhappy that things are not happening as they should, they wouldn’t be happening if the system was running smoothly,” Lively said.
David Tuerck, executive director of the conservative Beacon Hill Institute, said Baker should stand by his son while he waits for the facts to come out, but said it’s up to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to put out whatever information it has to allay public concerns.
“In a situation like this it’s unusually urgent for authorities to get out the facts about what they know or what they’re considering. Any sense that the authorities are sitting on information is troubling, there could be political consequences to the governor.
“This is not just an ordinary case, it’s a high-profile issue we should know about as soon as possible,” Tuerck added.
“The allegations against A.J. Baker are deeply troubling,” said Sydney Asbury, spokeswoman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez’s campaign. “Sexual assault is a serious crime, and we owe the alleged victim and her family nothing short of a fair and impartial investigation.”