By Bob Katzen
There were no roll calls in the House and Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the number of times each representative sided with Gov. Charlie Baker on his 151 vetoes of items in the 2020 session.
A two-thirds vote is required to override a gubernatorial veto. In a full 160-member House, the governor needed the support of 54 representatives to sustain a veto when all 160 representatives voted—and fewer votes when some members were absent, or a seat was vacant. Baker fell short of that goal as 46 votes was the most support he received on any veto. The House easily overrode all 151 vetoes, including 12 that were overridden unanimously.
It was mostly the 31 GOP members who voted with the Republican governor to sustain the vetoes. No representatives voted with Baker 100 percent of the time.
The three GOP members who voted with Baker the most times are Reps. Donald Berthiaume (R-Spencer) who voted with Baker 128 times (84.7 percent); Shawn Dooley (R-Norfolk), 119 times (78.8 percent); and David DeCoste (R-Norwell), 116 times (76.8 percent).
The three GOP members who supported Baker the least number of times were Rep. David Vieira (R-Falmouth) who sided with the governor only 41 times (27.1 percent); Timothy Whelan (R-Brewster) 60 times (40.5 percent); and Nicholas Boldyga (R-Southwick) 79 times (52.3 percent).
The vetoes had little support among the 127 Democrats in the House. Only 22 (17.3 percent) of the chamber’s 127 Democrats voted with Baker to sustain any vetoes while the other 105 (82.7 percent) did not support the governor even once. The Democratic representative who supported Baker the most times was Rep. Mike Connolly (D-Cambridge) who sided with Baker 11 times (7.2 percent).
PERCENTAGE OF TIMES LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES SUPPORTED BAKER’S VETOES IN 2020
Here is how your representative fared in his or her support of Baker on the vetoes. The percentage next to the representative’s name represents the percentage of times the representative supported Baker. The number in parentheses represents the actual number of times he or she supported Baker.
Some representatives voted on all 151 roll call votes. Others missed one or more of the 151 votes. Each record is based on the number of roll calls on which a representative voted and does not count the roll calls for which he or she was absent.
Rep. Christine Barber 0 percent (0) Rep. Mike Connolly 7.2 percent (11) Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven Was not yet elected