Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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174 WHAT ARE YOU READI NG? 13 HOURS: THE INSIDE ACCOUNT OF WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN BENGHAZI by Mitchell Zuckoff SPORTS ILLUSTRATED Governor Charlie Baker has lived in Swampscott for more than two decades. Right around the time Governor Charlie Baker got his start in Beacon Hill politics, the Needham native made his first visit to the place on the North Shore he's called home ever since—Swampscott. Baker and his wife, Lauren, trekked up from Boston to visit friends renting a house in Swamp- scott, and before heading back to the city, they took a detour to Had- ley Elementary School. The Bakers' then-two-year-old son dangled on a swing set, and as the sun went down on a scorching August day, the breeze rolled in off the ocean. The scene impressed them enough to call a Realtor, and soon after, they found a home on Banks Road with the small-town charm they were seeking. "At the first house we lived in, we could literally stand on our front porch and have a con- versation with our neighbors, who are still our best friends, without even really raising our voices," Baker says. In the 23 years since then, much has changed for Baker beyond T H E P O L I T I C I A N Governor Charlie Baker says. "Instead, they just focused on finding common ground where they could and recognizing that this is a democracy. You don't always get your own way, and you seek compromise when it makes sense to do so." After stepping into the private sector and taking the mantle as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Baker waded into local politics, serving Swampscott as a selectman beginning in 2004. It was a lesson in accountability, he says: When your constituents know your home phone number and where you get your coffee, there's no place to hide. "That's actually a really good thing," he says. "It's not like there's a phalanx of paid lobbyists between you and the people who put you there, and I liked that." At the same time, he says he's a husband and father above all else, and he's grateful that his fellow Swampscott residents left his wife and three children alone while he embarked on two hotly contested campaigns for governor. "One of the things you worry about when you run statewide is that somehow it will splash back on your family, especially on your kids," he says. "The folks in Swampscott, to my everlasting gratitude, could not have been better about taking them off the table." Licking his wounds after losing in 2010 was a learning experience, moving into his current home on Monument Avenue. He's risen from state cabinet official to high-powered healthcare CEO, from Republican contender who stumbled the first time around to 72nd governor of the Commonwealth, enjoying bipartisan approval. And as his public profile has grown, the virtues of life in Swampscott have kept Baker happily anchored to the North Shore. The year that Baker and his family moved to Swampscott also marked the start of his time serving under governors William Weld and the late Paul Cellucci, first as Secre- tary of Health and Human Services and later as Secretary of Adminis- tration and Finance. Working under a pair of Republican governors overseeing a blue state shaped Baker's lasting attitudes toward the sort of bipartisanship that spurred him to fill his cabinet with folks rep- resenting a mix of political disposi- tions. "One of the things that [Weld and Cellucci] did was not worry very much about was what letter people had after their names," he by Jeff Harder MOVERS SHAKERS &