GOP's Charles Baker offers 10-point government reform plan

BOSTON (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker is rolling out a 10-point plan he says will make state government less costly and more efficient.

A copy of the plan obtained today by The Associated Press calls for the elimination of the government-only holidays on Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day. Evacuation Day is Wednesday, coinciding with St. Patrick's Day, while Bunker Hill Day is in June.

Private sector employees do not get those vacation days.

Baker would ban performance bonuses for state pension fund managers when investments don't grow, and prohibit public employees from simultaneously holding jobs at the state and local levels.

He also proposes ending excessive vacation payouts and banning state agencies from hiring lobbyists.

And Baker says the state should streamline its licensing and permitting, and ban confidentiality agreements with departing state workers.

The former Harvard Pilgrim Health Care president says state government has to operate by the same rules as the private sector.

Meanwhile, Gov. Deval Patrick has released the first ad of his re-election campaign, a Web-only spot highlighting his proposal to check health insurance rate increases.

The Democrat never appears in the spot released Tuesday, which features several small business owners saying they're struggling to cope with rising premiums.

The ad directly promotes an issue targeted at the national level by President Barack Obama, and also indirectly jabbing at Baker and his background in the health care industry.

Patrick was also testifying Tuesday in favor of a bill that would control cost increases made by health care providers.

Treasurer Timothy Cahill — a former Democrat running for governor as an independent — scheduled his own news conference to rebut Patrick's testimony.

An aide said Cahill planned to use his stature as the chief financial officer in Massachusetts to complain that the governor had mismanaged the state's health care program during his term. And, the aide said, Cahill planned to say that the Massachusetts universal health care law should not be used as a model for Obama's plan.

The U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote on that bill as early as this week.