Lt. Gov. Murray says candidate Baker is misleading over job cuts

BOSTON - Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray says Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker is misleading the public by suggesting state employees haven't suffered like their private sector counterparts amid the economic downturn.

Murray told The Associated Press on Monday that Executive Branch managers have taken furloughs two years in a row, while most employees have seen their health insurance premiums increase.

The lieutenant governor was reacting to comments Baker made last Thursday during an appearance on WBZ-AM. Baker told a state employee she must be "the exception to the rule" when she called to say she had taken a pay cut and seen managers take furloughs.

Baker's running mate, Sen. Richard Tisei, says he's happy to see Murray "defending Gov. Patrick's padding of the state payrolls during a fiscal crisis."