Baker will put information on new hires online

Baker will put information on new hires online


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By Todd Wallack GLOBE STAFF  AUGUST 09, 2016

Governor Charlie Baker’s administration is finally making good on a campaign promise: putting information on new hires online.

This week, the Baker administration announced it had started posting the names and salaries of all new hires in the executive branch, plus some basic information from their resumes, such as years of experience, education, and whether the person was referred in writing by an elected state official.


The Open Checkbook website now shows new hires only from July 10 through July 23, but administration officials said they plan to update the list twice a month with new hires going forward.

Baker originally promised to make the information available while campaigning for governor in a television interview in July 2014.

“The state posts all their jobs online and it’s available for everybody to see,” he said in an interview with WCVB-TV in July 2014. “But the state doesn’t post who got the job, what their resume says and whether or not they were recommended by someone else. I think the state ought to do that. I think that would help a lot.”

The state Democratic Party blasted the Baker administration in December for failing to keep his promise to post the information and rejecting a public records request for new hires’ resumes.


Personnel records are specifically excluded from the state public records law, though there has been some difference of opinion over how broadly to interpret that exemption. Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s office, which is charged with overseeing the public records law, has opined that personal information on resumes can be withheld, but some other information might need to be released, such as degrees and certifications related to workers’ jobs.


The Baker administration complained the public records request for workers’ resumes, which came from a Democratic research group, was overall broad and said it planned to start posting information on new hires in early 2016. The administration wasn’t immediately available to explain why the project took longer than first anticipated.

Though Massachusetts has often been criticized for having one of the weakest public records laws in the country — Baker just signed a bill strengthening some portions of the law — it has also won praise for its Open Checkbook site, which contains detailed information on payments to state workers, retirees and vendors.

Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @twallack.