Potential GOP candidate for governor Brian Shortsleeve wants to repeal MBTA housing law

Brian Shortsleeve a former MBTA executive and venture capitalist who is considering running for governor announced if elected he would push state lawmakers to repeal a transit-oriented multi-family housing law that has generated conflict in cities and towns across the state The -year-old Barnstable Republican did not offer a timeline for when he plans to make a decision about running for governor stay tuned but instead outlined his thoughts on challenges bureaucrats across Massachusetts are facing including the MBTA Communities Act Shortsleeve commented the MBTA housing law which requires various municipalities to zone at least one district near a transit hub for multi-family housing is a classic example of administrative overreach It s a one-size-fits-all law It doesn t respect local differences in terms of infrastructure and everything else he announced in an interview this past week We should be creating incentives for communities to build in areas we want to build It should be the carrot It should not be the stick The statute became a flashpoint in Massachusetts after specific cities and towns voted not to comply with its provisions In one notable situation Attorney General Andrea Campbell took the Town of Milton to court over its decision to buck the law Gov Maura Healey who plans to run for reelection next year has also withheld grant dollars from municipalities that are out of compliance a move that is allowed under the law but has riled local leaders who argue the held-up cash is critical for projects or initiatives Shortsleeve commented it is critical that Massachusetts build housing stock but the MBTA Communities Act is not the way to do it I would send it right back to the drawing board and start over he reported Let s get focused on using incentives to drive housing evolution Let s get focused on state land that s vacant Let s get focused on transit-oriented growth Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Steve Kerrigan slammed Shortsleeve Brian Shortsleeve s disastrous record as manager of the MBTA and chair of Trump loyalist Ron DeSantis campaign will be disqualifying to voters He was a failure then and he d be a failure as governor Kerrigan announced in a announcement to the Herald Massachusetts has a spending concern Shortsleeve who is one of several Republicans in the mix ahead of the elections reported he believes Massachusetts is dealing with three major issues an influx of settlers costing the state billions unaffordability and outmigration of residents He announced the throughline between those problems is overspending by Democrats on Beacon Hill We ve got to get state spending under control We ve got to reduce taxes We ve got to reduce fees We ve got to get the private sector growing again That s going to take a new governor to do that he revealed The state s annual budget has grown by nearly since fiscal year when Massachusetts lawmakers approved a billion spending document Healey rolled out a billion fiscal year budget in January that boosted spending by over the previous fiscal year The House followed suit with a billion spending plan for fiscal year that increases spending by and the Senate disclosed a billion budget that bumps spending by Democratic lawmakers have declared vitality and human utility programs like MassHealth are a major driver of increased spending in the state budget Shortsleeve knocked Healey s budget proposal for including a series of tax increases like applying the sales tax to candy She s chomping at the bit to raise taxes he commented When I look at our state I don t think we have a revenue issue We have a spending challenge Shortsleeve voted for President Donald Trump Shortlseeve has a long history of donating to Republican causes on the national and local level He has also shuttled money to Democrats in Massachusetts like Campbell and U S Reps Jake Auchincloss and Seth Moulton He held a fundraising event in for Florida Gov Ron DeSantis presidential bid that helped raise more than He was also appointed to DeSantis national finance committee for his presidential campaign Shortsleeve did not directly say why he got involved with DeSantis unsuccessful presidential run when pressed by the Herald He instead pointed to his time at Harvard University in the s when he reported he and DeSantis advocated for the university to keep its ROTC undertaking I m very proud to have been a member of the Advocates for Harvard ROTC which is a group in the modern day that still advocates on behalf of ROTC Gov DeSantis is a member of that group and it s been a great effort Shortsleeve mentioned Shortsleeve also praised DeSantis handling of Florida s commercial sector If you look at the enhancement of that state I think the financial sector has been terrific The upsurge has been terrific he explained But this voting process is not about Florida It s not about national issues It s about Massachusetts It s about how Massachusetts is going to start growing again Required if he voted for President Donald Trump Shortsleeve noted he backed the Republican ticket I vote number one as a Marine number two as a businessman That means what I vote for is I vote to secure the boundary I vote to reduce taxes I vote to deregulate the financial system so small businesses can grow and I vote to eliminate waste and abuse in executive So I voted the ticket he noted I supported the ticket MBTA was a target-rich milieu for saving money Shortsleeve served as chief administrator of the MBTA from July to July and was a member of the former Fiscal Management and Control Board from July to July Shortsleeve disclosed Baker called him after the MBTA collapsed in under relentless snowstorms to help manage the agency s financial wellbeing The MBTA according to Shortlseeve had a million forecasted deficit when he walked into the transit agency We had a warehouse operation that took six days to move a bus from Everett to Lynn Amazon com can do that in a day That was driving a few of the highest bus maintenance costs in the country We had individuals claiming more overtime than there are literally waking hours in the day he stated Shortsleeve also took credit for advancing the Green Line Extension project after the feds had killed it and functionaries had run over budget He also pointed to his work expanding a contract with a Chinese-owned company to deliver new Orange and Red Line cars We stopped that project We rebid it and two and a half years later it was completed on time and under budget The Green Line Extension the present day moves people from Downtown Traveling up to Tufts he reported The billion project has faced myriad issues including narrow and defective tracks that MBTA functionaries knew about as far back as April The deal with Chinese manufacturer CRRC for new train cars has faced multiple delays and is now worth more than billion But Shortsleeve stated he is very proud of what we accomplished at the MBTA We brought unparalleled transparency to the organization We got costs under control We balanced the budget We tripled capital spending he commented I think in contemporary times the T s gotta refocus on getting spending under control There is no amount of revenue that will ever fill the hole if you re growing your operating expenses at million a year