BOSTON—Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker complained Monday that Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicle branch closings have created lines as long as those for Bruce Springsteen concert tickets -- without the thrill of seeing the Boss.
Baker said Gov. Deval Patrick inconvenienced consumers and jeopardized a huge revenue generator for the state last year when he decided to close eight RMV branches amid a budget crunch.
The former Harvard Pilgrim Health Care president favors installing ATM-style kiosks at banks, pharmacies and other nongovernment locations to handle many routine Registry transactions. Patrick himself is trying to push a lot of the business onto the Web, but he said the branch closings were necessary amid a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
Baker said he gets calls from people making the comparison to Springsteen concerts without that reward, and he showed reporters a cell-phone picture he took of a line around the block Monday morning at the downtown Registry branch.
"It feels like they're not really thinking about this from the point of view of consumers," he said. "This is a Gov. Patrick, Lt. Gov. (Timothy) Murray issue. I mean, they made the decision to close ... Registries, and their primary message was, `You will wait longer at the Registry to do business.'
"And I don't think that's the way be should be running state government."
A Registry spokeswoman said, "The Patrick-Murray administration has made customer service at the RMV a top priority."
The spokeswoman, Ann Dufresne, said the agency had "addressed budget gaps by effectively redeploying resources and delivering services more creatively."
That included adding four branches in rent-free location such as Massachusetts Turnpike toll plazas.
"The RMV is preparing to expand the list of registrations services that insurance companies can perform, which will give customers more branchless locations and operating hours to renew, swap, cancel or get a new vehicle registration," Dufresne said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Baker took part in an online chat on The Boston Globe's Web site.
In the chat, he said he supports a bullying bill currently in the Legislature. But he added that as a parent of three teenage children, he said that had he been involved, he would have hoped he could have prevented the hanging death of South Hadley High School student Phoebe Prince.
He said he hopes he "would have forced some kind of resolution long before it reached its tragic conclusion."
Asked whether he favors the recent national health care overhaul, Baker said he wants to "repeal and replace it with something more incremental."
Baker is running against convenience store magnate Christy Mihos for the GOP nomination. The party's convention is April 17 in Worcester.
