Frank Baker (politician)

Baker is the 12th child of John and Eileen Baker, and was raised in Saint Margaret's Parish (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) area of Dorchester. He graduated in 1986 from Don Technical High School where he has studied printing trade. Between 1987 and 2010 he worked in the printing department at the City of Boston . He is a member of the CWA/Boston Typographical Union. He is married to his wife Today and they have two children.[1]

Baker was first elected to the Boston City Council representing district 3 on November 8, 2011. Baker is the chair of the Jobs, Wages, and Workforce Development Committee and the Special Committee on Charter Reform. He is vice chair of the Planning, Development and Transportation Committee as well as a member of the committees on Census and Redistricting, City, Neighborhood Services and Veterans Affairs, Government Operations, Homelessness, Mental Health and Recovery, Housing and Community Development, and Ways and Means. Baker is affiliated with the Democratic Party.[1]

In 2016, while chairing the Charter Reform Committee, he proposed that council members serve four year terms, not two year terms. His arguments include that the members running for re-election spent much of the second year running and not focusing on the Council[3] and that the city could save approximately $1.6 million by not having elections in low turn out years. The council vote 8–1 in favor but at the time, it was not clear what Mayor Marty Walsh thought about the proposal. He would need to sign off on the proposal and send it to the State House for a vote in order for it to take effect.[4][5]

Baker has won his last 4 elections by large margins.[6]