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 commented if elected he would push state lawmakers to repeal a transit-oriented multi-family housing law that has generated disagreement 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 executives across Massachusetts are facing including the MBTA Communities Act Shortsleeve mentioned the MBTA housing law which requires chosen 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 revealed 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 certain cities and towns voted not to comply with its provisions In one notable development 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 mentioned Let s get focused on using incentives to drive housing expansion Let s get focused on state land that s vacant Let s get focused on transit-oriented rise 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 reported in a report to the Herald Massachusetts has a spending dilemma Shortsleeve who is one of several Republicans in the mix ahead of the elections noted he believes Massachusetts is dealing with three major issues an influx of expatriates 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 disclosed 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 issued a billion budget that bumps spending by Democratic lawmakers have explained robustness and human provision 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 reported When I look at our state I don t think we have a revenue issue We have a spending difficulty 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 benefit 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 explained he and DeSantis advocated for the university to keep its ROTC campaign I m very proud to have been a member of the Advocates for Harvard ROTC which is a group the present day that still advocates on behalf of ROTC Gov DeSantis is a member of that group and it s been a great effort Shortsleeve explained Shortsleeve also praised DeSantis handling of Florida s economic activity If you look at the progress of that state I think the market has been terrific The advance has been terrific he revealed But this poll 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 Demanded if he voted for President Donald Trump Shortsleeve declared 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 perimeter I vote to reduce taxes I vote to deregulate the financial market so small businesses can grow and I vote to eliminate waste and abuse in governing body So I voted the ticket he commented 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 revealed Baker called him after the MBTA collapsed in under relentless snowstorms to help manage the agency s financial soundness 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 chosen 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 announced Shortsleeve also took credit for advancing the Green Line Extension project after the feds had killed it and authorities 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 Bridging up to Tufts he mentioned The billion project has faced myriad issues including narrow and defective tracks that MBTA officers 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 mentioned 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 disclosed I think in the present day 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