Massachusetts Governor-elect Charlie Baker drew quite a crowd ringing the Salvation Army bell in Boston's downtown crossing and even had a quick chat with Santa.
It was a brief, but welcome, break for Baker, who has just three weeks until he moves into the Governor's Office and begins to set his agenda for the next four years.
Asked about his first order of business, Baker said, "Well I think the big one is going to be the size of the deficit in this fiscal year."
That deficit is estimated between $300 million and $750 million. Baker says the second biggest priority is continuing to work out the kinks of the state's Health Connector website. The third priority?
"We are going to take a pretty hard run at trying to pursue some solutions to the crisis we face in respect to opiates and heroin and that's an issue that affects every community," Baker said.
Before Charlie Baker gets to work, he needs to be inaugurated. That happens on Jan. 8th at the State House, and while he says he knows what's going on that day, others are hammering out the particulars.
"And there's a stupefying number of details. Where people sit, who do you invite, what color is going to be your primary color… Yikes," Baker added.
Baker says the inaugural ball will feature some good entertainment and will highlight some organizations and special people who he says have made a difference.
