Published August 12, 2010

The Big Dig keeps coming back to haunt us this week.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker capped a day of dueling news conferences in front the State House on Wednesday. (Adam Ragusea/WBUR)

With just eight weeks till the election(!), the gubernatorial trio held dueling news conferences on the same spot in front of the State House.

“Charlie Baker got government out of ‘the future business’ with his Big Dig financing scheme,” said Deval Patrick, the incumbent governor. “And we’ve been pulling our way out of that hole for four years now.”

Baker, a Republican, was state budget director from 1994-98. He secured funding for the project by borrowing against future federal highway money. What began as a $2 billion plan ballooned into $15 billion. The debt saddled the state for years.

Baker said he owns just 10 percent of that plan — but the blame is bipartisan. “There were lots and lots of people who owned a piece of that project, and I’ve taken full responsibility for the part I owned,” Baker said.

The independent Tim Cahill piled on, accusing Baker and the Republican administrations he served of being dishonest.

“I did not lie,” Baker retorted.

Patrick talks of building bridges to the future, even invoking Bill Clinton in his remarks Wednesday. Where does the Big Dig fit into the future?