Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins again speaks out about Baker administration

Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins spoke in Dorchester on Sunday. Maddie Kilgannon for The Boston Globe

A day after Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said she had nothing further to say about the series of tense exchanges between her office and Governor Charlie Baker’s office, she again lambasted what she described as an atmosphere of misogyny during a Dorchester rally organized in her support Sunday.

“It’s so funny that when all of the male DAs before me had this discretion and were moving towards mass incarceration, the governor did not give a [expletive] about that,” Rollins told about 200 people gathered at Prince Hall Grand Lodge. “But miraculously now that this DA wants to end mass incarceration, you want to question the discretion that we have? No, you are not.”

Rollins’s comments came after Thomas A. Turco III, Massachusetts’ public safety and security secretary, criticized a recent Rollins memo detailing reforms intended to reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities in the criminal justice system.

Turco’s letter claimed that the policies could undermine efforts to combat the opioid crisis and put some crime victims at risk.

In response, Rollins said Friday that men in her position “were treated with quite a bit more respect.”

She also criticized the handling of a case involving Baker’s son, Andrew “A.J.” Baker, who was accused in June of groping a woman during a flight to Boston.

On Saturday, Rollins said Baker called her and the two had “a very productive conversation,” adding: “I have nothing further to say about the matter.”

However, she appeared to have plenty more to say on Sunday.

During the rally, Rollins said she was not angry that Turco disagreed with her memo, but that there was no direct communication before his letter went public.

“Had the secretary or the governor picked up the phone and spoken to me, sat down, and said ‘We disagree with everything you’re saying’ and then written this letter, you wouldn’t have heard a word from me,” Rollins said.

Rollins said that Baker had called her to apologize, and said their conversation was “nobody’s business but ours.” She also noted that she had a meeting scheduled with Turco later in the week.

Baker’s office did not respond to a request for comment Sunday evening. However, on Saturday, Baker said he thought his conversation with Rollins was “very constructive and very helpful,” and said “we’re going to try and hit the reset button and start again on Monday.”