Charlie Moves In....
"The decision to not use the traditional office, which Baker communications director Tim Buckley said Baker made the week after he was elected governor, is a not-so-subtle symbolic choice and perhaps a little dig at his predecessor."
I like him!
Related: .... As Deval Leaves
"One of his proudest achievements in office was a 10-year, $1 billion life sciences initiative designed to promote the biotechnology and medical device industries in the state. Patrick will be the Innovation Initiative’s first fellow, starting work next month and remaining in place through the end of the spring semester in May. The initiative said Patrick may stay in place for the fall semester. MIT will pay Patrick a stipend but declined to detail the amount. The appointment is not a surprise."
He borrowed a billion bucks to give to already profitable pharmaceuticals, then left us with a $750 million hole in the budget -- and he called it a proud achievement!
"The governor and leaders of both chambers traditionally meet every Monday afternoon, but the frequency of the meetings has fluctuated over the years, as have relations among the power trio."
What kind of environment will they be working in?
"Charlie Baker appoints controversial new energy team; Environmental advocates fear shift from Patrick’s policies" by David Abel, Globe Staff January 13, 2015
An unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress who campaigned against government regulations, a former lobbyist for the region’s fossil fuel industry, and a senior executive at one of the state’s largest power companies will oversee energy policy for Governor Charlie Baker, administration officials said Monday.
The appointments stirred concerns among environmental advocates that the administration could move in a different direction from the Patrick administration, which promoted renewable energy and sought to reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels that contribute to climate change.
Others said they hope the appointments signaled lower energy prices in the coming years.
Not until that gas pipeline is built. That is why we are being extorted.
The administration announced that Robert Hayden will serve as commissioner of the Department of Public Utilities, which is responsible for ensuring the state’s electricity and gas utilities provide safe, reliable, and affordable energy while also encouraging energy efficiency and cleaner energy. Hayden ran in a losing bid for Congress in 2010.
Angela O’Connor, who founded the New England Power Generators Association and served as its president for six years, will serve as chairwoman of the Department of Public Utilities, a position in which she will oversee the agency’s budget and personnel.
Ron Gerwatowski, a former senior vice president for regulation and pricing at National Grid, will serve as assistant secretary for energy under Matthew Beaton, a former Republican state representative who is serving as secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
“Bob and Angela will call upon their previous experiences and vast industry knowledge to ensure that utility consumers in the commonwealth are provided with the most reliable and dependable service at the lowest possible cost,” Beaton said in a statement. “Ron’s experience and steadfast commitment to a clean energy future and cost-effective energy for Massachusetts will be a tremendous asset.”
An Energy and Environmental Affairs spokeswoman said none of the new appointees were available to answer questions Monday.
Environmental advocates said they worried the new team would emphasize lower costs and the industry’s interests ahead of cutting the state’s reliance on coal and natural gas.
I hope $o.
“The administration is clearly putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop on energy policy,” said George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. “These are disappointing appointments that will likely represent the interests of the utilities and industries they regulate.”
That's our $y$tem of government. You complaining?
Hayden has spent most of his career working for the government. He served as a prosecutor with the Plymouth district attorney’s office before joining the Department of Public Utilities in 2001, where he served as a hearing officer in the legal division and focused on enforcement in the pipeline safety division.
Five years ago, Hayden lost in the 10th Congressional district Republican primary on a platform to “end the slide toward a European-style entitlement society” and get “overreaching government . . . out of the way,” according to his campaign’s website.
Says the guy who has spent his career in government.
Hayden the hypocrite!
O’Connor, a former selectwoman in Rockport, served as a vice president of energy policy at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which has lobbied to lower energy costs for the state’s businesses and has long opposed the effort by Cape Wind to install more than 100 turbines in Nantucket Sound.
After overseeing the New England Power Generators Association, which represents the state’s coal and natural gas industry among other power companies, O’Connor served until last year as executive director for New England operations of TechNet, a national trade association for the technology industry.
“She understands the issues, but in the past, she has favored traditional fossil fuel generation and overbuilding for pipeline or transmission capacity as opposed to looking at energy efficiency or other solutions,” said Sean Mahoney, executive vice president of Conservation Law Foundation.
Baker’s choice of Gerwatowski, however, earned praise from many advocates and former Patrick officials. He spent 28 years working for National Grid, where he had executive responsibility for rates and related energy policy matters.
Now we know who to blame for the rates.
In its news release, the administration said Gerwatowski has been directly involved with the development and implementation of clean energy policy initiatives in New England, including the state’s Green Communities Act.
“Massachusetts and New England are at an energy crossroads, and Mr. Gerwatowski knows what it will take to develop large supplies of renewable energy to avoid overdependence on natural gas,” said Ken Kimmell, who served as commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection under Patrick and is now president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
In his campaign for governor, Baker vowed to comply with the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act, a Patrick administration initiative that requires the state to cut carbon emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below by 2050.
But electricity rates last year jumped by 37 percent for many homeowners, and the goals of reducing those costs in the short-term could collide with longer-term efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.
Better build a fire.
In an interview with the Globe after being appointed by Baker last year, Beaton said he wants to cut rates and promote renewable energy, but he said he worries that it is increasingly difficult for businesses in Massachusetts to be competitive because of utility costs.
“There’s a fine balance,” he said. “But we need to keep Massachusetts competitive.”
--more--"
Related: Baker names gas tax advocate as transit chief
Stephanie Pollack, who has worked for the past nine years at Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, will take over as transportation secretary.
Also see:
Offshore wind can still rise despite Cape Wind’s fall
Baker announces $4 million state grant to UMass Lowell
Charlie Baker cancels events, cites illness
First hiring, now new regulations frozen by Baker
Related:
"The blunder, which was reported by the Brockton Enterprise on Friday, is reminiscent of a high-profile moment during last fall’s race for governor when Baker tearfully recalled an encounter with a New Bedford fisherman that did not prove to be fully accurate."
See: Baker's Fish Tale
He hooked it anyway.
Governor Baker should meet this fisherman, too
Details of heroin story hold ramifications for addiction policy
I don't like the dissembling, but what about the loser:
"Coakley headed to Harvard for fellowship" by Joshua Miller, Globe Staff January 16, 2015
Martha Coakley is headed to Harvard.
The Democratic attorney general, who last year lost a close gubernatorial race to Charlie Baker, has been chosen as a spring semester resident fellow at the prestigious Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, the institute announced Thursday.
Coakley, who leaves office next week, has been in public service for almost 30 years, serving as attorney general and Middlesex district attorney, and other prosecutorial positions.
In an interview Thursday, she said she expects her new, albeit temporary, gig in academia, which involves a lot of student interaction, to be both challenging and rewarding.
Fellows develop and lead weekly study groups, participate in dinners, seminars, and other events at the university, and mentor students.
Coakley’s study group proposal is focused on how people can make change happen.
“My idea would be to take a look each week at the way people think change happens,” she said, from court cases to elections. “And try and examine, in this new age of technology, what is really the way we bring about change and lasting change.”
One topic Coakley mentioned as an example: gay marriage.
She said she hoped to work with students looking at not only how the laws on the issue changed, but also the relatively quick fashion in which “cultural norms around marriage equality” shifted.
“If you had asked 30 years ago or even 20 years ago, would we be where we are now, you would have said no,” Coakley said. “Looking at this and having the students talk about it and think about: Why did it occur?”
Fellows, who are given what a spokesman called a “modest stipend,” are encouraged to sprinkle life experiences in their interactions with students.
As attorney general, Coakley filed an early challenge to the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited federal recognition of gay marriage.
Other topics she may address in the study group include income inequality — something she spoke often about on the gubernatorial campaign trail; and the way technology shifts have raised the profile of some public policy issues, such as the Ice Bucket Challenge raising awareness of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
And Coakley, who said she’s not sure what is next after Harvard, will also have time for exploring other future endeavors.
She said as attorney general, she did not want to begin any conversations that might create the appearance of a conflict of interest.
But as a fellow, she said, she will have some time to figure out what her next step will be.
The four other resident fellows announced Thursday by the Institute are:
■ Former US senator Kay Hagan, Democrat of North Carolina, who lost her reelection bid in November.
■ Christine Quinn, the former speaker of the New York City Council, who lost her bid to be the Democratic nominee for mayor in 2013.
■ Matt Lira, deputy executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during its successful 2014 election cycle, when the GOP won control of the US Senate.
■ Jay Newton-Small, Washington correspondent for TIME magazine.
--more--"
The political cla$$ takes care of itself.
