News: Healey's first big hires

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Healey's first big hires

Dec 13, 2022

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DRUMROLL PLEASE — Maura Healey is turning to Beacon Hill veterans and trusted advisers from the attorney general's office for her first batch of hires as the governor-elect.

Matthew Gorzkowicz will be Healey's secretary of administration and finance. He served as assistant secretary for budget and then undersecretary of administration and finance during the Patrick administration and has worked in the state Senate, Department of Mental Health and for the Massachusetts School Building Authority. For the past decade-plus he's been associate vice president for administration and finance at the UMass president's office.

Kate Cook will be Healey's chief of staff after serving as her first assistant attorney general. Cook was chief legal counsel to former Gov. Deval Patrick in the final two years of his administration. Prior to that, she served as general counsel to the Senate Ways and Means Committee and assistant corporation counsel to the city of Boston. She was also a partner at Sugarman Rogers.

Gabrielle Viator, a longtime Healey aide, will serve as a senior adviser. Viator was an assistant attorney general in the office's civil rights division when Healey was its chief, and later became her senior policy adviser and chief of staff. She serves as chief deputy attorney general and previously worked in the Legislature and at Ropes & Gray.

Matt Gorzkowicz, Kate Cook, and Gabe Viator.

(Left to right) Matt Gorzkowicz, Kate Cook, and Gabe Viator were announced as the first round of hires for Massachusetts Gov.-elect Maura Healey's incoming administration. | Handouts

With prior stints in the Patrick administration and the Legislature, Healey's new hires bring "experience and credibility on Beacon Hill" to the incoming administration, Doug Howgate, the next head of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation who's worked with Gorzkowicz and Cook, told Playbook.

Gorzkowicz will be responsible for Healey's first budget, where he'll have to balance the state's slowing-but-still-exceeding-expectations revenue collections with his new boss's desires to pursue tax reform and keep Massachusetts affordable. Mix in the start of the millionaires tax and an uncertain economic outlook and it's a challenging situation for even a seasoned state budget operative.

His former bosses and colleagues say he's up to the task. UMass President Marty Meehan and former A&F Secretary Jay Gonzalez sang Gorzkowicz's praises in interviews. "He knows exactly what he is walking into, so he'll be able to hit the ground running," Gonzalez told Playbook.

And by tapping two of her confidants from the attorney general's office, Healey is showing "she values those people and those people value her, and so that loyalty comes through," former Sen. Mo Cowan, who overlapped with Cook in the Patrick administration, told Playbook.

Healey's long-awaited announcements will temporarily quell talk of the governor-elect being light on details during her transition. But she continues to lag behind her predecessor in naming key players in her administration. At this point after his 2014 election, Charlie Baker had named four Cabinet secretaries and his chief of staff.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Your Playbook scribe is headed to D.C. for a few days. If you see me on the Hill, give me a shout!

PROGRAMMING NOTE: The last Playbook of the year is Friday. Send me your tips and scoops: lkashinsky@politico.com .

TODAY — Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito highlight their support for vocational and technical education at 9 a.m. in Danvers and celebrate the Massachusetts National Guard's 386th birthday at 10:30 a.m. at the State House. Polito chairs a Seaport Economic Council Meeting at 1:30 p.m. in Plymouth. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu releases a new Franklin Park Action Plan at 10 a.m. in Roxbury, is on GBH's "Boston Public Radio" at 12:30 p.m. and attends the Black Men Lead Boston Program graduation ceremony at 6 p.m. at City Hall Plaza.

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DATELINE BEACON HILL

— SO LONG, FAREWELL: Outgoing senators and representatives bid adieu to their colleagues on Monday, delivering heartfelt speeches touting their legislative accomplishments and offering advice to those taking their places. State Rep. Tami Gouveia also used her speech to deliver a pointed message to leadership to allow staffers to unionize.

Gouveia is among the handful of lawmakers departing after largely failed runs for higher office. Former state Sen. Adam Hinds, now the CEO of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, returned to formally say farewell. State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, the first Latina elected to the Senate who gave up her seat to run for governor, spoke about what she does and, more pointedly, doesn't regret from her decade-plus in office. State Sen. Diana DiZoglio's speech was more of a see-you-later — she's moving to the auditor's office in January.

And state Sen. Eric Lesser used his speech to deliver a warning about the state's regional divides : "Massachusetts is growing increasingly divided on economic and geographic lines. … Left unchecked that divide will bring our whole state down, it will make all of us less well-off. Yes, West-East rail is going to help a lot … but so will better housing, so will more life sciences jobs, so will arts and cultural development, so will manufacturing jobs."

— "Mass. lawmakers revive proposal requiring state's chief medical examiner to review autopsies of young children," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Months after the measure stalled, the Massachusetts House on Monday passed a proposal that would require the state's chief medical examiner to personally review and approve all autopsies of children younger than 2, reviving its chances with just weeks left in Beacon Hill's legislative session."

— "Haven't received your Mass. tax refund? Make sure to file 2021 return," by Alison Kuznitz, MassLive: "About $150 million remains in state coffers, as the Baker administration awaits more people filing their 2021 tax returns, a Baker administration official told MassLive. But the massive push to distribute refunds to all eligible people who filed their returns by the end of October is finished, with Massachusetts issuing $2.75 billion so far to more than 3.1 million taxpayers, the official said."

— "Mass. POST Commission Police Officer Database Unveiled," by Thea DiGiammerino, NBC10 Boston.

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FROM THE HUB

— "What will it take to diversify the Boston police?" by Ivy Scott, Boston Globe: "As city officials continue their decades-long push for a more diverse police force, the watchdog agency charged with holding Boston officers accountable has hired two firms to independently review the department's recruitment and retention of women and people of color."

— "Boston to consider giving voting rights to some immigrants in local elections," by Saraya Wintersmith, GBH News: "Less than a month after voting to ask the legislature to expand municipal voting rights to 16- and 17-year olds, the Boston City Council Monday braced for potentially extending voting rights to yet-to-be-determined categories of immigrants with a hearing, setting up a political debate that will reverberate beyond Boston for the coming new year."

PARTY POLITICS

— RNC SHAKEUP: Ron Kaufman, Massachusetts' RNC committeeman and a close ally of embattled Chair Ronna McDaniel, said Monday he won't run for reelection as the committee's treasurer, citing a desire to return to the "front lines" ahead of 2024. "I'm looking forward very much to returning to the battlefield, if you will, from the back office," Kaufman told Playbook.

Kaufman urged his colleagues to reelect McDaniel, calling her the "proven, outstanding leader we need." McDaniel faces a challenge from Harmeet Dhillon, a committee member from California who co-chaired Lawyers for Trump in 2020, as Republicans try to regroup after a midterm underperformance.

Kaufman declined to address MassGOP Chair Jim Lyons' campaign to oust him as treasurer. But he's keeping active on the RNC — Kaufman spoke to POLITICO Monday night from Miami, where he was visiting as part of the committee's site selection for its 2028 convention.

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HEALEY WATCH

— "Gov.-elect Healey is mostly mum on priorities. Experts point to major challenges and low-hanging fruit," by Katie Lannan, GBH News: "In the weeks since they were elected, [Maura] Healey and running mate Kim Driscoll have kept fairly quiet about specific post-inauguration plans, working behind the scenes to build their team and write their agenda. Along the way Healey has hinted about her agenda: She's said housing will be a priority, and wants a dedicated Cabinet secretary for that issue. She's signaled an interest in early action on tax reform, and proposed an expanded child tax credit on the campaign trail. And then there are the inescapable big-picture efforts like helping schools continue to bounce back from the pandemic and addressing workforce shortages that hamper the healthcare system."

— "CVS, Walgreens to pay Massachusetts $230 million for opioid crisis settlement," by Irene Rotondo, MassLive: "The state of Massachusetts is set to receive $230 million from a nationwide settlement with CVS and Walgreens regarding allegations that the companies each had a heavy hand in furthering the opioid crisis, according to Attorney General Maura Healey."

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

Fluor, together with its project team and others, celebrated the opening of the Medford/Tufts Branch of the Green Line Extension light rail project today. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (center) is joined by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn and other elected city and state officials (photo courtesy of MBTA) | Business Wire

— "'It's just a huge accomplishment': Green Line Extension opens with fanfare, festivities, some protests," by Jeremy Siegel, Bob Seay and Gal Tziperman Lotan, GBH News: "Meredith Porter was excited to be on the first train, but then turned attention to another issue: Gentrification. Some landlords are using the new Green Line stops as an excuse to raise rents, pushing out long-time residents and vulnerable communities the mass transit line was originally intended to serve."

DAY IN COURT

— "Troy Sargent sentenced for assaulting police during Jan. 6 Capitol attack," by Tom Matthews, MassLive: "A Pittsfield, Massachusetts, man was sentenced Monday in District of Columbia federal court to 14 months in prison for assaulting police officers during the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol. Troy Sargent, 38, was sentenced to 14 months in prison for felony charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, and four related misdemeanor offenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said."

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THE LOCAL ANGLE

— "Trapped: Worcester neighborhoods still suffer from the legacy of redlining," by Kevin Koczwara, Worcester Business Journal: "Worcester has gone through many iterations — including plenty of tough times — but its growth, in a lot of ways, has been predictable. It's a city shaped not only by its hills, but also by a map. Specifically, a realty area map drawn and looked over by seven white men in 1936 with ties to the federal government, and the city's banking and real estate industries. The map was commissioned by the Home Owners' Loan Corp. and used problematic — and, in some cases, downright racist — criteria to classify the city into five areas: Best, Still Desirable, Definitely Declining, Hazardous, and Business. And today, the city, like so many others where these maps are drawn, is still dealing with this legacy."

— "Can Drugs Treat Addiction? Prisons Offer an Answer," by Julie Wernau, Wall Street Journal: "Sheriff Peter Koutoujian worked for years to get drugs into Middlesex County jail. Operating the facility northwest of Boston had come to feel like living in a bad rerun, he said. Inmates arrived addicted to opioids, went through detox, lived without drugs and were eventually released. Then they started using again, overdosed and died, or landed back in jail. Mr. Koutoujian aimed to break the cycle with a medication regime that addiction experts say is the most effective known way to curb opioid use. The results so far are promising."

— "Hate crimes in Massachusetts jump 31%: 'Hate crimes continue to have a deep impact across New England'," by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: "Hate crimes were on the rise across the state last year, according to new FBI hate crime data that shows the Bay State recording its most bias-motivated incidents in five years. Massachusetts saw a notable increase in reported hate crimes in 2021 — from 310 hate crimes in 2020, when hate crime reports dropped during the height of the pandemic, to 407 hate crimes last year."

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HEARD 'ROUND THE BUBBLAH

SPOTTED — on The New York Times' list of the 93 most stylish people of 2022 : Rep. Ayanna Pressley.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Boston state Sen. Lydia Edwards and Nancy Fitzpatrick.

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