| | | | |  | | By Lisa Kashinsky | FAMILIAR FACES — Maura Healey is building a gubernatorial administration that looks a lot like her attorney general’s office. A third of Healey’s Cabinet secretaries served with her at various points over her eight years as attorney general. So did some of the deputies now filling out the governor's environment and public safety teams: — EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper was Healey’s energy and environment bureau chief. — Acting HHS Secretary Mary Beckman, who will eventually become an adviser to incoming secretary Kate Walsh, was Healey’s health care and fair competition bureau chief. — Climate chief Melissa Hoffer, who joined the administration by way of the EPA, was Healey’s climate bureau chief before that. — Terrence Reidy was an assistant attorney general before joining the Baker administration and being reappointed public safety secretary by Healey. — Gina Kwon, Healey’s criminal bureau chief, is now her undersecretary of law enforcement. — Elizabeth Mahony, Healey’s new Department of Energy Resources chief, was her senior energy policy adviser in the AG’s office. Several of the governor's top aides also came over from One Ashburton Place. Chief of staff Kate Cook was Healey’s first assistant attorney general as well as a Patrick administration alum. Senior adviser Gabrielle Viator was Healey’s chief of staff and senior policy adviser. Jillian Fennimore continues as Healey’s communications director. And April English is now chief secretary after serving various roles in the AG’s office.
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Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll hold a Cabinet meeting. | Courtesy photo/Gov. Maura Healey's office | Many of Healey's secretaries and deputies spent years representing and enforcing policies for the state agencies they’re now leading. It’s a lineup of trusted associates with subject-matter expertise who can likely ease Healey’s transition without her having to micromanage from the corner office. And she’s balancing the bevy of lawyers with other Cabinet hires who bring extensive experience on Beacon Hill and in the private sector. “While they could enforce penalties and litigate in the attorney general’s office, [Healey’s deputies] couldn’t themselves implement the policies. Now they’re in a position to implement in the executive,” former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger told Playbook. “Had I been elected governor in 1998, I can’t imagine that I wouldn’t have hired a number of people in that office because I knew them, knew what they knew substantively and their strengths and weaknesses.” By plucking top talent from her old job, Healey is also creating opportunities for new Attorney General Andrea Campbell to reshape the office. Campbell has already brought two attorneys back to the office and promoted three others as part of her initial batch of hires. GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Campbell is signaling some other ways her attorney general's office will differ from her predecessor's. While Healey often waded into national policy debates, repeatedly suing the Trump administration and filing amicus briefs on cases covering everything from First Amendment rights to reproductive care, Campbell indicated a different approach on WBUR yesterday. "We have to strike a balance," Campbell said. "One thing I did hear as I criss-crossed the state is yes, folks want us to pay attention to some national issues, of course, and protect us. But they don’t want us to forget the issues we have to deal with here at home." Campbell pointed to creating economic opportunity as an area she hopes to lead both within the state and nationally. TODAY — Rep. Stephen Lynch discusses federal funding at 10 a.m. in Braintree. Sen. Ed Markey visits Codman Square Health Center at 11 a.m. Tips? Scoops? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com.
| | | | JOIN POLITICO ON 3/1 TO DISCUSS AMERICAN PRIVACY LAWS: Americans have fewer privacy rights than Europeans, and companies continue to face a minefield of competing state and foreign legislation. There is strong bipartisan support for a federal privacy bill, but it has yet to materialize. Join POLITICO on 3/1 to discuss what it will take to get a federal privacy law on the books, potential designs for how this type of legislation could protect consumers and innovators, and more. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | |  | DATELINE BEACON HILL | | — “State eyes vacant Newton hotel for temporary emergency shelter use,” by John Hilliard, Boston Globe: “State officials and a Newton developer are having ‘early conversations’ about using a vacant hotel as a temporary shelter for families, as Massachusetts’ support system strains to help thousands of families in dire need of emergency housing.” — “Report: 'Millionaires tax' rekindles 'Taxachusetts' label,” by Christian M. Wade, Daily News of Newburyport: “The Tax Foundation’s annual report on state tax brackets singled out Massachusetts as the only jurisdiction to enact an individual income tax rate increase in the previous year, with the voter-approved ‘millionaires tax’ setting a new 4% levy on incomes of more than $1 million. The study ranked Massachusetts’ 9% marginal state income tax rate as the seventh highest in the nation, and put it at the top of other New England states. Other states with high marginal rates included California, New York and New Jersey, according to the report.”
| | FROM THE HUB | | — UPHILL BATTLE: The specter of the State House is looming large over Boston’s rent control debate. City councilors from across the political spectrum voiced concerns about passing Mayor Michelle Wu’s home-rule petition for rent stabilization — or some version of it — only for it to die on Beacon Hill like other initiatives past. They also started suggesting tweaks. GBH’s Saraya Wintersmith reports that several councilors took issue with Wu’s plan to exempt new buildings from rent caps for 15 years after their opening. Some progressives also predictably said Wu’s proposed cap for rent increases was too high. And City Council President Ed Flynn floated a counterproposal to give tax breaks to landlords who offer below-market-rate rents, per the Boston Herald’s Sean Philip Cotter. Democratic legislative leaders at the State House, who ultimately control what gets to the floor there, aren’t saying much at this early stage. A spokesperson for Karen Spilka said the Senate president “looks forward” to the proposal heading up the hill and will “confer with her members on this and other issues” — so not much to go on there. House Speaker Ron Mariano has in the past said there are “serious questions about the effectiveness” of rent control. — “Meet the woman tasked with making Boston's nightlife fun,” by Hannah Green, BostInno.
| | PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES | | — OFF TRACK: Remember those two Orange Line cars Playbook said were supposed to be delivered by the end of the month? Well one got a bit derailed in transport and spent a day parked on the highway in Chelmsford after it fell off a tractor-trailer. — "Problems plaguing the T are scaring off GM candidates, sources say," by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: "The MBTA’s bad reputation is deterring top talent, and making it more difficult to recruit a new general manager, multiple sources told the Herald. ... The perception outside the Boston region is that the T is 'falling apart,' which is hurting the worldwide search for a general manager — already one of the hardest jobs in the country to recruit for — despite the $300,000-plus salary, the transit watcher said."
| | FROM THE DELEGATION | | — “Lawmakers press state on municipal power agreements,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “Nearly 20 communities have been waiting — in some cases for several years — for state utility regulators to sign off on local power plans that would allow them to choose their town electricity source and buy in bulk, to save ratepayers money amid rising energy bills. … In a letter to the DPU's acting chairperson Cecile Fraser, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey call on the state agency to conduct a ‘timely review’ and approve pending municipal aggregation plans for communities to help ratepayers save on their utility bills.” — “Massachusetts congressional delegation brings home $5M for veterans services,” by Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald.
| | MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS | | — “Approaching the ‘green ceiling’? Easthampton cannabis dispensary closes,” by Emily Thurlow, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “In what may be another indication that the region is approaching the ‘green ceiling’ of retail marijuana sales, Pleasantrees closed its Easthampton dispensary at the end of January and is trying sell its Amherst store near the UMass campus.”
| | FROM THE 413 | | — “With affordable housing coffers shallow, Great Barrington might take a cut of real estate deals,” by Heather Bellow, Berkshire Eagle: “Town officials looking for money to solve a housing crisis are mulling whether the town should take a cut of real estate deals made by the rich and plunge it into various affordable housing needs.”
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | THE LOCAL ANGLE | | — “Mayor moves to ease residency rules in New Bedford,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “With roughly 15 percent of non-school municipal jobs in New Bedford vacant, Mayor Jon Mitchell is pushing to do away with residency requirements for most management positions.” — “State education boss backs proposed Worcester Cultural Academy,” by Jeff A. Chamer, Telegram & Gazette: “The commissioner of the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has voiced his support of the proposed Worcester Cultural Academy, a charter school. … City and public school officials, including the City Council and School Committee, as well as the city's educators' union and superintendent, have voiced their opposition to the formation of the Worcester Cultural Academy.” — “Former Cohasset employee charged with stealing thousands from town to power cryptomine,” by Karen Anderson and Gail Waterhouse, WCVB: “Officially, Nadeam Nahas worked for the Cohasset school system in the facilities department. But the Cohasset Police Department alleges he also secretly operated a cryptocurrency mine inside a crawlspace in Cohasset Middle/High School, stealing nearly $18,000 in electricity from the district to do so.”
| | MEANWHILE IN RHODE ISLAND | | — “RI eyes late-summer primary to fill Cicilline seat as more consider a run,” by Ted Nesi and Shiina LoSciuto, WPRI: "Under the earliest possible scenario, the primary would be Aug. 8 and the special election would likely be Oct. 3; under another scenario, the schedule would follow a fairly typical election rhythm for Rhode Island, with a Sept. 5 primary and a Nov. 7 special election."
| | HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH | | TRANSITIONS — Harvard Kennedy School’s Meghan L. O’Sullivan has been appointed director of the school’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs starting July 1. — Erin Tiernan is now editor of MASSterList. She previously worked for MassLive and the Boston Herald. HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former state Rep. Lenny Mirra, Bob McGovern and Neil Levesque. NEW HORSE RACE ALERT: MASS. EXODUS — Hosts Steve Koczela, Jennifer Smith and Lisa Kashinsky wonder why everyone's leaving Massachusetts. The Boston Globe's Samantha J. Gross joins to talk about the Healey administration's mixed record on public records. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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