A Few Roundup Items Before The Holiday
Before we all go make merry….
–I don’t want to make a big thing out of it, but I do think it’s a little problematic that less than two weeks to inauguration Marty Walsh has not announced any appointments. The whole hitting-the-ground-running thing is tough if you’re still putting the team together; it also makes me wonder whether he’s having trouble getting the people he wants to come work for him. More likely, he’s waiting to get a group of fairly diverse hires to trot out before he starts the roll-outs. That’s fine, but now he’s going to be doing some of that roll-out during the holidays, which isn’t ideal either.
–Charlie Baker’s homeless policy last week was politically perfect. I’ll try to write more about this later, but here’s my metaphor for what Baker needs to do different this time around: last time, people saw him as the detached, cold-hearted bean-counter sending down memos from corporate with the latest cuts to your department’s budget; this time, he needs people to see him as the helpful boss trying to find ways to squeeze more out of the budget so your department can get the tools it really needs.
–In my opinion, Gabriel Gomez now owes the public an apology for saying that capital-K “Klan” is inoffensive and doesn’t refer to the Ku Klux Klan. Incidentally, just a few days ago I suggested that Gomez might need to get a hobby to keep him busy, after he Tweeted to Globe reporter Frank Phillips “Try writing an original idea… Indolence at its best” in reference to an innocuous article about gubernatorial fundraising.
–Michael Sullivan — not the former US Attorney who ran for US Senate, the Middlesex Clerk of Courts — is running for Middlesex District Attorney. That’s not a huge surprise, but it means that Deval Patrick appointee Marian Ryan doesn’t get a free pass for the full term in the plum political position abandoned by Gerry Leone earlier this year. Sullivan is a heavyweight contender, and others may join the fun.
–James Arena-DeRosa of Holliston, a USDA administrator and Democratic activist, has jumped into the Lieutenant Governor race, which now numbers four; he joins Steve Kerrigan and Anthony Mike Lake, plus recently announced Jonathan Edwards. Meanwhile, state representative Tom Conroy has, as expected, joined the state Treasurer field.
–As the Democrats continue filling up the primary fields for the open state-wide constitutional offices, things remain quiet on the Republican side. Nary a peep of interest yet in the Treasurer or Attorney General race as the key fundraising calendar year nears its end. Also no sign of a challenger to US Senator Ed Markey, who must run for a full term next year. Seems the MassGOP doesn’t have enough candidates to form a clan, let alone that other thing.
