Weekly Roundup – While They Were Away
Sam Doran
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, AUG. 23, 2024…..Like gazing into a dream, this week was full of peeks into what the future could hold.
For Democrats, it was a time to barrage the primetime airwaves with what they hope to realize in 2025. And for one Democrat, it was her special chance to soak up the national spotlight. No, we’re not talking about Kamala Harris.
Gov. Maura Healey took center stage Thursday night at the the United Center in Chicago, and even though her airtime in the 8 o’clock hour was just three minutes and 17 seconds, it was a big moment for her.
“For the people — those three words define the role of a prosecutor. To serve not only our clients in the courtroom but our community and our country. To give people a sense of security, and safeguard the principles that hold our nation together. To stand up to abusers and bullies. And stand up for the voiceless and the vulnerable,” Healey preached from the Chi-Town stage as she talked up her fellow former prosecutor, presidential nominee Harris, at the Democratic National Convention.
Republicans and Democrats alike could find common ground in at least one line from Healey’s speech about the 2024 presidential race: “It’s a battle for the future of our nation.”
And she described a recent tender moment in the Bay State:
“A few weeks ago, in Massachusetts, I watched a little girl meet the vice president. Her eyes were so wide, as open as the future,” Healey said.
Thursday night in Chicago, it was Healey’s eyes that were wide open. Consider the possibilities …
While she sometimes defers on state matters, the governor isn’t at a loss for words when the press ask her questions about national politics. She pounces on them with the verve of someone who hungers to be even more of an active participant in national conversations.
Feels like a long time ago, but it was this summer that Healey was still one of the loudest voices stumping for President Biden. She was also one of the first to nudge him toward the exit, and also one of the first to boost Harris in his stead.
The always churning Beacon Hill rumor mill suggests possible motivations for these savvy endorsement moves, with links to possible federal aspirations. Was she aiming to be on the cutting edge of a winning ticket, anticipating that perhaps U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is ready for pasture? Or is she simply priming herself for an eventual federal campaign? There’s a U.S. Senate race in 2026 …
Speaking of national profile: Healey’s office calendar, which she releases on a month-behind basis, showed a July 24 interview with The New York Times. We don’t see any fresh Healey coverage in the Times since then, so perhaps there’s something still in the works.
Zoom in on the Massachusetts entourage and see some other marks of the past, present, and yet to be.
 House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu pose with other pols in a photo re-posted by Michlewitz on Aug. 21, 2024 from the DNC in Chicago. |
Visible in the crowd shot during Healey’s speech is Sen. Marc Pacheco. He coulda been a contendah, for something like a U.S. diplomatic posting. He was a big booster of a presidential candidate, too. But with the final Clinton loss faded the federal aspirations of the now-retiring senator from Taunton.
Over on Instagram, it was a photo of one of the up-and-coming state-and-local alliances. Snap-happy scion of the State House, Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, re-shared a pic posted by Rep. Dave Rogers of some “great peeps” at the convention. The chairman is at the center of inter-branch disputes back home that are holding back public policy progress, and looked like he was enjoying being away.
At the center of the photo is Michlewitz, a sort of speaker-in-waiting who, in the not too distant future, could wield even more power than he does now atop the Purse Strings Committee. And right next to him is Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. While Wu has been embroiled in a war of words with Senate President Karen Spilka over a Boston taxation bill, the mayor has consistently had an easier path in the House, likely thanks to the budget chairman who is her generational contemporary in elected politics. “Fam in Chicago,” Michlewitz wrote.
Back in Boston, Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s eyes were wide open to the future.
Politico Massachusetts first reported on Aug. 14 that DiZoglio was in line to assume the acting governor role for a portion of this week, with Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Secretary Bill Galvin, and Treasurer Deb Goldberg scheduled to be out of state (most of them for the DNC, Goldberg for a wedding).
The Playbook newsletter mused, “Just what could the Methuen Democrat, who has been floated as a potential gubernatorial contender down the line, do with her temporary powers?”
The rage-against-the-machine auditor was asking herself the same question. She called a press conference for Tuesday morning, when she had been due to assume the gubernatorial mantle.
But once the press were packed into her room, DiZoglio said that due to “a misunderstanding or error made in another schedule,” Galvin was actually going to be back in Boston before Driscoll left — leaving the auditor back at the bottom of the line of succession.
So Galvin blew in from the Windy City, and it left State House insiders wondering if someone called S.O.S. — that stands for Secretary Of State — and got him here before DiZoglio could do something with those “temporary powers.”
She seemed prepared to do something, and had drafted an executive order that, with a governor’s — or (acting) governor’s — signature would have banned state agencies from mandating non-disclosure agreements in settlements with employees. DiZoglio has long crusaded against NDAs.
She may have stopped short of explicitly expressing interest in some day becoming governor, but DiZoglio made clear her interest in … having the power and authority of the governor. And she demonstrated how holding the governor’s office would enable her to accomplish a policy goal she has long espoused but not had the power to achieve.
No one has ever accused DiZoglio of being afraid to ruffle some feathers. Even Galvin, who has held the acting guv title dozens of times in his 29-year run as secretary, was in her shoes once. But he hasn’t made a move like this since 1998.
‘Twas five days after Christmas that year, with Gov. Paul Cellucci vacationing in Florida and the LG’s seat vacant, that Acting Gov. Galvin exercised the powers of the Corner Office to file a message from the governor, a bill that gets received by the Legislature and automatically sent to committee with a bill number.
The topic was HMOs and prescription drug coverage for seniors. The News Service reported at the time that Galvin said he was not trying to embarrass the governor: “I’m not trying to race the governor’s return. This is not a dispute between the governor and myself,” Galvin said in ’98.
Back in 2024, Healey is emerging from the cloud of hopes and dreams in Chicago and touching back down in Reality, Mass. on Friday. Perhaps not as fun as delivering a DNC speech, she will be confronted with messes like the Steward Health Care bankruptcy drama.
Guv, in case you’re wondering if you missed something while you were gone, we can tell you — not much has happened on that front.
Deals to buy the Steward hospitals were not finalized, the state did not release financing information about how the hospitals will be transitioned to new owners, and now we’re a few days away from hospital closures and every part of the Steward situation is still in flux.
One week ago, Healey claimed victory with a proverbial finger raised to the for-profit system: “Today, I’m pleased to say we’re closing the book on Steward once and for all in Massachusetts. Good riddance and goodbye.”
But just like coronavirus, Steward isn’t gone yet.
Meantime, state financing to transition the Steward hospitals into their next chapters remains a shadowy subject. Could it become an insatiable pit of non-transparent spending like the ongoing shelter crisis?
Enough of that, the Democrats might say, think happy Chicago thoughts. It’s more fun to dream, with eyes wide open.
SONG OF THE WEEK: Slipping into the future, they imagine themselves flying to new heights.
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08/23/2024