BHB: January 2003 Archives

Archives

Beacon Hill Beat By Curt Lovelace

January 2003 Editions. Compiled from staff reports, wire services, and the State House News Service.

Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly, stepping into a national struggle, plans to file a friend-of-the-court brief with other states arguing that the University of Michigan's affirmative action admissions policies pass constitutional muster, a spokeswoman said.

"The Attorney General is in support of the University of Michigan and intends to file a brief with a group of states," said Sarah Nathan, a Reilly spokeswoman. New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer is drafting the brief, and has yet to finalize it, she said.

A spokesman for Spitzer declined comment. Briefs are due by the end of February. The US Supreme Court plans to hear the case in March. The case, brought by three white students who claim they were denied admission to Michigan's undergraduate and law programs in favor of less qualified minority candidates, could potentially affect admissions policies at the University of Massachusetts, university officials say. "It certainly could have an impact on UMass," said William Wright, a UMass spokesman. "We'll be watching this case closely and we'll see how it turns out."

Reilly has also defended voluntary school desegregation in the city of Lynn, Mass., and his spokeswoman said the Michigan case reflects his concern with issues of racial diversity.

The Senate voted 29-8 at about 3 p.m. to grant Mitt Romney sweeping new powers to cut local aid and higher education spending. The House-approved bill calls on Romney to cut equally among cities and towns, which are bracing for $200 million in mid-year reductions. The Senate bill also calls for the cuts to be distributed equitably, but includes a change requiring Romney to consider the financial shape of individual cities and towns when making the controversial cuts. Unless an informal agreement is reached, a conference committee may be named tomorrow to allow House and Senate negotiators to work out a compromise.

A handful of House members met with Romney yesterday and the Gov. assured them that any local aid cut would be made at the same percentage rate except where it would cause education funding to dip below the state mandated minimum level. Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who has been meeting with mayors angry about possible local aid cuts, said the administration would put forth a proposal next week to ease financial burdens on cities and towns. The package of legislative and regulatory plans would address construction requirements, zoning, and unfunded mandates, said a spokeswoman, Shawn Feddeman. "People are thinking very creatively," said Healey. Romney, anticipating approval of his bill, said Thursday he would announce the cuts by the end of the month or in early February. In addition to the local aid cut, Romney is eyeing $400 million in new executive branch cuts. "The highest priority is to protect our most vulnerable citizens," he said. "I can't translate that into specific cuts," until his aides finish calculating tax receipts.

contractors entrusted to keep state roads clear of snow and ice have already spent $23 million more than the Legislature appropriated last summer for the seasonal work. Crews that plow state roads and spread sand and salt to make sure byways are free of hazardous ice have been paid for work performed through Dec. 21. But the state's snow and ice removal budget has dried up. As tax receipts continue to miss projections that have proven too optimistic, ten of millions of new dollars are now needed to pay vendors for work already performed.

Doug Cope, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Highway Department, confirmed Wednesday that contractors have already spent nearly $40 million clearing roads this winter. Cope said underfunding of the account is a legislative tradition. Lawmakers prefer to wait and see how much it snows and then deal with the bill in the spring. That strategy works when times are flush. But the economy was in recession last summer and many believe it still is. "Any type of winter weather requires us to deploy equipment," said Cope, noting this winter's 33 "weather events" range from one-inch coatings to full-blown snowstorms. In heavy storms, 4,000 pieces of equipment are deployed.

"It's really hard to guesstimate how much you're going to spend in a given year because you don't know what kind of weather your going to have," said Cope. "So far this year we have seen the effect of El Nino."

House-approved legislation expanding Gov. Romney's budget-cutting powers hits the Senate floor at 1 pm Thursday. Proposed amendments must be filed with the Senate clerk by 5 pm Wednesday. Senate President Robert Travaglini also informed his colleagues that action on the Senate Rules, and on Joint Rules, which had been scheduled for this Thursday will instead occur on Thursday, Jan. 23.

Smarting from the defeat of Shannon O'Brien and Chris Gabrieli, the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, and its founder, Al From, announced the formation Wednesday of a state chapter that would nurture "mainstream" values, in attempt to bury the "tired left vs. right debate." At least eight state legislators immediately signed onto the campaign, and vowed to push a raft of bills promoting issues such as Internet filters at public libraries and stronger welfare-to-work programs. The issues are aimed at the swing voters that strategists say often tip elections. "We want to speak to the office park dads and the suburban soccer moms," said Rep. Barry Finegold (D-Andover), a leader of the group. "Obviously, we didn't do that in the last election."

Gabrieli, the businessman who was part of the Democratic ticket that lost to Mitt Romney and Kerry Healey, counts himself a DLC member. "We've lost four consecutive gubernatorial elections, with a variety of different candidates, a variety of different strategies, insider, outsider, party unifier, party divider, reformers, men and women," he said. "If the Legislature wants to be the leader on governance in the state, it can be. Let's not sit back and say what's wrong with what's proposed by Mitt Romney," Gabrieli said. "Let's be the group that says we've got better ideas on how to move forward on the challenges that face the state. We must come forward with better ideas on how to grow the economy."

One of the group's early missions on Beacon Hill will be to form a caucus of like-minded members of the Legislature. Members now include Jonathon Seelig, a founder of Cambridge-based Akamai Technologies, and a partner in Polaris Ventures, David Belluck, of Riverside Partners, state Reps. Peter Larkin of Pittsfield, Hank Naughton of Clinton, Charles Murphy of Burlington, Finegold, and Sens. Guy Glodis of Worcester, Therese Murray of Plymouth, Steven Baddour of Lowell, Moore and Pacheco.

A former top Rhode Island health official is expected to be named Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health, replacing Dr. Howard Koh, who has joined the faculty of Harvard's School of Public Health. Christine Ferguson led the Rhode Island Department of Human Services from 1995 until 2001, under the administration of Gov. Lincoln Almond. A Republican, she ran for Congress in 2002, hoping to unseat US Rep. Patrick Kennedy, but lost in a three-way primary. An attorney, she was chief of staff to US Sen. John Chafee, Republican of Rhode Island, from 1981 to 1994. In Washington, she worked on bipartisan health care reform efforts.

In Rhode Island, Ferguson was active on welfare reform and managed care, among other issues. "The real focus of my career has been on health care system design and restructuring, where necessary, to fix problems - trying to push us toward a more rational health care system," she said.

A formal announcement of Ferguson's appointment is expected this week. On Tuesday, Koh, the health commissioner since 1997, was named Associate Dean and Professor of Public Health Practice at Harvard's School of Public Health.

The House on Tuesday night handed Gov. Mitt Romney sweeping new power to slash local aid and higher education. The vote to extend special powers until June 30, the end of this fiscal year, was 124-28. The new governor asked for the special powers only five days ago. The House quickly complied, virtually assuring that a $200 million local aid cut will be part of a $600 million budget-balancing plan that Romney is developing.

Debate on a House version of Romney's bill began at about 5 p.m. and ended less than two hours later. The House overwhelmingly rejected amendments calling for creation
of a $200 million loan fund to mitigate local aid cuts, the spending of $300 million in rainy day reserves prior to new budget cuts, and to limit additional cuts on health and human services programs to no more than $200 million.

Senate President Robert Travaglini said Tuesday he believes the votes are there in the Senate to pass Gov. Romney's bill, albeit with amendments, granting the governor special powers to the governor to cut local aid and higher education. Travaglini said the Senate will take the bill up on Thursday. A scheduled rules debate won't occur the same day, he said. Travaglini said Senate committee appointments will be announced this week, or by Monday at the latest.

In addition to naming state Transportation Committee co-chairman Rep. Joseph Sullivan of Braintree to head the state Lottery, Treasurer-elect Timothy Cahill of Quincy, who takes office today, announced Tuesday that new appointees will take over as general counsel, director of abandoned property, human resources chief and State Retirement Board director. Cahill has appointed Grace Lee, an Asian American civil rights attorney, as his general counsel. Neil Morrison, the youngest elected member of the Taunton City Council, will handle human resources. The new director of abandoned property will be Mark Cavanagh, vice president of the unclaimed property clearinghouse ACS Inc. Attorney Nick Favorito, of Murphy, Hesse, Tommy & Lehane LLP, will take over as executive director of the State Retirement Board.

Political consultant Doug Rubin will serve as first deputy treasurer; Lori Louriero, a former aide to US Rep. Martin Meehan as chief of staff; and former political consultant Karen Sharma as director of communications. Cahill has asked four mainstays of Treasurer Shannon O'Brien's administration to remain. They are debt management chief Jeff Stearns, cash management director Beth Pearce, information technology services head Peter Navarro and administration and finance chief Brian Turnbull. Gov. Mitt Romney swears in Cahill at 1:30 pm.. in the House chamber.

Attorneys for Rep. Matthew C. Patrick (D-Falmouth) and challenger Larry Wheatley Monday presented a special House committee with arguments for and against a special election in the 3rd Barnstable District. Patrick was re-elected by 17 votes, but problems at one of the polls and a dispute over the distribution of some absentee ballots resulted in a court challenge by Wheatley, and a Superior Court judge ordered a new election.

The House has resisted the order, and the subject of jurisdiction and separation of powers are being examined by the committee. The House could determine they are not obligated to abide by the judge's decision, further fueling the debate and the sometimes contentious relationship between the judiciary and House Speaker Thomas Finneran. No timetable was set by the committee's head, Rep. Salvatore DiMasi (D-Boston), for a decision.

The House recessed Monday afternoon without acting on Gov. Mitt Romney's bill granting the governor the authority to unilaterally cut local aid. House Speaker Thomas Finneran, who supports the bill, said his colleagues indicated during a closed caucus that they want more information from Romney about cuts he will make if granted the powers. Romney says this fiscal year's budget will be out of balance by $600 million. State representatives want to cooperate with Romney, Finneran said, and realize the magnitude of the problem and the need for quick action. But members are also hesitant to cede powers of appropriation central to the Legislature's duties.

With numerous issues, such as looming cuts to local aid, legislative pay raises, and a disputed legislative election, one might expect that the phones would be ringing off the hook in legislative offices. Well, they are, but none of the above issues are the topic of any of the calls. Rather, most legislative offices are getting a large volume of calls, emails and letters regarding the prescription surcharge which went into effect on Jan. 1. The $1.30 assessment on each prescription for non-medicaid and non-medicare patients has raised a firestorm of resentment, particularly among senior citizens, according to several legislative staffers. Several bills have been offered to remedy the situation.

The Beacon Hill Beat will be watching this story closely and keep our readers up to date.

Sen. Steven Panagiotakos has once again rejected the raise approved by the legislature in 1994. Each year since the enactment of the pay raise, Panagiatakos, a Lowell Democrat has refused to accept it because he believes the process by which it was enacted was flawed and unfair to taxpayers. The raise was $16,000 per year, meaning that since 1994, Panagiotakos has refused to accept more than $100,000. His base salary remains $32,400. Panagiotakos was recently named Vice Chair of the Senate Ways and means Committee.

In addition to the annual refusal of the 1994 pay raise, this year Panagiatakos has refused the mandated pay raise offered by Gov. Mitt Romney and has sent a letter to the treasurer's office waiving this year's cost of living salary increase. The reason for these salary refusals have to do with the financial situation of the Commonwealth.

House leaders, asserting their right to settle a disputed House election on Cape Cod, hold a public hearing on the fracas today. Incumbent Rep. Matthew Patrick, a Falmouth Democrat, eked out a 17-vote win over Republican challenger Larry Wheatley. But Wheatley challenged the results and Barnstable Superior Court Judge Richard Connon ordered a new election, saying voting was marred by irregularities. Now, it is up the House to call for a new election. House Majority Leader Salvatore DiMasi (D-Boston), a top deputy of House Speaker Thomas Finneran, is leading the hearing with Reps. Eugene O'Flaherty (D-Chelsea) and Rep. George Peterson (R-Grafton).

DiMasi has suggested House leaders may not heed the judge's order, and some election law experts say the House is in fact the final arbiter in such cases. On Friday, the state Republican Party weighed in, calling on Finneran to set a new election. "The Speaker knows the right thing to do is to call a new election," said Jean Inman, chairwoman of the Republican Party. "If the Legislature ignores the court order, Matt Patrick will be an illegitimate state representative who owes his job to the whims of Speaker Finneran."

Gov. Mitt Romney administers the oath of office Wednesday to the four other constitutional officers who were elected in November along with he and Kerry Healey. All four are Democrats and will be sworn in individually during ceremonies at four separate locations. Three of them are incumbents who were re-elected to positions they already held and State Treasurer-elect Timothy Cahill is a rarity, having won statewide office his first time out. Each begins a four-year term.

At noon in the Great Hall, State Auditor A. Joseph DeNucci begins his fifth term as state auditor. A member of the House from 1977 to 1987, DeNucci was first elected auditor in 1986. An a cappella choir from Framingham High School will perform during the ceremony that will be presided over by House Speaker Finneran. Gov. Romney administers the oath. (Wednesday, 12 Noon. Great Hall)

House Speaker Finneran also presides when Timothy Cahill of Quincy raises his hand and Gov. Romney swears him in to succeed State Treasurer Shannon O'Brien. A reception follows in Nurses Hall. (Wednesday, 1:30 pm, House Chamber)

Gov. Romney and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be on hand Wednesday afternoon when Supreme Judicial Court Justice Roderick Ireland administers the oath to Attorney General Thomas Reilly. The judge, who grew up with Reilly in Springfield, also swore in Reilly four years ago. The attorney general's office is the only one of the six constitutional offices that is not physically located in the State House. (Wednesday, 4 pm, Jeremiah Burke High School, Dorchester)

Romney travels to the second floor Hall of Flags at 5:30 pm to swear in Secretary of State William Galvin of Brighton to his third four-year term. Galvin spent 16 years in the House before launching an unsuccessful bid for state treasurer in 1991. A reception follows his swearing-in for another term in the office he's held since 1995. (Wednesday, 5:30 pm, Hall of Flags).

Gov. Mitt Romney Friday took the first step aimed at balancing this years' budget, filing a bill that asks the legislature to grant him extraordinary ability to cut spending in local aid and higher education. "The areas currently on the table are not enough," said Romney. "But it is the Legislature's choice as to which areas will be open to me in order to make the necessary spending cuts."

Romney said he expects cities and towns to absorb one-third of the "several hundred million dollars" in emergency spending cuts necessary this year. The state is slated to make two payments to municipalities totaling $2 billion between now and June 30, the end of the fiscal year. The cuts would likely translate into a $100 million, or 10%, reduction on each payment, given that Romney's head of Administration and Finance has estimated the budget deficit has to be as high as $600 million. House Ways and Means Chair John Rogers (D-Norwood) Thursday predicted that the gap could be as high as $900 million.

Friday January 10, 2003
Romney Seeking 'Professionalism' In Government Hiring Practices

Gov. Mitt Romney on Thursday appointed Ruth Bramson, a former human resources
executive at Shaw's Supermarkets, to oversee hiring in state government, a move the Republican governor said would bring professionalism to a practice that has been marred by patronage and favoritism. In that vein, Romney also announced a new "sunshine policy" that will force applicants seeking jobs in government to disclose family members who work for the state.

Legislators on Thursday said support is building for a re-filed bill that would require computer manufacturers to pay for the retrieval and recycling of their equipment. Currently, cities and towns are responsible for properly disposing of the potentially environmentally dangerous computers. The Computer Take-Back bill would require manufacturers of computer equipment to provide and implement a plan for retrieval of their equipment, subject to the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

If passed, the statewide take-back program would be the first of its kind in the nation and would relieve cities and towns, which are bracing for local aid cuts, from the costs associated with disposing what some call e-waste. The bill's supporters say cities and towns spend between $6 million and $21 million a year on such disposal costs. Computer system components, particularly monitors, are unsafe when disposed of improperly because lead included in the products can contaminate soil and water supplies.

"Private industry is best equipped to deal with the afterlife of their products," said Rep. Mark Carron (D-Southbridge), the bill's House sponsor. "We are saying to the electronics industry, do what's fair."

Not much can happen in the legislature until the rules are agreed upon. The Senate will debate its rules, which govern the procedure for floor debates and the flow of bills, next Thursday, new assistant majority leader Sen. Marian Walsh (D-Boston) announced Thursday. The Senate met briefly to adopt several routine congratulatory resolutions. Senators meet next on Monday at 11 a.m. in an informal session.

Would-be rules reformers made little headway in the House Thursday as members indicated they pretty much agree with the way Speaker Thomas Finneran runs the place. Representatives voted 105-44 late Thursday afternoon to preserve a rule allowing Speaker Finneran to continue serving as speaker for as long as he can maintain the support of House members. The debate was continued until about 7:30 p.m. with the full rules package being adopted by a vote of 115-33. Few substantial changes were made in the way the House conducts business.

Massachusetts' 134 Democratic state representatives will be allowed to keep or reject their constitutionally mandated pay hike, without facing pressure or guidance from House leaders, Speaker Thomas Finneran said Wednesday. Finneran (D-Mattapan) made clear he has been irked by the controversy surrounding the pay hike, and believes lawmakers shouldn't face criticism if they choose to keep the $3,258 raise.

Senate President Robert Travaglini, said Tuesday he wanted to "lead by example" by organizing a majority of the Senate's 40 members to reject the raise. Finneran characterized House lawmakers as "just the definition of working class" and said they make tough decisions to set policy for the state's six million residents. "Whatever the level of compensation, it should be sufficient so that these types of decisions aren't left to idle, wealthy, bored people," Finneran said. "It's always better if you have serious people with real flesh and blood problems that every ordinary person has."

Before the House considered changes intended to bring more bills to the floor for consideration, House Speaker Thomas Finneran recessed the House rules debate suddenly on Wednesday afternoon. Finneran cited the weather forecast as a cause for the sudden recess. Afterwards, he said members of his leadership team will work tonight and early tomorrow with Republicans and liberal House Democrats to forge consensus rules changes. There was a considerable amount of debate on Wednesday, although few changes were approved. Repeatedly, House liberals and Republicans cobbled together about 40-plus votes, far short of the threshold needed to effect change. The House did not consider a rules change intended to remove the so-called speaker-for-life rule that caused an uproar two years ago. Debate resumes at 1 pm Thursday.

Gov. Mitt Romney and Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey met privately and then publicly Wednesday with the eight Democrats who'll spend the next two years on the Governor's Council deciding the fate of the Republican governor's judicial nominations.Romney and Healey first entertained the eight councilors in Room 157, a room traditionally used for gubernatorial press conferences, where they lunched on sandwiches in what Romney called an opportunity to get acquainted.

"We look forward to working together with you and bringing you candidates you can be proud of," Romney told councilors. Two of them - Mary-Ellen Manning of Peabody and Marilyn Petitto Devaney of Watertown - have complained during the past two years about candidates they viewed as short on experience or long on political connections. Manning and Devaney have also sparred increasingly with their colleagues and lingering tensions may be what led Romney to promise that councilors will be treated with respect "individually and as a group."

"We face challenging times and I prefer looking to the future rather than dwelling on the past," said Romney. Healey, who will preside over most council meetings, also vowed to respect councilors "individually and collectively."

The "overwhelming majority" of state senators will reject a legally mandated pay hike of $3,258, as a gesture of good will in the midst of a severe fiscal crisis, Senate President Robert Travaglini said Tuesday. Travaglini said senators will decide individually whether to reject the raise, accept it, or donate it to charity. The Senate has 40 members. Travaglini made his announcement with about 25 senators, all of whom raised their hands in agreement, declaring their willingness to forego the raise as a gesture of solidarity with the less fortunate.

Lawmakers have wrestled with the charged issue. Some have privately confided they would prefer to keep the money to help with family expenses, but face enormous pressure to reject the raise in the midst of the deepest state fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.

Senate Republican Leader Brian Lees said the Senate's six Republicans would all reject their pay hikes.

Wednesday is Rules Day in the House. A formal session is scheduled for 1 p.m. when debate will swirl around the perceived need among dissident members to open up a legislative process they believe is controlled too tightly by Speaker Thomas Finneran. Each proposed change in the rules that will govern House activities for the next two years - and the final adoption of the package - will be decided by a majority vote in the 160-member body. Last week, 17 representatives voted to make Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston) their leader rather than give Finneran a fourth two-year term at the helm. Republicans number only 24 but have not complained very loudly in recent years about being shut out of the process so it is unclear whether they will join the Rushing troops in pushing for significant change. Beyond establishing the 1 p.m. start for Wednesday's rules debate, the only business before the House during Tuesday's informal session, took the form of congratulatory resolutions.

Prior to Wednesday afternoon's rules debate on the House floor, Democratic members will caucus to talk about the leadership's rules package and proposed changes that will be offered to it. Also likely to surface is a discussion of the legislative pay raise set this week by Gov. Mitt Romney. Acting under a constitutional mandate that the governor every two years raise or lower lawmakers' salaries based on any change in the median family income, Romney said this week that House and Senate members will see a $3,258 hike. Debate now centers on whether or not it is appropriate to accept the raise at a time when other Bay State workers are being laid off or furloughed.

Tuesday January 7, 2003
Legislative Raise Is First Political Football of New Session

Although he will not receive a salary himself, Gov. Mitt Romney has recommended a $3,258 pay hike for Massachusetts' 200 lawmakers. House and Senate leaders indicated today they will search for consensus from the members about whether it's appropriate to accept the legally-mandated increase given the state's severe fiscal problems.

Under a constitutional amendment approved by voters four years ago, lawmakers' pay rises or falls with changes in the state's average household income. It's up to the governor to calculate the change, and determine how much lawmakers receive. Lawmakers proposed the constitutional amendment as a way to depoliticize legislative salaries, but the issue has become sensitive as the gloomy budget forces services to be slashed. Romney recently forewent his salary.

The increase of 6.5 percent would raise the salary for rank and file lawmakers in the House and Senate from $50,123 to $53,380 annually. Committee chairmen can earn between $7,500 and $25,000 more than that. "It's a modest increase," said Senate President Robert Travaglini. Shawn Feddeman, a spokeswoman for Romney said that because the pay raise is part of the Constitution, "Gov. Romney has no discretion in this matter."

Matthew Patrick (D-Falmouth) took his House seat last Wednesday and cast his ballot for Speaker Finneran when his name was called. Just moments earlier, the House had adopted an order stating that it was the arbiter in the disputed Cape Cod election and had decided Patrick had a right to be seated and vote - even though the Superior Court had ruled that a special election must be held. Conservative Republican challenger Larry Wheatley lost the election by 17 votes. He alleged voting irregularities and the court sided with him.

Gov. Romney's communication director, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the governor and his legal team will confer with the Secretary of State and determine the proper decision on the swearing-in question. Brian McNiff of the Secretary of State's office said the secretary has certified the election of Patrick, and it would be up to the Legislature to call a special election. House Majority Leader Salvatore DiMasi has suggested the Legislature might not be bound by Superior Judge Richard Connon's order in this matter.

The 183rd Great and General Court is in session, but it doesn't have anything to do yet. The House and Senate were in session for a total of six minutes Monday. No bills have been heard by committees, whose chairmen have not yet been appointed, and the governor hasn't submitted any legislation yet, so the informal sessions for now are pretty pro forma.

Gov. Mitt Romney has promised that he will move quickly to try to reduce the size of the state's bureaucracy. His hint that he will act quickly means he may soon offer state agency reorganizations or mergers. The health and human services secretariat is a likely target, and the former head of that secretariat, Charles Baker, has offered an outline of what that organization should look like. Romney can file bills that would follow the normal route and could take the next two years to accomplish, or he can file reorganization plans that are more time sensitive. Any reorganization plans Romney files under a special section of the State Constitution travel a special path. Once he files such a reorganization plan, legislators are required within 30 days to hold a public hearing on it. If the House and Senate refuse within 60 days to reject the plan, it automatically goes into effect.

At the beginning of each new legislative session leaders of the two chambers are responsible for committee appointments - and committee chairmanships. With a new leader in the Senate, this has led to a certain amount of suspense. Newly installed Senate President Robert Travaglini (D-East Boston) is preparing to announce which colleagues he wants on his top leadership team and who will chair which committees. That announcement could come within the week and end the suspense for senators uncertain of their future. The new Senate leader faces a difficult task. He managed to get enough votes to succeed Thomas Birmingham as president when there were four or five other Democrats who wanted the job. Now he must decide how to accommodate all their interests and keep the peace in the Upper Branch. Most questions swirl around who will be Travalgini's second in command as majority leader and who will chair the important Senate Ways and Means Committee. Those jobs had been held by Sens. Linda Melconian (D-Springfield) and Mark Montigny (D-New Bedford).

Every Democrat in the Senate, including freshman Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge), gets an extra-pay chairmanship but each is cognizant of the extra clout - and fundraising potential - that certain positions hold. Once Travaglini makes his picks, it will be moving day, or days, as senators pack up their offices to accommodate their new assignments. There won't be much movement among Republicans there since there has been no change in the ranks of Leader Brian Lees and his five GOP colleagues.

There's not likely to be as much movement in the House leadership. Thomas Finneran will continue to be speaker of the House for another two years and is expected to keep in place many members of the team that has helped him lead the House for the past two years. The situation was similar two years ago, when Finneran chose to reassign many of his committee chairmen to new chairmanships. Vice chairmen appointments are also worth watching, as they lend insight into the representatives Finneran is grooming for potential leadership posts. Rep. John Rogers (D-Norwood) is likely to continue leading the House Ways and Means Committee through the troubled fiscal times ahead.

Finneran does have some extra pay positions to fill since three of his former middle-tier lieutenants have left him vacancies. Former Rep. Michael Cahill (D-Beverly) chaired the Housing and Urban Development Committee, and a new designee will now field a slew of affordable housing and Chapter 40B issues that will demand attention this session. The vice-chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee is also open, having been held by former Rep. Nancy Flavin (D-Easthampton). Two of his floor division captainships are also vacant following Rep. Mary Ann Lewis' election loss and Kevin Fitzgerald's appointment as sergeant-at-arms. As always, such openings create upward mobility for existing chairmen and women and the entry into the mix of other Finneran loyalists. The speaker is not expected to make his leadership and committee assignments until later this month, but the lobbying is happening now behind closed doors.

The first order of business in the House during this new session is adoption of the rules that will govern its activities during the next two years. The debate over those rules will occur Wednesday and dissidents will likely be armed with changes they believe will open the House to more member involvement and debate they claim has been stifled during Speaker Finneran's tenure.

Legislative rules are of three different varieties: House, Senate (the ones senators must follow, or at least suspend), and joint. Joint rules dictate how joint committees should operate, what the path of legislation should be, and procedure for the Legislature as a whole. New House rules could provide for new technology that will make it easier for House members to access information about legislation. The House has already adopted an order proposing that a special committee recommend by Jan. 31 any proposed changes in the joint rules that govern business between the branches.

Wednesday's House debate could open a struggle over how much control rank-and-file legislators may wield against powerful House leaders in the new two year session. Critics have long contended the conservative House leader bottles up bills - especially liberal social policy measures with broad support. A bid by liberal Rep. Byron Rushing to unseat Finneran failed, but Rushing has vowed to continue his fight by loosening House rules to give House dissidents more influence over the flow of legislation.

Governor Mitt Romney was officially sworn in Thursday, beginning a new era in state politics but keeping the corner office under Republican control. Romney inherits an estimated budget deficit next year of between $2.5 billion and $3 billion, and vowed to restore fiscal prudence to state government while protecting "core" services. Romney, who will not accept a salary as governor, sounded a theme of personal responsibility and promised less government interference in people' lives. That will likely translate into layoffs for state workers, less help for the needy, and a reduction in aid to cites and towns.

Romney used his inaugural address to criticize Beacon Hill leaders for overspending during the strong economy of the 1990s. "State government spent the windfall, and borrowed even more," Romney said.

House Speaker Thomas Finneran took issue with the characterization, saying the Legislature helped build up a fiscally responsible rainy day reserve fund. "Thank God we did, because otherwise the deficit [Romney] would now confront would be $5 billion." Overall, the powerful speaker - reelected to the post Wednesday by an overwhelmingly majority in the House - cast a welcoming and optimistic tone for the new administration. Prodded by reporters to offer criticism, Finneran said, "Let us have a love-in until late February. It's Woodstock until then, OK?"

Gov. Mitt Romney, in one of his first official acts, has ousted twenty-seven officials appointed by former Gov. Jane Swift to various boards and commissions in her last days in office. State law allows an incoming governor to remove appointees made by a departing governor during their final 15 days in power, Romney's chief of staff, Beth Myers, said in a letter sent to the appointees, and made public Thursday. The twenty-seven appointees include Swift's press secretary, James Borghesani, appointed to the Disabled Persons Protection Commission, Robert Fortes, a Romney campaign aide appointed to the Boston Finance Commission, and retired Housing Court Chief Justice George Daher, appointed to the Board of Registration in Medicine.

Romney made criticism of Beacon Hill patronage a centerpiece of his campaign for governor, and touched on the topic in his inaugural address. But his chief of staff said the officials' removal does not presume they lack qualifications. "You should be assured that your termination is not a reflection of your abilities or any adverse opinion of the decision by Governor Swift to appoint you," Beth Myers said. Romney's spokeswoman, Shawn Feddeman, said the appointees are free to reapply for their positions, and will be granted full consideration. "It's just an opportunity to review the appointments and make sure we place people who we feel are qualified in those positions," she said.

When Mitt Romney was sworn in Thursday as the 70th governor of Massachusetts, he pledged "immediate, hard action" to solve the state's fiscal crisis. Romney took the oath of office at 12:21 pm before a House chamber packed with legislators, friends, and observers, including US Sen. John Kerry and House Speaker Thomas Finneran, Senate President Robert Travaglini, the two Democratic leaders he will wrestle with over the next two-year session. Romney wasted no time in laying out the steep challenges facing Massachusetts. "We are facing a financial emergency," said Romney, 55, the founder of Bain Capital "There is no easy way out of this mess. There's no time to wait for the fruits of careful streamlining and restructuring. We must take immediate, hard action." Still, it was a triumphant moment for Romney, the fourth consecutive Republican to hold the Corner Office, who swept into office on a wave of Olympic acclaim.

House and Senate members elected to serve for the next two years officially took their seats Wednesday and elected the speaker and president who will lead them during through what promises to be a field of fiscal land mines. Speaker Thomas Finneran survived a challenge from Democratic Rep. Byron Rushing of Boston and Sen. Robert Travaglini (D-East Boston) got the nod from his 39 colleagues.

Since the election for the Third Barnstable District is still undecided, Rep. Matthew Patrick (D-Falmouth) will continue to represent the district. The date for the revote in that disputed election has not yet been announced. Larry Wheatley, the Republican challenger lost, after a recount, by a mere 17 votes, and numerous voting irregularities were noted.

Speaker Thomas Finneran of Boston was elected Wednesday to another two-year term as speaker of the Massachusetts House. When the roll was called after the 160-member House organized for the new session, Finneran collected 118 votes. His Democratic challenger Byron Rushing of Boston was the choice of 17 Democrats and Republican Bradley Jones of North Reading was the unanimous choice of the 23 GOP members. Prior to the floor vote, Democrats met in caucus Wednesday with both Finneran and Rushing laying out the reasons they should be picked to lead the House. Rushing repeated his call for a more open process and more diversity of viewpoints in the assignment of members to committees. Finneran and his supporters said the tough fiscal times call for experienced leadership. Finneran himself argued that he had been "open" to the needs of members when he chaired the House Ways and Means Committee. He offered that he had been "OK" as speaker and vowed to do better if given another two-year term.

On a vote which went strictly according to script and along party lines, Sen. Robert Travaglini was elected President of the Senate on Wednesday. Upon his election, Travaglini told his colleagues, "To the people of the Senate, I promise to bring honor, integrity and fairness to the leadership of this body. I intend to work with all of you and insure all points of view are heard."

House and Senate sessions began at 11 am and continued through early evening on the last day of the 2001-2002 legislative session. Both branches worked steadily through the day advancing dozens of local bills along with broader proposals like those to recodify the banking laws and place on the books new laws affecting employee pensions. The banks bill will die - it was enacted by the House half an hour after the Senate adjourned. Gov. Jane Swift has until noon today to act on more than 50 bills that were sent her during the days before lawmakers finally quit.

Among the bills that made it to the governor's desk in the last few minutes were the measure allowing sexually dangerous persons to be kept in secure facilities after their criminal sentences expire. Another bill of some interest that made it through enactment: legislation making Dr. Seuss the official children's book author, and the Boston cream donut the official donut, of the Commonwealth. Such commemorative bills are filed annually by school classes as civics projects.