Remember when new Governor Charlie Baker swept in and rescinded all 60-or-so appointments made by ex-Governor Patrick in the last few days he was in office? Well, that hasn’t gone well at all. Baker ended up having to rescind his rescission of all but two of those appointments. And BMG has discovered that those two appointees both maxed out to the Baker campaign in 2014 (neither of them donated to Baker’s opponent, Martha Coakley), and they probably aren’t too psyched that their appointments were yanked.
Here’s what happened. On his second day in office, Baker sent a one-sentence letter to Secretary Bill Galvin instructing that all of Patrick’s last-minute appointments were rescinded. The first problem was that Galvin interpreted that letter as applying to the newly-named DA of Bristol County, who was finishing preparations for the very high-profile Aaron Hernandez trial. So that was awkward. There was an embarrassing back and forth between Baker and Galvin, which ended when Baker sensibly re-installed the same guy Patrick had named.
Then, it turned out that all but four of the 60-odd appointments are actually exempt from being rescinded. Worse, two of the remaining four appointments were designed to allow the new Chief Justice of the SJC (Ralph Gants) and the incoming Attorney General (Maura Healey) to swear in their own staff, so Baker promptly reinstated those two as well.
That left only two unfortunate last-minute Patrick appointees to be subjected to Baker’s axe:
Paul Phaneuf to the Board of Registration of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, and Raymond Murano to the Board of Registration in Podiatry.
Hilariously, though, Phaneuf and Murano both donated the maximum $500 to the Baker campaign in 2014. And Murano’s support of Baker goes back to 2013, when he donated $200, and even back 2010 when he also maxed out (though, to be fair, Murano covered his bases in 2010 by also donating to the Patrick campaign). Murano also donated to the state Republican party in 2010 to the tune of $1,300. Awkward.
MassLive.com reports that Governor Baker told Galvin that “[i]n due course, we will consider what action will be taken relative to the appointments made to the Board of Registration of Funeral Directors and Embalmers and the Board of Registration in Podiatry.” Won’t it be interesting to see what, if anything, remains of Governor Baker’s first big move since taking office once that review is complete. 😀
I can see if we had advice and consent and the Governor’s Council had not taken them up yet, but it seems to me that Gov. Patrick would have full appointing authority until the moment Gov. Baker took the oath. If these are political appointees that are expected to come and go with administrations why did Patrick appoint anyone at the last minute anyway?
re appointments with the last 15 days (I think) of an administration. Don’t know the statute citation offhand.
…I would have let the next Governor appoint them or at least consult with the Governor-elect.
…that something like that should be in the Constitution since it essentially limits his prerogative to be fully the executive during his term.
why wouldn’t a departing governor make his appointments outside of that limit, isolating them from being rescinded by the incoming governor? Unless he was making a symbolic appointment, knowing, full well, that the new governor would be rescinding many of them, yet fulfilling a promise for a job. Cynical?
Just because Romney didn’t lard up the boards when departing im order to let Patrick govern is no reason not to behave like a Dem hack.
Keep in mind at the the end of the Baker administration. You lose the right to kvetch by defending this.
is ingrained in our people, is unalienable, and is unencumbered by accusations of hypocrisy.
Romney appointed 200 people to public office in his last month in office.
remember the big pension kiss-off he tried to give Fehrnstrom on his way out the door? LOL
Or to jobs that were not protected? See David below.
of Mitt and Deval, the vast majority were to unpaid jobs. Mitt made 200 in the last month of his tenure, Deval approximately 150.
Of the 63 late appointments made by Deval, even the Governor’s own legal counsel, Lon Povich, has acknowledged that only four are subject to the 15 day rule. The general provision covering the limits of a departing governor relate to a 1964 law that says an incoming governor can rescind appointments of individuals subject to the approval of the Gov’s Council, and subsequent amendments to the law. See
http://www.dotnews.com/2015/counsel-most-patrick-appointees-exempt-bakers-reach
Of the four who were legally dismissed, two of those appointments were to allow the Chief of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Attorney General to swear people into office, nothing more. Baker’s people quickly realized that was a mistake and re-appointed them.
Deval did not repeal any of the last minuted appointments made by Romney.
Governor Baker’s administration can’t be beaten today.
Free comedy is a masshole’s perk once you know where to look.
Always refreshing.
Mass is a museum for them. It’s as if clinging to old pre cascading style sheet design is a mark of ‘I wuz here first cred’ rather than a crap platform.
Charlie Baker claimed to have great management skills and extensive knowledge of our state government. Now we see that, actually, Baker is incompetent.
He’s a curiosity, an inveterate member of GOP contraptions going back to when he worked for Transportation Secretary Volpe.
Then the big dig was another big score. It must be strange to have a semi career in government that owes a lot to hollow posturing about government careers while collecting corporate welfare checks.
Volpe was Transportation Secretary until 1973 and his last office was Ambassador to Italy in 1977…Baker was born in 1956. Did he work for Volpe in the US Dept of Transportation as a teenager, or in Italy when Baker was 21?
Baker pere was deputy undersecretary of Transportation. during the Nixon Era.
nt
Charles Baker, Sr, not our current governor, worked for Volpe when he was Secy of Transportation.