Politico Playbook | Healey’s Beacon Hill rendezvous

By Lisa Kashinsky
Story Originally Appeared in Massachusetts Politico Playbook

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. The details of Healey and Driscoll’s Beacon Hill meetings may be fuzzy, but their transition team came into full focus yesterday.

The attorney general and Salem mayor have loaded up their policy committees with familiar faces, a mix of one-time rivals, longtime supporters, union heads and community leaders all tasked with shaping the incoming governor and lieutenant governor’s priorities. The 100-plus names also offer a menu of potential Healey-Driscoll administration hires.

Among the notables: Former governor hopefuls Danielle Allen and former state Sen. Ben Downing sit on committees related to jobs and climate, respectively. Outgoing state Sen. Eric Lesser, a key advocate for East-West rail who fell short in his lieutenant governor bid, is on the transportation committee. Former Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and former state Treasurer Steve Grossman are on the jobs committee.

Former Boston City Councilor Matt O’Malley, a longtime Healey supporter who now works for Vicinity Energy, is also on the climate committee. Reproductive Equity Now Executive Director Rebecca Hart Holder is on the committee for “safe and healthy communities for all ages.” And the heads of the state’s two largest teachers unions are on a committee focused on “thriving youth and young adults.”