Romney Surges, Deval Purges

Tuesday’s Boston Globe has 2 stories concerning a rise in the presidential polls of the former Governor of the Commonwealth. First is a news story of a new poll of likely New Hampshire voters taken for WBZ-TV, which showed Romney leading. Second is an Op Ed column by a guest columnist (that’s how I spell RELIEF!) from US News who speculates that Romney is positioned well with the Religious Right.

We shall see. There is no real polling for many months.

Meanwhile, the fellow now occupying Romney’s old office (though with some new drapes) is busy purging the executive branch of long-term appointees.

Governor Deval Patrick, in his latest effort to reshape his administration, has informed all commissioners and agency leaders appointed by his Republican predecessors that they must reapply for their jobs and will be notified by June 1 if they can remain in their positions.

The letter, sent to about 50 GOP holdovers late last week, addresses one of the central concerns of key state Democrats, who have argued that the new governor has not acted decisively enough to put his imprint on an executive branch ruled by Republicans for the last 16 years…

Shortly after Patrick was sworn in, his administration began to prepare for a purge, writing letters asking commissioners and department heads to reapply for their jobs. But those letters were never sent, according to a State House source. The current shake-up was engineered by Rubin, who oversaw a similar staff reorganization several years ago when he worked for State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill.

Soon after taking over, Rubin gathered about 15 long-time Democrats to help Patrick promote his agenda and navigate the labyrinth of internal politics on Beacon Hill. The strategists agreed that the administration must quickly focus on removing the vestiges of 16 years of Republican rule and replace those managers with Patrick loyalists, according to several people who attended…

“Republican rule” indeed. With 7/8 of the Legislature consisting of Democrats and no power even to sustain a veto is some way to “rule”. Now having lost the only state-wide office held by Republicans, any vestige of “Republican rule” would have to be very vestigial.

The most speculation, however, has surrounded [DSS Commissioner] Spence's fate. Yesterday, Patrick told the Associated Press that he thinks the DSS commissioner is "terrific."

“You’re doing a Helluva job, Spencey.”

[State Democratic Party Chair] Johnston said he believes that state government salaries are so low that the administration will have difficulty attracting the best talent.

"I think there are a lot of people who would have been interested in working in state government after 16 years," said Johnston, who called for a special commission to look at state salaries. "The surprise has been that there have not been a lot of people coming forward. One of the reasons is the low salaries."

Yet another Democrat is astounded to find that markets can actually work. We call it a “labor market” for a reason, Mr. Johnston.