Romney leaves mark in flurry of panel picks Action in contrast to view on Swift's last appointments
BYLINE: Andrea Estes and Michael Levenson Globe Staff
Governor Mitt Romney, despite his stated opposition to patronage appointments, installed more than 200 Republican activists, current and former state employees, and others to boards and commissions in December, including departing Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey.
The blizzard of 11th-hour appointments will, in many cases, place people loyal to Romney on the boards for years to come - in some cases until 2011 - ensuring that his influence will reverberate in such areas as education, healthcare, and criminal justice long after the governor leaves the State House tonight.
The GOP governor removed onetime Republican stalwart Gloria C. Larson, who endorsed Democrat Deval Patrick, and replaced her with Healey on the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, where Larson had served for a decade. Romney also removed Cheryl M. Cronin, a lawyer who served as finance committee chairwoman for Democrat Christopher Gabrieli, from the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority board. Cronin was replaced with Republican real estate developer Gregg P. Lisciotti.
In addition, Romney appointed the wife of a Cabinet secretary to a foundation that funds artists, on Dec. 22; the state Republican Party chairman's brother, to a panel that funds job training programs, on Dec. 19; and an aide to the governor, also selected Dec. 19 to oversee a domestic violence commission.
Others recent appointees include a member of the Republican State Committee to the board of a community college, a failed Republican House candidate to a board that maintains a historic schooner, and the brother of the politically connected Board of Education chairman to the Board of Registration in Pharmacy.
Most of the positions are unpaid but give the appointees a chance to shape policy, enhance their professional standing, or simply hobnob with important people.
Governor-elect Deval Patrick may be able to reverse some of the appointments. According to the secretary of state's office, the appointments are subject to repeal within 15 days after they are made under certain circumstances. He can repeal the appointments if the agency involved existed before 1964 and that particular board's appointments were subject to the approval of the governor's council at that time. Most gubernatorial appointments at the time had to be approved by the governor's council.
Patrick aides declined to comment, saying only that they will review the appointments.
Although governors often appoint political allies, Romney has decried such traditions, declaring the day after he won the governor's race in 2002, "I will look for people to get jobs based on what they know, not who they know."
When Romney took office in 2003, he acted immediately to rescind 27 lame-duck appointments to state boards made by his predecessor, acting governor Jane Swift. Those included Swift's appointment of her former press secretary, James Borghesani, to the Disabled Persons Protection Commission.
Swift installed some 300 people to boards in the last six months of her administration. Romney has far exceeded Swift's pace in recent months. He appointed about 200 people to boards in December and about 100 in November, according to a Globe tally.
By contrast, in December 2005 Romney made 37 appointments. In November 2005, he installed 41 people.
A Romney spokesman defended the appointments. "The constitution provides that governors serve four year terms, not three years and 10 months," said Felix Browne, a Romney spokesman. "Governor Romney has continued to make all the executive appointments that he is empowered to make. The governor seeks to appoint people of qualification and all of the people appointed by the governor are qualified for the position they are serving in."
In the past month, Romney appointed two of three commissioners of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the agency that handles discrimination complaints against private and public employers. Romney replaced longtime commissioner Cynthia Tucker with attorney Martin Ebel, and reappointed another longtime commissioner, Walter Sullivan, whose family is heavily involved in Cambridge politics.
Critics charged that during Romney's tenure the Commission Against Discrimination has become less ambitious, throwing out most cases and settling many others. "The MCAD used to be the flagship civil rights agency, taking very seriously its unique role to enforce the antidiscrimination laws on behalf of the citizens of Massachusetts," said Charles Wagner, an employment lawyer who frequently practices before the agency and has analyzed its dismissal data.
In November, Romney appointed two members to the board of the Life Sciences Center, a new body that will control state funding for biotechnology initiatives in the Commonwealth. With the two appointments, the board last month approved the hiring of a Romney administration budget planner as the board's $125,000-a-year director.
Patrick objected to those appointments, saying he had hoped to choose people who would help him "implement his agenda" in funding research.
Over the last two months, Romney made several appointments to other panels including the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, the University of Massachusetts Building Authority, and the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee. He also named people to key education boards including the Board of Education, the Board of Higher Education, and the boards of several community colleges.
Democratic Party chairman Philip Johnston accused Romney of violating his pledge to eliminate patronage appointments.
"He promised voters he'd bring reform to Massachusetts state government and in his last days as governor is back to the spoils system," Johnston said. "One would have hoped Mitt Romney, who intends to announce his presidential candidacy [today], would have broken with the tried and true Massachusetts tradition of the spoils system."
Said Steve Crosby, a Patrick adviser who served as Swift's chief of staff: "I don't have a problem at all with appointing people you know, like, trust, and respect to such positions as these, whether it's early in the game or late in the game. What's troubling about this is the gratuitous potshots he took at Governor Swift."
Martin Linsky, a former chief secretary to Governor William Weld, defended the appointments, saying, "It's the last opportunity that Mitt Romney will have to have an impact on policy and perspective in state government."
SIDEBAR:
AMONG THE APPOINTEES
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