Patrick picks MassInc chief for energy and environment post
by Statehouse News ServiceDecember 15, 2006 -- Signaling an Executive Branch reorganization in the making, Governor-elect Deval Patrick on Friday selected a think tank chief and former Clinton administration official as his secretary for energy and environment, and tapped a real estate developer and former Massport official as state housing and economic development chief.
The Patrick team announced MassINC President Ian Bowles and attorney/developer Dan O’Connell and the governor-elect indicated he would have more to say about his new top deputies on Monday. Patrick has already announced his chief of staff, top budget aide and chief legal counsel but has many more key appointments to make before he takes office on January 3. More announcements are probable next week.
Patrick’s staff billed the Bowles and O’Connell announcements as part of his restructuring of the executive branch. The positions described by the governor-elect closely resemble so-called super secretariat posts established by Gov. Mitt Romney, but Patrick’s Cabinet won’t look just like Romney’s.
Patrick transition team spokeswoman Cyndi Roy said the governor-elect will file comprehensive reorganization legislation that will be “in keeping with the governor-elect’s mission to bring together disjointed departments and have them work in a way that makes sense.”
“We’re still in the process of identifying which departments should fall under which secretariat. Once we do that, the governor will then file his reorganization legislation.” Roy added, “His approach, I’m sure, will be a little different than Governor Romney’s.”
While consolidating the business and housing secretariats, Patrick is also creating a Cabinet-level spot for energy, jibing with his promises to emphasize alternative energy initiatives. The picks are Patrick’s second and third Cabinet appointments; he tapped Leslie Kirwan as administration and finance secretary.
At an impromptu appearance with Senate President Robert Travaglini, who sought to publicly repair his relationship with Patrick after alleged comments in which suggested the Senate might withdraw its support for Patrick’s agenda, Patrick was asked if Bowles and O’Connell were his first picks: "They are our picks. Proud of 'em,” Patrick said.
Patrick said he thinks Bowles shares his support for a proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound, but said, "There weren't any litmus tests."
Patrick told reporters his Cabinet reorganization plan would be submitted "early in the administration to formalize some of this." He said, "We're going to change some of the reporting relationships and create some additional focus on these issues."
In a press statement, Patrick said, "Energy independence is going to be a top focus in the coming years, and we need coordination to achieve smarter energy outcomes and protect our environment. Similarly, we need close coordination between housing and economic policy because so many workers are unable to afford to live in Massachusetts."
Bowles comes from the non-partisan but politically wired think tank, and has worked as a White House adviser on environmental policy during the Clinton years. He was the senior director of the Global Environmental Affairs directorate at the National Security Council. In that capacity, according to Patrick’s press release, he played a “key policy-making role on climate change and on the negotiation of bilateral clean energy agreements between the United States and India and China and on numerous other areas of environmental policy.”
Bowles is a Woods Hole native, and in 1996 slotted a distant third in a Congressional Democratic primary won by William Delahunt, with eventual Democratic Party Chairman Philip Johnston finishing second. Bowles took Bourne, Falmouth, Gosnold, Tisbury, and Oak Bluffs in that primary race.
O'Connell is an executive vice president at the Meredith and Grew real estate firm, and previously worked at Spaulding & Slye Colliers. He's handled projects such as Boston's Fan Pier and North Point, and the Puerto Rican Convention Center District Authority, according to the Patrick press release.
A former chief of staff to US Rep. Ed Markey, he's been executive director of the predecessor agency to MassDevelopment, and director of planning and development for Massport.
Kirwan is coming directly from Massport, where she was budget director until Patrick named her his secretary of administration and finance last week, which will make her the first woman to hold that role on a permanent basis. Ann Reale served as acting A&F secretary under acting Gov. Jane Swift.
State Sen. Jack Hart, co-chair of the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, said he knew O'Connell through South Boston development projects, and called him "one of the brightest guys I know."
Cabinet restructuring is the prerogative of incoming administrations, and often reflective of its priorities. Four years ago, Gov. Mitt Romney consolidated state agencies that had ties to infrastructure and development under a development czar.
"Housing could fall under transportation, if you want to talk about smart growth," Hart said. "And transportation could fall under economic development."
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