“If anything, the relationship between a Democratic executive branch and a Democratic Legislature actually leads to more conflict,” said Senator Jamie Eldridge, an Acton Democrat who has served in his chamber since 2009. “There is the natural battle for who is the most powerful Democrat on Beacon Hill.”
Just ask Deval Patrick. The intraparty tussles during his two terms as governor from 2007-2015 — the last time Democrats wielded total control of Beacon Hill — stand as a cautionary tale for what can happen when the one party has all the power.
Patrick, who ran for governor as a lawyer and business executive with no previous political experience, had rocky relationships with lawmakers, and, as a political neophyte, sometimes stumbled. His first attempt to legalize casinos in 2007 was swiftly rejected by the House speaker at the time; it was only resurrected when the new speaker, Robert A. DeLeo, eventually got behind the bill. When Patrick unveiled his plan to raise taxes at his 2013 State of the Commonwealth address without informing lawmakers first, many members took it as an affront. At the time, even fellow liberals said he was extremely hard to work with.
But Healey, a two-term attorney general with deep support in the Democratic Party, is a very different politician than Patrick, who was a true Beacon Hill outsider. And there are competing views on how much the future will reflect the past.
“Deval Patrick was a complete and total newbie,” said Jesse Mermell, who served as Patrick’s communications director in his second term. “There were no longstanding relationships. That isn’t the case here.”
On one hand, Healey’s win opens new possibilities for progressive lawmakers who aspire to pass legislation that had no chance with Baker. On the other, her down-the-middle campaign promises and warmth toward Baker signal that perhaps the Legislature should expect the new boss to be much like the old one.
Since his first campaign, Baker has fashioned himself as a check on Democrats, forcing changes in major pieces of legislation even as Democrats enjoyed supermajorities in both chambers. He successfully forced Democrats to accept a compromise on a limit to facial recognition technology instead of a total ban on the practice in the 2020 police reform law, for instance, and pushed lawmakers in 2020 to make changes to an ambitious climate bill to make it friendlier to builders and prospective homeowners.
And Baker’s moderate tone has proven popular with Massachusetts voters. An October University of Massachusetts Amherst poll found that nearly half of voters were in some way concerned about Democratic Party control of both the Legislature and the governor’s office. Divided government has been more the rule than exception in recent decades; voters have seemed to like it that way.
For years, Baker has also provided a useful scapegoat for legislative leaders when they were pressed by activists or more liberal members to pass more progressive policy. With the moderate Baker in office, legislative leaders could hold progressive legislation at arm’s length when they wanted, unless the policy at hand enjoyed enough support that it would survive Baker’s veto. When it came to proposals to lift a ban on rent control, create same-day voter registration, or even allow cities and towns to resurrect happy hour drink specials, Democrats faced the shadow of a veto pen and backed down.
With Healey in the top post, “we don’t have that cover anymore,” said Representative Erika Uyterhoeven, a Somerville Democrat.
Progressive lawmakers say they’re optimistic that legislation that couldn’t get support before — rent stabilization, fossil fuel restrictions, and supervised drug consumption sites where people can use drugs under the care of medical professionals, for example — now have a fighting chance.
Healey, a South End Democrat, does have a record of promoting certain progressive priorities, having advocated…
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