Boston's Alternative Source! image!
   
Feedback

[This Just In]

TALKING POLITICS
Swift’s got the power

BY SETH GITELL

Acting governor or not, Jane Swift is still Jane Swift. But now she’s got the power. And Tuesday’s State House ceremony was rife with its trappings: the State Police Pipe and Drum Band, the Metropolitan District Commission Rangers, the Butler Bible, and the like. But the question remains: does it mean anything? After all, Swift may have the acting-guv title, but she’s still a relatively untested 36-year-old with an inexperienced staff.

The most promising sign for Swift at Tuesday’s transfer of power was the appearance of Massachusetts Republican National Committee member Ron Kaufman. Kaufman, the political director in the first Bush White House, is close to the current administration and is also the brother-in-law of President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, Andrew Card. His involvement signals that the Bushies feel they have a stake in how Swift does, and the Bush administration may find ways to build her up. Kaufman told the Phoenix that Swift enjoys a good reputation in Republican circles, dating from the tough fight she gave Representative John Olver of Amherst in 1996.

If she’s as well liked in DC as Kaufman suggests, good things may come Swift’s way somewhere down the line. In the meantime, how can she hold on to the reins of her newfound power? Swift faces a critical juncture eight weeks from now, when she is scheduled to give birth to twins. Plans are under way to have her govern from her home in Western Massachusetts. With no lieutenant governor to fill in during her weeks of recovery, the Swift team is thinking creatively. According to Beacon Hill insiders, Swift will look to Secretary of Public Safety Jane Perlov for assistance. Swift and Perlov — a former deputy chief in the New York City Police Department who was close to former police chief Bill Bratton — have a strong relationship. Swift discovered Perlov at a conference at Harvard and introduced her to Governor Paul Cellucci, who gave her the job she holds now. Under one possible scenario, Swift may call upon Perlov to make ceremonial appearances as her surrogate at events such as bridge openings and ribbon cuttings.

Asked about an expanded role for Perlov, Charles McDonald, the director of communications for the Office of Public Safety, says, “The secretary would fulfill any roles that the governor would ask her to partake of.” But what about Secretary of State William Galvin, who becomes acting governor under the Massachusetts Constitution if Swift can’t fulfill her job? That provision doesn’t take effect unless Swift is out of state or explicitly incapacitated. And Swift, naturally, would like to keep Galvin, a Democrat with gubernatorial aspirations, as far from the circle of power as possible.

In other words, make way for Perlov.

Issue Date: April 12 - 19, 2001