The Gateway Cities initiative targets state assistance to help revitalize those mostly urban, one-time industrial centers like Springfield and Holyoke.
Jennifer Murphy of Wilbraham, former political director for Timothy Cahill, was named Friday to coordinate the Patrick administration's "Gateway Cities" agenda.By MATT MURPHY
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
BOSTON – The former director of Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray's political committee has been hired to a new $105,000-a-year job in charge of coordinating the Patrick administration's "Gateway Cities" agenda.
A day after it was announced that Jennifer Murphy of Wilbraham would be leaving as director of the Citizens Committee to Elect Tim Murray, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki introduced Murphy as the state's new assistant secretary for gateway cities initiatives.
The job, newly created within the Patrick administration for Murphy, will pay a salary of $105,000 and involve "work across the eight cabinet secretariats to develop, coordinate and implement the Patrick-Murray Administration's Gateway Cities agenda to best address the needs and fully maximize the potential of these twenty-four distinct municipalities," according to Bialecki, who is traveling with Gov. Deval Patrick in Israel.
A spokesman for the state Republican party criticized the appointment.
"All the hard talk we saw from the Patrick-Murray team about ending patronage and cleaning up state government doesn't apply when it is their personal friends looking for six-figure state jobs," said the Republican party's spokesman.
In an e-mail to staff on Friday morning, Bialecki said Murphy will become the "point person" for the administration to build on the work it has done to help revitalize the older so-called Gateway Cities targeted for state assistance to help revitalize those mostly urban, one-time industrial centers like Lowell, Fitchburg, Pittsfield, Worcester, Springfield and Holyoke.
"This will involve creating true city-state partnerships, with each party accepting and executing its respective responsibilities, including the Governor's stated priorities of job creation, closing the achievement gap, health care cost containment, and ending youth violence," Bialecki wrote.
Bialecki noted that the Patrick administration has invested $246.9 million in capital funds to help modernize affordable housing units in the designated cities, and put $7.1 million in federal stimulus funding toward upgrading heating systems in public housing developments for those communities.
Before spending four years working on Murray's political team, Murphy gained experience working in the Legislature, the Hampden County district attorney's office and the city of Springfield.
The announcement of Murphy's hiring came a day after Murray's political committee named Daniel Donahue as her replacement, but declined to elaborate on Murphy's next move.
Last week, the administration similarly announced the hiring of former state Democratic Party executive director Stacey Monahan as chief of staff to Health and Human Services Secretary Judy Ann Bigby on a Friday afternoon, a day after the party named her replacement.
"It's got to be Friday if we're hearing of a Patrick-Murray patronage hire. It's kind of sad to see with everything going on at the Probation Department that patronage is still alive and well in the Patrick-Murray administration," said Tim Buckley, communications director for the Massachusetts Republican Party.
Buckley said that with the state facing deeps gaps between spending and revenue and contemplating cuts to vital programs and services, now is not the time to be creating jobs. "Any time we're adding six figure salaried jobs to state government, it is usually a bad idea, but especially in these times," Buckley said.