Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker engaged in a sequence of conventional ceremonies throughout his final full day as governor on Wednesday, marking the transition of energy within the prime workplace on Beacon Hill from Republican to Democratic palms.
During a non-public ceremony within the governor’s workplace the Republican handed the incoming governor,
Democrat Maura Healey, a sequence of symbolic objects together with a bible relationship to the 1800s and a gavel made out of the white oak body of the united statesS. Constitution.
Two different objects that handed palms — as they’ve in prior transitions — included a pewter key to the door to the governor’s workplace and and two volumes of the Massachusetts common legal guidelines relationship again to the 1860s.
“It was a really beautiful and special moment,” Healey advised reporters after the ceremony. “It’s so important that we respect those traditions and the continuity of government.”
Baker will finish Wednesday with a conventional, red-carpeted “lone walk” by means of the Statehouse and down the entrance steps of the historic constructing, symbolising his return to personal life.
Baker’s departure clears the way in which for Healey to be sworn in because the state’s latest governor on Thursday.
Healey, the primary girl and first member of the LGBTQ neighborhood to be elected governor in Massachusetts, will take the oath of workplace within the House chambers on the Statehouse at about midday on Thursday.
Following the swearing-in, Healey is anticipated to stipulate a number of the targets of her administration. That night, Healey will host inaugural celebration on the TD Garden in Boston.
Earlier Wednesday, the Democratic-controlled 200-member state Legislature was sworn in for a brand new two-year time period.
Democratic Senate President Karen Spilka outlined plenty of her priorities for the session together with decreasing the price of prescribed drugs and specializing in the state’s ongoing housing disaster.
She additionally pledged to make use of all of the tax {dollars} from the current, voter-approved “millionaire tax” for brand spanking new investments in transportation and schooling.
Baker, a former Harvard basketball participant, has already lined up his subsequent problem — main the NCAA. The nation’s largest faculty sports activities governing physique oversees some 500,000 athletes at greater than 1,100 colleges.
Baker steps into the brand new job in March.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”