LAST YEAR, The Hill called Rep. Katherine Clark “the most powerful woman in the Capitol you’ve probably never heard of.”
Plenty of people have heard of her now, and many more soon will.
In January, Clark will become the fourth highest ranking member of the US House of Representatives when she assumes the post of assistant speaker, a position she won last month in a vote among her Democratic colleagues. That she prevailed over Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who entered the House three years before Clark, is just another mark of the savvy shown by the Fifth Congressional District congresswoman, who has not let seniority issues get in the way of a fast ascent into the top ranks of House leadership.
The former Melrose state legislator won a 2013 special election for the seat vacated by Ed Markey when he joined the Senate, and she has made a quick — and often quiet – rise into power. That has earned her the moniker among some colleagues of the “silent assassin.”
Clark evinces little of the killer instinct in a conversation on this week’s Codcast, but that seems very much a part of her no-drama playbook, where an outwardly modest bearing has served her far better than lurching for the next headline.
Clark said she thought hard about running for the seat, knowing she would be the newest member of what was then the minority party in the House.
“I had a conversation with then-Congresswoman Niki Tsongas that really solidified my decision to run,” said Clark. “And she talked about the power of being in Congress is that even a discreet budget line item, a bill that doesn’t have your name on the top, but that you worked on and matters to families at home gets folded into a bigger bill.” You can have an impact on “bills and policies that are not the stuff of headlines, but affect millions of people for the better.”
When pressed on a range of issues confronting the country and the Democratic leadership in the House, Clark doesn’t flinch from a well-honed message that Democrats are ready to lead and govern, with Republican obstruction the only thing in the way of addressing the serious problems facing Americans.
On the most pressing issue of the day in Congress — whether a new pandemic-driven economic stimulus bill will be passed before the end of the year — she says: “We have very clear dynamics. Mitch McConnell simply refuses to care about the suffering of the American people. And this dynamic has not changed for months.” After the House passed the Heroes Act in May to push $3 trillion into pandemic-related spending, she said, Republicans insisted on pausing until after the election. They now want to tie any spending to liability protection for companies.
“How are the 12 million [workers] who are looking at unemployment benefits running out on December 26 going to continue to pay their bills and get those payments?” asked Clark. “These are the fundamental crises of our time and of this pandemic. And it has gone from frustrating to absolute despair that we cannot get Mitch McConnell to agree to this fundamental help.”
Though Democrats are, of course, elated by Joe Biden’s election and the end of the Trump era, Clark deflected questions about what went wrong in the Democrats’ loss of seats in the House.
“I think what went very right is the election of Joe Biden and that we were able to hold onto the majority [in the House], including in places that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump,” she said.
She also didn’t bite when asked to weigh in on former President Barack Obama’s recent comments — echoed by her House leadership colleague Jim Clyburn — that messaging from the party’s left flank the invokes phrases like “defund the police,” which Obama called a “snappy slogan,” is counterproductive to making real strides in police reform.
“It is always the right time, to quote Martin Luther King, to do the right thing,” said Clark. “What we can’t do is get derailed by a disagreement over any particular message. It is a time in our country’s history where we have to look at racism unblinkingly. We have to do everything we can.”
The three House leaders above her — Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Clyburn, the majority whip — are all 80 or older (Hoyer is 81). With Pelosi signaling that this will be her last term at the helm, it’s hard not envision a move by the 57-year-old Clark to become the ninth House speaker from Massachusetts.
But don’t look for Clark to broadcast any such intentions, though perhaps she hinted at the idea of another woman at the top.
“Well, I can tell you this,” she said. “Whoever is our next speaker is going to have some tall stilettos to fill. I am so grateful to be part of this leadership team. Going back to my story about Niki Tsongas, for me, this has never been about the title or the ambition, and I’m going to use this position that I have to do the very most I can for my constituents, for the people of the Commonwealth.”
MICHAEL JONAS
FROM COMMONWEALTH
Roxbury Prep’s tortured, three-year odyssey to build a new high school in Roslindale takes a turn as the charter school says it will explore new sites.
Hull, which was about to see its MBTA service cut off entirely, is hoping for a better outcome at today’s meeting of the Fiscal and Management Control Board.
Gov. Charlie Baker sends an abortion access provision back to the Legislature, saying he won’t go along with allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to terminate pregnancies without a parent or a judge’s approval. Meanwhile, Baker signs the FY21 budget after cutting $156 million in spending.
Former State Police troopers charged in overtime scheme.
Opinion: T union representative Mike Vartabedian says the transit authority’s nonunion transit ambassadors deserve better…. Betsy Johnson and Josh Ostroff say it’s time to complete more Complete Streets. … Lawrence Friedman says the SJC got it right with its ruling on Baker’s emergency powers, but David R. Geiger says just the opposite. … Timothy Lasker says the same old plan – cut service and lay off workers – won’t work at the MBTA.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
Legislators not facing reelection opponents this year still spent $3.3 million in campaign dollars – led by House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who spent nearly $260,000. (Eagle-Tribune)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The deputy fire chief in Waltham is seeking a kidney donor. (The Salem News)
Two people who came into close contact with Worcester City Manager Ed Augustus, who has COVID-19, also tested positive. (Telegram & Gazette)
Nine years later, the Telegram & Gazette tracks down Jared Flanders, who was only 11 when he was photographed in an iconic shot saluting fallen Worcester firefighter Jon Davies at Davies’ funeral.
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
The first doses of Pfizer’s newly-approved coronavirus vaccine are slated to arrive in Massachusetts hospitals today, a major milestone in the effort to tame the pandemic (Boston Globe)
Massachusetts is one of six states to give priority to prison inmates in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine. (WBUR) CommonWealth covered the issue last week amid the continued rise of positive cases at state and county jails and prisons.
Hours after reports that White House personnel would be rapidly given a COVID-19 vaccine, President Trump reversed course and said they would not be in the first wave of vaccine recipients. (New York Times)
A mother and her 2-year-old daughter in Pittsfield contracted the coronavirus and are now recovered. (Berkshire Eagle)
Around a quarter of the people in Massachusetts called by a state contact tracer because of COVID-19 exposure cannot be reached. (The Salem News)
Mental health experts worry about the impact long-term COVID-related stress can have on a person’s nervous system. (MassLive)
A new analysis by The Enterprise offers a dynamic picture of where the use of painkillers, heroin and fentanyl has claimed lives in Massachusetts since the year 2000.
There were long lines of cars on Sunday waiting for free COVID testing in Milton. (Patriot Ledger)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
Russian government hackers have cracked into the Treasury and Commerce departments as well as other US government agencies in a widespread espionage effort that has been underway for months. (Washington Post)
Boston native Annie Tomasini, whose lineage includes several well-known local pols of yore, will play a key gatekeeping role in the Biden White House as director of Oval Office operations. (Boston Globe)
ELECTIONS
Conservative Massachusetts Republican Party chairman Jim Lyons — who has been in a battle for control of the state GOP with moderate Gov. Charlie Baker — is asking the US attorney, FBI, and three other agencies to investigate whether more than $1 million of state party funds were misused — including by Baker’s former finance director. (Boston Globe)
Fall River firefighters’ union head Jason Burns has confirmed he is considering a run for mayor. (Herald News)
Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld says Rep. Ayanna Pressley will go farther if she cuts her ties with “the Squad” and suggests she could eye a run for governor or mayor.
BUSINESS/ECONOM
WBUR analyzes which businesses violated COVID-19 safety rules, and retail stores and restaurants topped the list. Some restaurants are unhappy with Gov. Charlie Baker’s new restrictions on dining – and the implication that eating in restaurants is unsafe. (Telegram & Gazette)
The state’s first cannabis delivery business will open in Taunton. (Taunton Gazette)
MassLive has a FAQ about the new COVID-related restrictions that went into effect Sunday on some businesses.
EDUCATION
Worcester area school districts rely on testing to figure out how much learning students lost due to COVID-19 related closures. (Telegram & Gazette)
The Boston Teachers Union approved a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Brenda Cassellius over her plan to bring back more high-need students today for in-person instruction. (Boston Globe)
ARTS/CULTURE
Eastham Historical Society discovers a document in its archives that has the signature of then Governor Samuel Adams. (Cape Cod Times)
TRANSPORTATION
State Rep. — and emergency room physician — Jon Santiago decries the impact MBTA cuts would have on essential workers, including those hospitals rely on amid the pandemic. (Boston Globe) Abdallah Fayyad says instead of service cuts the T should be moving to make the system free to all users. (Boston Globe)
Mattapan renters fear eviction as a new Blue Hill Avenue MBTA stop drives rent increases. (GBH)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The Globe takes a deep dive into the failed effort to block a natural gas compressor station in Weymouth.
The historic Becket Quarry is seeing a surge in visitors, and the land trust that owns it doesn’t have the resources to deal with policing visitors. (MassLive)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURT
Bristol, Worcester, and Hampden counties are seeing a disproportionate share of eviction filings. (Boston Globe)
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni threatens to sue the Department of Justice to obtain additional details about the DOJ’s probe of the Springfield Police Department. (MassLive)
MEDIA
Gannett is outsourcing 485 business-side jobs to India. (Poynter)