Health Care/ State government

No clear answers on Sudders’s shift in tone

After 8 years, health and human services secretary calling it quits

By 0 Comments

LAST WEEK, Marylou Sudders sounded like she wanted to stay on as the state’s secretary of health and human services. This week, she put in her retirement papers.

What happened between last week and this week is unclear, but rumors are swirling.

Sudders has served eight years as the secretary of the biggest executive branch office in state government. She also served during COVID, an unprecedented, high-profile period  that put her and her decisions in the spotlight on a daily basis.

She recorded the CommonWealth Codcast early last week with John McDonough of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University and Paul Hattis of the Lown Institute. They saw it as an “exit interview” of sorts, while Sudders talked with an urgency about unfinished business.

“We should use this moment and galvanize it and see it,” she said. “To me that is the policy opportunity to come back to the table and address health care costs in the Commonwealth, and I have some strong opinions about it, as you can tell.”

Her tone was such that McDonough asked her whether she intended to stay on after Gov. Charlie Baker’s term ends on January 3 and serve temporarily or permanently in the new administration of Maura Healey. 

It was not a crazy question, as news outlets have reported that some members of Baker’s cabinet could be holdovers in Healey’s. It also made some sense because of the glacial pace of Healey’s appointments. As of Friday morning, she had named just three members of her cabinet.

“I’m here until I’m not,” Sudders said on the Codcast, acknowledging there have been meetings and discussions with Healey and Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Driscoll. “What I can assure you is this transition will be very smooth.”

On Monday, not long after the Codcast was released and summarized on CommonWealth’s website, news leaked that Sudders had informed her staff that she was retiring. 

Spokespeople for Sudders and Healey did not respond to requests for comment.

Speculation about what happened varied quite dramatically. One source said Sudders believed she was on the verge of being offered the job by Healey, only to learn she wasn’t. Another said Sudders was wooed for the job, but decided to opt out when she learned that she would have to go through a competitive process. A third source said Sudders was the one campaigning for the job. 

Meet the Author

Bruce Mohl

Editor, CommonWealth
Bio » Latest Stories »

About Bruce Mohl

Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

About Bruce Mohl

Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.

A fourth source said Sudders never intended to stay on, noting her “I’m here until I’m not” comment was something she said often to deflect questions as the Baker administration was winding down. Why she wasn’t more forthright with McDonough and Hattis is unclear.

Whatever the reason, the search for a new secretary of health and human services continues. One source said a candidate was encouraged by Healey to apply for the job last week.

 

Tagged in: