The Patrick administration is still angling to get the Legislature to pass a sweeping overhaul of the state’s health care payment and delivery system by the end of 2011, Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray said yesterday.
The overhaul is part of the administration’s agenda to create jobs, Murray said. “The governor has been on that very consistently, publicly and privately, saying that’s a major priority.’’
The governor’s bill remains under review by the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.
Murray - who chairs the Governor’s Council, the elected body that reviews and votes on the governor’s judicial nominees - said he has not heard from officials in the judiciary since Governor Deval Patrick nominated three judges on Friday.
Roderick Ireland, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, and Robert Mulligan, the Trial Court’s top administrator, urged the governor last month to impose a moratorium on all judicial appointments, contending that the court lacked the resources and support staff to absorb additional judges.
The administration took exception to their warning, contending that top Trial Court officials had continued lobbying to fill vacancies in the days leading up to Ireland and Mulligan’s request.
“The courts have said different things. We’ve got chiefs of the various courts actively lobbying . . . to appoint people to various vacancies,’’ Murray said. “There’s mixed messages coming out of that. Regardless of what they have to say, the governor’s going to do his job.’’
