State Rep. Marty Walsh (D-Dorchester) has been promoted by House Speaker Robert DeLeo to the chairmanship of the House Ethics Committee.

Walsh, a House member since 1997, once strongly backed a DeLeo rival for the speakership and served during last year’s legislative session as vice chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business.

But during the debate over bringing casinos to Massachusetts, Walsh, a top labor leader as secretary-treasurer and general agent of the Boston Building Trades Council, appeared to move into DeLeo’s inner circle. He said he is working on a list of priorities for his new committee.

Not everybody advanced as DeLeo reshuffled his leadership team: Charles Murphy, a Burlington Democrat who chaired the House side of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, was given the post of assistant majority leader, and James Vallee, a Franklin Democrat who served as majority leader last session, was sent to chair the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs. Murphy’s successor as Ways and Means chair is Haverhill Democrat Brian Dempsey.

Locally, Dorchester and Mattapan’s freshman state representatives were notified of their committee assignments: Carlos Henriquez will sit on the Education Committee, the Judiciary Committee, and the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee.

Russell Holmes, a Mattapan financial analyst, was appointed to the Financial Services Committee, the Housing Committee, and the Global Warming Committee.

Nick Collins, a South Boston Democrat whose district includes Dorchester’s Columbia Point and the Polish Triangle, was appointed to the Economic Development Committee, Children and Families Committee, and the Elder Affairs Committee.

The House’s Boston delegation retained a healthy grip on committee chairs, with many members staying in place: Linda Dorcena Forry, a Dorchester representative who is married to Reporter managing editor Bill Forry, keeps the House chair of the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business; Michael Moran of Allston-Brighton, who will lead state redistricting efforts this year, is keeping his Election Laws chairmanship; Kevin Honan of Brighton is chairing Housing; Elizabeth Malia of Jamaica Plain is staying on as chair of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and fellow Jamaica Plain Democrat Jeffrey Sanchez remains atop the Public Health Committee.

And Rep. Martha Walz of Beacon Hill, the chair of the Education Committee last session, received a promotion: She’ll be assistant vice-chair of Ways and Means.

Chairmanships often carry a stipend atop the base salary of $61,000 lawmakers receive annually.
After a Friday afternoon caucus, where House members were given their assignments, DeLeo told reporters, “Considering what our major objectives are in terms of job creation, GIC planning, parole and probation changes, we decided to make some changes, reshuffling some people in various positions and I feel at the end of the day we have a great team, a strong team, and I look forward to the session ahead.”

Referring to the list of committee appointments that was handed out at the caucus, Moran told the State House News Service, “I think you can read the sheet and you can make your own assumptions. I think he has a little bit of a shakeup and he wanted to go in a different direction.”

Senate president Therese Murray announced her leadership picks in early January, tapping state Sen. Jack Hart (D-South Boston) for the job of majority whip, and sophomore Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz as co-chair of the Education Committee.

Material from State House News Service was used in this report. A full list of committee assignments is available on the Dorchester Reporter’s political blog, The Lit Drop, at dotnews.com/litdrop.