Massachusetts: Sonia Chang-diaz

New Speaker Bob DeLeo announced his leadership team and committee assignments today, and Therese Murray came out with her new assignments. I don't have time to say much about it right now, but a few quick observations:

--The NEXT Speaker fight shapes up to be Charley Murphy vs. Jim Vallee (assuming DeLeo lasts a few years at least); anyone else who wants a piece of it better start plotting now.

--Sweet of DeLeo to let Petrolati keep his pro tem postion. Sweet but dumb. If Petrolati gets sucked further into the ACE Ticket scandal, you've got "DeLeo's first big misstep" stories.

--Young blood leading some big House committees.

Facing charges that she accepted $23,500 in bribes, state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson said Wednesday that she will resign from office as soon as she can.

"I am committed to resigning my office as soon as I can do so consistent with my need to effectuate an orderly transition," Wilkerson, a Boston Democrat, said in a statement.

Wilkerson said that she will resign after finishing "hundreds of active constituent matters," clearing out her files and helping her staff find new jobs.

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling recently blasted state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson for her arrest on charges of accepting $23,500 in bribes, the Boston Herald reports .

Schilling also criticized Beacon Hill for perpetuating a culture of corruption.

"All the corruption and the crap we're dealing with in Massachusetts, every day you open the paper another politician is indicted. It's embarrassing," Schilling said, according to the Herald.

The Boston Globe just reported that state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson has suspended her campaign.

"As of this moment today though I am certainly announcing the suspension, the termination, cessation -- I want to make it clear that I am ending any further campaign," Wilkerson said, according to the Globe.

Wilkerson did not comment on whether she will resign from the state Senate.