Thursday, March 31, 2016
By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan
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Today: Baker at MassBio, Comptroller of the Currency, Hillary Clinton in town for fundraiser
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Gov. Charlie Baker speaks at MassBio's annual meeting, Royal Sonesta Boston, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge, 9 a.m.
Treasurer Deborah Goldberg chairs a meeting of the Massachusetts State Retirement Board, One Winter Street, 8th floor, Boston, 10 a.m.
Thomas Curry, comptroller of the currency at the U.S. Treasury Department, gives a talk at the Kennedy School, Bell Hall, Belfer Building, 79 JFK St., Cambridge, 11:45 a.m.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is in Boston for a fundraiser, where she will be joined by Academy Award winner and social activist Forest Whitaker, The State Room, 60 State Street, Boston, 5:00 p.m.
Elite school news of the day: Sexual misconduct, racial unrest, slavery, puritanism
Where to begin with all that's going on at our elite prep schools and universities? Let's start with the ugly story of a celebrated faculty member at Phillips Exeter Academy resigning and getting barred from campus after he admitted to two instances of sexual misconduct in the 1970s and 1980s, the Globe's Jenn Abelson and Jonathan Saltzman report. That's just the latest sexual misconduct case to surface at a regional elite boarding school. http://bit.ly/1TkzkqC
Then there's the ongoing controversy at Boston Latin School, where the Boston NAACP is stepping up its call for the ouster of the headmaster after she said three recently discovered "highly offensive" social media posts were handled well, as reported by the Herald's Owen Boss. The NAACP begs to differ.
Over at Harvard, university president Drew Faust announces in a Crimson op-ed that the school is finally taking steps, hundreds of years later, to recognize its own ugly association with slavery. Meanwhile, Harvard grads Timothy C. Moore and Harvey A. Silverglate are warning of a "return to the College operating in loco parentis, as it attempts to both dictate social-sexual norms and limit students' independence."
What's that quote about preferring to be governed by the first 400 people in the Boston phone book than governed by the faculty at Harvard? Yes, here it is. OK, it's somewhat of a cheap shot against all prestigious schools. Then again, it was a bad day for the region's elite institutions, serving as a reminder that society sometimes (if not usually) gives them way too much deference.
Perks aplenty for public college presidents
Not to be outdone in making academic news, presidents and other leaders at Massachusetts public colleges and universities receive a host of lucrative perks including houses, cars, free tuition for their offspring and even country club dues and the chance to take a year's paid sabbatical after they leave, according to a story by Jon Marcus of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting, in a report carried by a number of media outlets statewide, including the Telegram. Some employees are even guaranteed a fall-back job on faculty that can pay as much as $480,000 a year.http://bit.ly/1RLWJPf
This time, the conventional wisdom is probably right
Every time Donald Trump has made what would normally be considered a political "gaffe," he's turned a negative into a positive, gaining support and confounding conventional wisdom in the process. His entire campaign is based on saying outrageous things and getting away with it. But this time he may - repeat: may - have gone a true gaffe too far with his abortion remarks yesterday. As the Globe's Tracy Jan notes: "Trump's rhetoric - including his suggestion Wednesday that women who get abortions should be punished if the procedure is ever banned - is sending fear through GOP strategists who say their would-be presidential nominee could lead to losses in battleground states like Virginia, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Florida in November.After his inflammatory remarks Wednesday, Trump reversed course a few hours later and said doctors, not women, should be punished." http://bit.ly/1qljTTN
The conventional wisdom that might finally be proven right: That Trump is going to lose the female vote, big time, in November if he wins the GOP nomination and squares off against probable Dem nominee Hillary Clinton.
Corey Lewandowski's Lowell connection, explained
Donald Trump's embattled campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, a Lowell native who has been charged with battery in Florida, is remembered somewhat fondly by a local pol. From a profile of Lewandowski by the Washington Post's Karen Tumulty: "Early on, Lewandowski had set his sights on holding office himself. While in college at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, he ran in 1994 for state representative and lost to an opponent, Democrat Thomas A. Golden Jr., who had grown up on the same street. 'I knew him as a different person. He was very personable, and very affable, actually,' said Golden, who still holds the seat. 'All of the stuff that is going on is not the gentleman I knew.'"http://wapo.st/1TkzONu
'Johns, pimps, we're coming for you!'
Some members of Boston's city council have come up with a novel way to pay for a police crackdown on prostitution: Through the fines collected on cars impounded during prostitution-related arrests, including the cars of pimps and johns, as reported by Universal Hub's Adam Gaffin. "Johns, pimps, we're coming for you!" warned Councilor Ayanna Pressley.http://bit.ly/1Y1OmAQ
City council bans city-paid travel to N.C. over transgender law
The Boston City Council has unanimously approved a ban on city-paid travel to North Carolina because of that state's recently passed law barring transgender individuals from using public bathrooms that do not match their biological gender, reports the Globe's Andrew Ryan and Meghan Irons. Mayor Marty Walsh plans to sign the ordinance.http://bit.ly/1q51JFX
Suffolk University drama heats back up
The story that keeps on giving just keeps on giving. The Herald's Joe Battenfeld reports that Suffolk University's trustees have launched an independent investigation into allegations of misspending by President Margaret McKenna. And where, apparently, did those allegations start? Well, it just so happens that George Regan, the public relations guru feuding with McKenna after she terminated his firm's longtime contract, has made such allegations, Battenfeld notes.http://bit.ly/1UExXol
Baker signs bill ending license suspensions for most drug offenses
Surrounded by Democratic leaders, the Republican governor on Wednesday signed a bill that ends the 27-year-old policy of automatically suspending the driver's license of many drug offenders, even if their crimes didn't involve driving, according to an Associated Press report at WGBH. http://bit.ly/1VUVHDA
Gloria Fox, longest serving female representative, is stepping down
Rep. Gloria Fox, who has represented Boston's Roxbury neighborhood in the Massachusetts House since 1985, won't be running for re-election, State House News Service's Colin A. Young reports. Fox is the longest serving female member of the House and the only African-American woman currently serving in that branch. http://bit.ly/1MDxWhg (pay wall)
Perk costs state $1 million a year in tolls
A perk that allows current and retired transportation department employees, and some vendors, to drive toll-free has cost the state nearly $1 million since 2009, Nicole Dungca of the Globe reports. A report from the office of the Inspector General also found that Mass DOT could not account for more than 80 of the free-ride transponders and more than 100 toll trips were charged to the state after the employees who were granted them had died. http://bit.ly/22ReNjp
Worcester inks another lucrative pot deal
Worcester officials are supporting a second medical marijuana dispensary in the city, once again reaping a one-time windfall of $450,000, Sam Bonacci of the Worcester Business Journal reports. Prime Wellness Centers inked a community host agreement that matches one signed earlier by Good Chemistry that was called the most community-friendly in the state at the time. Both deals call for Worcester to receive 2.5 percent of gross sales going forward.http://bit.ly/22RdGAo
Naming rights sale considered for Brockton stadium
Selling the naming rights to the baseball stadium that is home to the Brockton Rox is one of many ideas on the table to help raise revenue for the publicly owned facility, Marc Larocque of the Enterprise reports. But the Brockton 21st Century Corporation said early attempts to gauge interest in the rights last year showed the market wasn't there, and that the stadium needs to be improved before a sponsor is likely to take the plunge. http://bit.ly/1pKZMxL
Boston ranked third most expensive place to do business
In news that will likely come as a surprise to no one paying attention, a new study pegs Boston as the third most expensive market in the country for businesses to operate, the Boston Business Journal's Greg Ryan reports. Out of 31 major metro areas, only San Francisco and New York had higher costs for real estate, labor, taxes, utilities and other expenses, the study by KPMG found.
Activists will protest GE
A coalition of social justice groups is planning to stage a protest outside next week's welcome ceremony for General Electric, an event that Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh are expected to attend along with GE brass, Christina Prignano of the Globe reports. http://bit.ly/1RMTqV2
Activists opposed to tax breaks and other benefits used to lure General Electric to Boston are planning a protest of a press event next week where public officials will trumpet details of GE’s new location.
Governor Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin Walsh are set to join GE CEO Jeff Immelt and other company officials at a downtown Boston high-rise on Monday to unveil specifics of GE’s new headquarters.
A flyer circulating on social media with the hashtag #makegepay announced the protest outside the “welcome party for GE.”
“Why are they giving tax breaks and free public services to GE while our schools, MBTA, and housing are underfunded?” the flyer asks.
The protest is being organized by a coalition of social justice groups, according to a Facebook event page. Nearly 70 people had RSVP’d as of
A flyer circulating on social media with the hashtag #makegepay announced the protest outside the “welcome party for GE.”
“Why are they giving tax breaks and free public services to GE while our schools, MBTA, and housing are underfunded?” the flyer asks.
The protest is being organized by a coalition of social justice groups, according to a Facebook event page. Nearly 70 people had RSVP’d as of Wednesday afternoon.
The company announced last week that it had reached a deal with Procter & Gamble to locate its new headquarters on a portion of Gillette’s campus along Fort Point Channel.
Walsh has defended the use of tax breaks to lure the company from its Fairfield, Conn., headquarters.
“These agreements are not expenditures, but net positives that unlock new taxable developments,”Walsh said earlier this month. “That’s why I’m confident in our agreement with GE.”
Big Corporate giveaways have long since proven to be SCAMS.
Where's a COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS?
This is yet another TAXPAYER SCAM crafted behind closed doors that will COST ALL MASSACHUSETTS TAXPAYERS.
What happened when Bill Clinton came to New Bedford?
Boston Magazine's Kyle Scott Clauss used a public records request to obtain emails relating to former President Bill Clinton's pre-primary election visit to New Bedford and found election officials scrambling to address concerns that Clinton would be infringing on the buffer zone around polling places. http://bit.ly/231VK2o
ormer President Bill Clinton’s visits to two Massachusetts polling places during the state’s primary earlier this month—inside the Holy Name gymnasium in West Roxbury and outside the Buttonwood Park warming house in New Bedford—drew accusations of a violation of state election laws and even voter suppression. Though state officials concluded that Clinton’s megaphone stump speech for Hillary Clinton did not break the law, internal emails leading up to the March 1 primary and its immediate aftermath, obtained via public records request, reveal how New Bedford city officials handled inquiries from an increasingly concerned state Election Commission.
Clinton’s visit was brief— he only spoke for about three minutes. But the speech’s proximity to the polling place, combined with less than 24 hours of notice from the Clinton campaign and crowds of about 2,000 people, by Mayor Jon Mitchell’s own estimate, made for a perfect storm of congestion.
Early Super Tuesday morning, Elizabeth M. Treadup Pio, Mitchell’s spokesperson, reached out to the city’s Department of Public Infrastructure and requested some tidying up ahead of Clinton’s arrival.
“Can you please have our guys do a sweep of trash/debris in that area and arrange for the big, nice sound system to be there?” Treadup Pio wrote. “As it is Election Day, Clinton is not allowed to go into the polling place and must stay 100 feet away…So, we may need to use lots of extension cords or try to tap into the power at a nearby pole instead.”
In one email, assistant chief of staff Kristine Arsenault said the city was told “no stage, no podium, no sound—no public speech,” because the Clinton campaign declined the sound system. A stage was set up in a nearby field, but promptly taken down.
Around noon, Shannon Shreve, counsel in the City Solicitor’s office, received a call from the Elections Division at Secretary Bill Galvin’s office, advising that Clinton must stay 150—not 100—feet from the entrance of the polling place at Buttonwood Park. Michelle Tassinari, the division’s director, added that the Clinton campaign had been made aware of the guidelines.
It would not be the last time Shreve heard from Tassinari on Super Tuesday. “Are there arrangements for voters to still be able to get into the polls? We just received a complaint from a voter who was unable to get near the polling place as it was blocked off because of Bill Clinton’s presence,” Tassinari wrote. “He was unable to vote and will not have an opportunity to go back.”
“Can you call me?” Tassinari emailed Shreve half-an-hour later. “We are getting many calls about the area around the polling places being shut down, per order of the Mayor. This is a BIG problem.” First Assistant City Solicitor Jane Medeiros Friedman confirmed to Tassinari that Mayor Mitchell gave no such order, but Tassinari reached out again once videos of Clinton’s appearance at the polling place surfaced and calls from across the country began pouring in, including one from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, a nonprofit organization providing pro bono legal services in cases of discrimination.
The next day, a resident called and asked how much the city spent cleaning Buttonwood Park in preparation for Clinton’s visit. “He also wanted to know ‘why did a street sweeper go up down his street 3 times,'” Diane Roy, a special assistant to the Mayor’s Office, told Treadup Pio and Mitchell’s chief of staff, Neil Mello. Treadup Pio denied that Buttonwood Park received any special treatment.
(Treadup Pio could not be immediately reached for this story.)
By the time the city’s elections commissioner, Maria Tomasia, made a radio appearance that afternoon, the situation had gotten sticky enough that Arsenault provided a few “helpful talking points,” including one suggesting Clinton would’ve been positioned further away from the polling place had the media gathered elsewhere.
“Essentially Clinton was forced to speak that close to the entrance because the MEDIA parked themselves there before 9 a.m. The City did not set that up as a staging area,” Arsenault wrote to Treadup Pio in a separate email. “As for breaking the law: I don’t see what others have quoted as the law online. AND—isn’t jay-walking a law? These people that are so concerned about this law should review every law.”
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