Wednesday, March 30, 2016
By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan
Today: Welcoming Armenia's president, film tax credit push, reforming public records law
Charlie Baker and other state and diplomatic officials will welcome
Serzh Sargsyan, the president of the Republic of Armenia, to the State House, front staircase, State House, 1:15 p.m.
College professors, students and film industry workers will host a legislative briefing to discuss the role the state's film tax credit has on their sector, House Members Lounge, Room 348, 11 a.m.
The legislative conference committee tasked with reconciling bills to reform the state's public records law will meet for the third time, Room 222, 2 p.m.
The Trump Connection
What is it about Massachusetts and Donald Trump? Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney launched a nationwide crusade against the GOP presidential frontrunner. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren spent most of last week rhetorically dueling with The Donald. Now Lowell's very own Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager, has been charged with battery in Florida for grabbing a reporter as she tried to ask Trump a question, the NYT reports.
http://nyti.ms/1RKi8W1
Meanwhile, the Herald's Matt Stout and Chris Villani apparently had a phone-call tussle with the spokesman for the Florida prosecutor who's pressing the charges against Lewandowski.
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg is not only a Hillary Clinton supporter but he's also - brace yourself Harvard educated
http://bit.ly/1ROylQd
Today's Herald editorial probably best sums up the latest presidential-race madness: "If this campaign were not happening in some sort of parallel universe, a simple apology at the time might have sufficed. But like Trump himself, those who work for him apparently
never acknowledge error - and certainly not bad behavior."
http://bit.ly/1TieJmK
Did a group cross the fine line between advocacy and partisanship?
We all know there's a fine line between non-profits advocating for causes and actually taking sides in elections, something they're not supposed to do as educational tax-exempt organizations. After all, we know where most groups stand on issues. We know who they ideologically like and dislike. We know who they're secretly rooting for or against. But they can't make it too explicit - and that's what the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance is now being accused of: being too explicit about the obvious in this month's special state representative races in Fitchburg and Peabody, according to the Globe's Frank Phillips. The alliance, needless to say, denies the charge. http://bit.ly/1RIf9Az
Despite reforms, the T's finances are getting worse
The Boston Business Journal's Craig Douglas is reporting the MBTA's financial picture is getting worse, not better, despite recent reforms: "The T's operating losses in fiscal 2015 hit a new high - or low, depending on your preference in defining a negative negative. In simple-speak, the MBTA's financial hemorrhaging only worsened last year, marking a record operating loss for a state agency that long ago ran off the rails." http://bit.ly/1SmfV3K
What would Frank Sargent do?
In related transportation news, James Aloisi looks around at all of the state's unmet infrastructure needs and recalls how former Gov. Frank Sargent famously announced in 1970: "I have decided to reverse the transportation policy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." Aloisi concludes in his CommonWealth magazine piece: "Frank Sargent isn't here today to urge us on to a wiser transportation policy, but we can take lessons from what he said, and did, and apply them to the moment." http://bit.ly/1LZGAXz
Former Citigroup exec and treasurer candidate tapped to head DOR
The Baker administration has tapped an ex-Citigroup executive and former Republican candidate for treasurer as the new commissioner of the Department of Revenue. Mike Heffernan, who lost to Democrat Deborah Goldberg in the treasurer's race in 2014, is set to succeed Mark Nunnelly as revenue commissioner on May 2, Michael Norton of State House New Service reports in the Telegram. http://bit.ly/1ROyu6l
'Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-up Bubble'
Fortune magazine is running excerpts from Dan Lyons's new book 'Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble,' based on his year working at Cambridge's HubSpot, the digital marketing firm. Based on the excerpt, the book is about as devastating and unflattering to HubSpot as some of the firm's senior employees feared. From the Fortune excerpt: "The offices bear a striking resemblance to the Montessori preschool that my kids attended: lots of bright basic colors, plenty of toys, and a nap room with a hammock and soothing palm tree murals on the wall. The office-as-playground trend was made famous by Google and has spread like an infection across the tech industry. Work can't just be work; work has to be fun. HubSpot is divided into 'neighborhoods,' each named after a section of Boston: North End, South End, Charlestown. One neighborhood has a set of musical instruments, in case people want to have an impromptu jam session, which Zack says never happens." http://for.tn/1UUe0tb
Pushing boardroom diversity via a simple list
The recently organized Get Konnected plans to unveil today its new GK100 list of the 100 Most Influential People of Color in Boston, the Globe's Shirley Leung reports. It's a good idea. Everyone else has their lists - the largest companies in Massachusetts, the most powerful people in Boston, the best restaurants in Greater Boston, the greatest doughnuts in the entire universe, etc. So why not the 100 Most Influential People of Color? Corporations and institutions will no longer be able to say they can't "find" people of color to serve on their boards. The names will be right there on a list. Simple. http://bit.ly/1UUe3VM
State Street's struggles are getting worse
When one of the state's largest employers starts talking of cutting 6,000 to 7,000 jobs over the next four years, you should take notice. When one of the largest employers talks of such additional cuts after recent payroll reductions, you start to worry. So far, State Street Corp. has largely spared Boston in past layoff rounds, the Boston Business Journal's Greg Ryan reports. But how long can that last if another 6,000 to 7,000 jobs are cut? http://bit.ly/1RqoBJY
Massachusetts is cruising toward its own 'self-driving car' cluster
Silicon Valley and the automakers in Detroit have put the pedal to the metal when it comes to developing technologies for futuristic 'self-driving cars.' But now Massachusetts companies are increasingly getting into the act, MassLive's Shira Schoenberg reports. They're even eying unused space at the former Devens military base as a potential testing ground for self-driving care, she adds in a separate report.
Commission asks Plainridge to explain online game
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission wants officials from Plainridge Park Casino to come before it and explain its new online game, which has drawn criticism for being easier to win than the real slots in its gaming hall, Sean P. Murphy of the Globe reports. The MGC will also call in experts on "social gaming," while it acknowledged it may not have jurisdiction over the online games under the state's gambling law. http://bit.ly/21T55ap
Framingham charter change question passes easily
Framingham voters took a giant step toward changing the community from a town meeting to a city form of government, Danielle Ameden of the MetroWest Daily News reports. A measure to create a charter study commission passed by a 75-to-25 margin, with about 5,500 voters, or 14 percent of those registered, going to the polls. The town last created such a commission 19 years ago, but its recommendations were eventually rejected by voters. http://bit.ly/1pK3rfa
Ballot printer threatens suit over reprints
A Newburyport company is calling on the Inspector General to investigate procurement practices at the office of Secretary of State William Galvin after it was not paid for reprinting millions of ballots, Dyke Hendrickson reports in the Salem News. Bradford & Bigelow executives say they will take the state to court if they are not paid $575,000 they say they are owed for reprinting primary election ballots that proved unreadable by some of the AccuVote machines used in many communities. http://bit.ly/1olzscq
Cambridge bag ban kicks in
The city of Cambridge's ban on plastic bags kicks in later this week, Garrett Quinn of Boston Magazine reports. The ordinance passed last year requires retailers to charge customers for shopping bags and sets $300 daily fines for retailers who do not comply. http://bit.ly/1q1gwl7
GOP wants Senate candidate's treasurer pick probed
The state Republican party has filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission charging that Democrat Benjamin deRuyter violated state rules by choosing Brewster town counsel Sarah Turano-Flores as the treasurer of his campaign for a state Senate seat, Geoff Spillane of the Cape Cod Times reports. deRuyter's campaign said it cleared the attorney's hiring, with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance noting that she is on contract- and not a full-time employee -with Brewster, where deRuyter serves as chairman of the Board of Selectmen. http://bit.ly/1pK3RlM
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