11/22/2017 07:30 AM EDT
By Lauren Dezenski (ldezenski@politico.com; @LaurenDezenski) with Rebecca Morin (rmorin@politico.com; @RebeccaMorin_)
HAPPY WEDNESDAY, MASSACHUSETTS. This is the final playbook of the week as I head offline for Thanksgiving. This year, I'm especially thankful for all of you, dear playbookers. Have a restful and filling holiday!
THERE'S ALWAYS A WORCESTER CONNECTION - The delegation hailing from the state's second-largest city has shown its strength this legislative session, with key members in pivotal roles in some of the biggest proposals on Beacon Hill.
Case-in-point: State Senate Majority Leader Harriette Chandler's bill that ensures copay-free birth control in Massachusetts regardless of the Affordable Care Act's revisions or repeal. It was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday, making Massachusetts the first state to enshrine equitable access to birth control, after being fast-tracked earlier this month, passing both the House and Senate in just two weeks.
On the House side, Worcester state Rep. Mary Keefe was lead sponsor for the high-profile omnibus criminal justice reform bill in the House, and state Rep. Dan Donahue is the lead House sponsor of a bill that would raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 - backed by a potent coalition of faith, labor, and union organizations.
The delegation has had its fair share of prominence at the State House, though in recent years it has been overshadowed by former state Rep. John Fresolo's improprieties with per diem expenses and improper use of his State House computer - and subsequent attempts to recapture his old seat.
Now, as Worcester enjoys a renaissance within its own city limits, the delegation is back in the catbird seat and free from distractions on Beacon Hill.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: ldezenski@politico.com.
TODAY - Proponents of the 21 potential 2018 ballot questions have until the end of the day to file their 64,750 signatures to municipal election officials - AG Maura Healey appears on Boston Public Radio at 1 p.m. - Otherwise, it's a whole lotta turkey: Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, AG Maura Healey, and state Rep. Byron Rushing serve a Thanks-for-Giving Dinner to 300 participants from Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries' job training programs - Friends of Metro Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health host a Thanksgiving dinner with Gov. Charlie Baker, Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders , Department of Mental Health Commissioner Joan Mikula, and state Senator Linda Dorcena Forry.
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DATELINE BEACON HILL -
- "Campaigns confident of signatures for sales tax cut, minimum wage, and paid leave," by Michael P. Norton, State House News Service: "Proponents of a major sales tax cut and supporters of a $15 minimum wage and a paid family and medical leave proposal say they've gathered more than enough signatures to advance their proposals, setting up issues showdowns in the Legislature in early 2018."
- "Health advocates celebrate court-ordered tobacco company ads," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "Readers of 40 major newspapers across the country will open their papers Sunday to full-page ads, purchased by tobacco companies, advising that smoking kills an average of 1,200 Americans a day, that nicotine changes the brain, and that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure. The court-ordered statements, which will run in newspapers including the Boston Globe through next April and for 52 weeks on national TV networks during primetime, are the result of a years-long battle between the Department of Justice and the tobacco industry over its marketing practices and health effects."
- "Baker backs ban on handheld devices while driving," by Matt Murphy and Michael P. Norton, State House News Service: "A rise in fatal accidents caused by distracted driving and advances in technology prompted Gov. Charlie Baker to throw his support on Tuesday behind a ban on using handheld devices while driving, giving a boost to an initiative debated for years by policy leaders and increasing pressure on the House to act on the matter. The position also represents an evolution on the issue by the governor who in February said he believed texting, and not talking, presented the biggest danger, and he worried that a ban would disproportionately impact lower-income drivers who can't afford hands-free devices."
- "A roadmap for the governor's transportation commission," by Chris Dempsey, MetroWest Daily News: "In the wake of new reports by the Massachusetts State Senate and Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the Baker/Polito administration has called for a commission to study how technology, climate change, and other factors could affect transportation planning and revenues. Here are some concepts the governor's commission - and everyone else who uses the state's transportation system - should consider."
- "Photo ID Now Required To Enter Major State Office Building," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "Visitors to any of the state agencies in the McCormack Building across Bowdoin Street from the State House now have to show a photo ID to enter, part of a new policy that took effect Monday. Under the new visitor access policy, anyone without a state employee ID now must present a photo ID at the 'security visitor management desk' in the lobby, the Division of Capital Asset Maintenance and Management said. The ID policy mirrors procedures in place at other city high rises and office buildings ."
TRUMPACHUSETTS -
- "Rep. Lynch: Congress' Sexual Harassment Policies Need To Change," by Tori Bedford, WGBH: "Amid a surge of sexual harassment allegations sweeping through Congress, Rep. Stephen Lynch said Capitol Hill needs a better system to deal with rampant sexual harassment and abuse. 'There needs [something like] an ombudsman ... where someone represents you as the victim and can take the case for you and just gives you a little separation there,' Lynch said in an interview with Boston Public Radio Tuesday, 'but also gives the enforcer the ability to take action.'"
- "Transgender Day of Remembrance observed on Capitol Hill," by Chris Johnson, Washington Blade: "As the nation observes the deadliest recorded year ever for transgender people on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, members of Congress are lending their voices to raise attention to anti-trans violence. Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), chair of the Congressional Transgender Task Force, introduced a resolution in the U.S. House on Monday to recognize violence against transgender people."
- DIEHL ON THE NEW BEDFORD FISHING INDUSTRY - Statement from GOP US Senate candidate Geoff Diehl: "It is a tragedy for New Bedford that federal regulators are prohibiting 60 permit holders from fishing until next May. There needs to be a better solution than putting hundreds of New Bedford fishermen out of work as we head into the holiday season."
THE WARREN REPORT -
- "Elizabeth Warren Won't Say If Al Franken Should Resign," by Matt Wilstein, Daily Beast: "But while tax policy is clearly in Warren's wheelhouse, Colbert attempted to take her out of her comfort zone in the second segment when he brought up the sexual misconduct allegations against her fellow Democratic senator Al Franken. ... 'So, look, I was just enormously disappointed about this,' Warren replied. 'I knew Senator Franken long before he was Senator Franken, and his wife Franni. These allegations are serious, and women have a right to be heard and listened to on this. Al is going to be subjected to a hearing in the United States Senate, an investigation. We have had, for a long time now in the Senate, long before I got there, a bipartisan ethics committee that meets on a regular basis, and he's going to go in and answer.'"
- "U.S. senators seek details on 'dubious' oversight shift by Japanese bank," by Pete Schroeder, Reuters: "A decision by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) to shift its U.S. banks from state regulators to a federal bank regulator is garnering scrutiny from a pair of U.S. Democratic senators. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen sent a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Monday, pressing for details on the regulator's decision to allow the bank to come under its purview, after it had sparred with New York's banking regulator."
ON THE STUMP -
SETTI'S BRAZILE BUMP - "Donna Brazile in Atlanta: 'Don't Step on Me When I Tell You My Story,'" by Ronda Racha Price, The Root: "Then she pointed to another potential gubernatorial victory in 2018. 'Setti Warren is running for governor [of Massachusetts]-my kid,' she said."
- "Democrat running for governor demands 'independent, public investigation' in Bibaud matter," by James F. Russell, Worcester Telegram: "Newton Mayor Setti D. Warren, who is running as a Democrat for governor next year, says Gov. Charlie Baker's response about the alleged improper actions by the state police and Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. related to a police report involving a judge's daughter, is 'mind-boggling.' The Democrat says the public has a right to know what is going on - and is calling for an independent investigation - saying it is a matter of public trust in government."
- "Attleboro city councilor running for state representative," by Jim Hand, Sun Chronicle: "After her success in getting re-elected to the city council two weeks ago, Julie Hall is now running for state representative. An at-large councilor, Hall filed a document with the state last week to organize a committee to run for the Legislature. The state representative seat is opening up because Rep. Paul Heroux is resigning to become mayor."
WOOD WAR - Herald: "FAMILY TIME!" "WATCHING THEIR BACKS" - Globe: "Harvard targeted on race in admissions," "Mass. Eye and Ear says it needs help to thrive," "MUGABE QUITS, AT LAST," "Trump backs Moore in Ala. Senate race," "It's no holiday for those who just can't stress enough," "Celtics winning converts as streak rolls in," "FCC plans to repeal Net neutrality."
THE LOCAL ANGLE -
- "T to give alcohol ads a try, ending a five-year ban," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "For the first time in more than five years, the MBTA will accept alcohol advertising at some stations after its governing board approved a long-contested change to the transit agency's policy on Monday. With revenues running below projections for the fiscal year, the T estimates it could collect an additional $2.5 million from the sales of those ads. But there will be some restrictions on where the ads can run: not near schools or community centers or in rail stations where more than 10 percent of passengers use student passes. Among those stations are JFK/UMass, Roxbury Crossing, and Forest Hills."
- "Volunteers search beaches as turtle stranding season begins," by Doug Fraser, Cape Cod Times: "Charlie Marcus, 12, and his father Peter collapsed in their Eastham hotel room Monday night. They'd flown out from Los Angeles over the weekend specifically to go out on patrols with Massachusetts Audubon's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary volunteers, rescuing endangered tropical sea turtles that succumbed to the first cold water temperatures of the season and washed ashore. Turtle stranding season is here, with over 80 sea turtles rescued off Cape Cod Bay beaches over the past week, and brought into the sanctuary for their initial treatment before being shipped to the New England Aquarium turtle hospital in Quincy for rehabilitation. Monday proved particularly tough."
- "Berkshire Museum loses bid to keep art auction case in Pittsfield court," by Larry Parnass, Berkshire Eagle: "A judicial ruling posted late Monday dashes the Berkshire Museum's hopes of keeping a legal fight in Pittsfield and may increase the odds against it bringing artworks to sale at the next significant Sotheby's auction. Justice Joseph A. Trainor of the Massachusetts Appeals Court issued a terse, 21-word answer to the museum's request that he clarify the Nov. 10 order that stopped auctions last week."
- "Health officials take aim at gun violence crisis," by Mary Markos, Salem News: "Public health officials on the North Shore and Cape Ann have signed a statement calling gun violence a public health crisis and supporting certain measures for gun control. Among these measures include a call for federal funding to allow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to research the causes and effects of gun violence, support for universal background checks when buying a gun and reinstating a federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines."
- "Boston Media: The FCC, Cross Ownership, And Dirty Politics," by Dan Kennedy, WGBH: "The Federal Communications Commission overturned a decades-old rule last week that prohibited common ownership of a television or radio station and a daily newspaper in the same city. At a time when newspapers are hemorrhaging money and the broadcast news business is shrinking, the FCC argued, the so-called cross-ownership ban had become obsolete, and was standing in the way of possible joint enterprises that could reinvigorate news coverage. The more likely outcome of such hybrids would be combined newsrooms, layoffs, and a dumbed-down product. Here in Boston, it would mean something else as well: the end of a regulatory regime that was instrumental in shaping our media environment."
- "Clopper the Donkey will return to LaSalette," by Kayla Canne, Sun Chronicle: "When the lights finally shine at LaSalette Shrine Thursday, they'll glow again on the fabled Nativity scene, donkey and all. Brother Ron Taylor at LaSalette said the shrine's beloved donkey display, featuring an 11-year-old Jerusalem burro donkey known as Clopper, will return Wednesday for another season after he was removed last year when the shrine faced public backlash and accusations of neglect."
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Sonali Lappin, president of the Indian American Forum for Political Education.
THE HOME TEAMS DID NOT PLAY.
OUT JUST IN TIME FOR YOUR HOLIDAY TRAVEL LISTENING: The final episode of The Horse Race, a podcast about Massachusetts' campaigns worth watching with yours truly and MassINC Polling Group's Steve Koczela. It's our season finale, #mapoli! But before we go on our holiday hiatus, we've got the lowdown on ballot questions thanks to our expert guest George Cronin, our usual What to Watch, and - as Steve put it - POLLS POLLS POLLS POLLS! Subscribe and listen to our past episodes on iTunes and Sound Cloud - AND tickets are now available for The Horse Race live event: Where we'll preview the big elections facing #mapoli voters in 2018 and look at a key issue for the year ahead: Women remain drastically underrepresented in the State Legislature and the Massachusetts Congressional delegation. What are the roots of this, and what can be done to change it? Featuring special guests Jenn Nassour of Conservative Women for a Better Future and Puja Mehta , Board Chair of Emerge Massachusetts, bringing insight from both sides of the aisle.
NEW: POLITICO is accepting applications for its fifth session of the POLITICO Journalism Institute (PJI), an educational initiative focused on newsroom diversity . The intensive program, which is designed for college students, will be held May 29 to June 9, 2018. It features hands-on training for up to 12 recent grads and university students interested in covering government and politics. Students also will have an opportunity to have their work published by POLITICO. All expenses are paid for the program, reflecting POLITICO's ongoing support of journalism education, newsroom diversity and recruitment of top-notch talent. Admissions are made on a rolling basis, so APPLY TODAY but no later than Jan. 15, 2018. https://www.politico.com/pji
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** A message from Atlantic Link: The Atlantic Link advantage: delivering a new, reliable source of clean energy directly to Massachusetts for a delivered price that remains fixed for 20 years. It's a reliable, cost-effective solution to help the Commonwealth meet its energy diversity and greenhouse gas reduction goals. Atlantic Link is a proposed 1,000 megawatt subsea cable, securely and reliably delivering onshore wind energy, supplemented by hydropower, directly to Plymouth, MA from Atlantic Canada. The subsea cable will connect to the grid using existing infrastructure that is currently tied to the Pilgrim Nuclear Station, which will close in 2019. Atlantic Link is the only clean energy project delivering to Massachusetts more than 200 jobs during construction. The only clean energy project delivering $2.5 million a year in tax revenue to the Town of Plymouth. Projected in-state capital investment of $260 million. And a commitment of $15 million to support low-income energy programs in the Commonwealth. http://politi.co/2hsN050 **
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