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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
NEW LAWMAKERS SAY DEMS HAVE LONG WAY TO GO ON RACE — Despite an election that featured historic gains for women and candidates of color, some newly-elected Massachusetts lawmakers say the party didn't do enough to support a more diverse field of candidates.
Congresswoman-elect Ayanna Pressley told a room of Democratic donors yesterday the party needs to ask itself "tough questions" about whether it provided women of color running for office with enough institutional support, according to a BuzzFeed News report.
At the state level, incoming Beacon Hill lawmakers had a similar message Monday night. State Representative-Elect Nika Elugardo, appearing on WGBH's "Greater Boston," said the party has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to race.
"American institutions are founded on a core of structural racism, structural anti-poverty," Elugardo said, alongside newly-elected lawmakers Liz Miranda and Tram Nguyen. "The Democratic Party, unlike many other institutions, will not acknowledge the fact it perpetuates many of the things we're fighting against."
"The Democratic Party really needs to face that head on," she added.
Miranda said she's spoken with the Democratic State Committee since her win about building a pipeline of more diverse leadership. "If we're not nurturing talent and making sure that we have room for people who look like me, who speak like us, what happens is as we're running for office, it's difficult. It's difficult to find the right people to help share the message of the transformation that we'd like to see."
For its part, the Massachusetts Democratic Party said it supports elected officials who are shining "a spotlight on these critically important issues" and that the party is working to become more diverse and inclusive.
"We need a robust conversation about the barriers to participation that face specific communities, and what we can do to address them," Executive Director Victoria Martinez told POLITICO in a statement. "The Party has already engaged elected officials, activists, and stakeholders, and planned trainings and other events designed to expand access in 2019 and beyond."
THIRD DISTRICT REMATCH? — The first chapter of a saga spearheaded by Rep. Seth Moulton to oust Nancy Pelosi from House leadership could come to an end today. Pelosi and some of her most outspoken critics have agreed to a tentative deal, my POLITICO colleagues report. The terms: Some anti-Pelosi members will vote for her for Speaker on Jan. 3. In exchange, Pelosi will limit her time as Speaker to four years.
Sources say Moulton is among those critics who could flip and vote for Pelosi on the House floor next month. But regardless of how the Speaker fight shakes out, the episode has generated at least one possible 2020 primary challenger to Moulton.
Outgoing state Sen. Barbara L'Italien is weighing a run for Moulton's 6th District seat, and said she's "politically savvy" enough to work with leadership, rather than against it, for the benefit of her district in an interview with NBC10. Moulton's anti-Pelosi push angered Democratic activists and ignited calls for his ouster when he's up for reelection in two years.
L'Italien most recently ran for Congress in the crowded 3rd District primary. And she's actually not the only former 3rd District candidate who could make the case to run in the 6th. Dan Koh of Andover and Rufus Gifford from Manchester-by-the-Sea could take their talents to the North Shore. But don't bank on a rematch — Gifford told the Globe he won't run against Moulton, and said he'd campaign against anyone "shopping around" for higher office. Koh didn't comment.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY - Gov. Charlie Baker and Chief Recovery Officer Joe Albanese join Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera, North Andover Town Manager Andrew Maylor, Andover Town Manager Andrew Flanaganand NiSource Executive Vice President and Chief Restoration Officer Pablo Vegas for a press conference. Lt. Gov. Karyn Politochairs a meeting of the Governor's Council. Attorney General Maura Healey's campaign holds an end of the year party.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and partner Lorrie Higgins host Walsh's campaign committee holiday party. Congresswoman-elect Ayanna Pressley, state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, state Rep. Liz Malia, state Representative-elect Nika Elugardo, Suffolk County District Attorney-elect Rachael Rollins and Boston City CouncilorsAnnissa Essaibi-George and Matt O'Malley attend a JP Progressives event. The Massachusetts Republican State Committee meets.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "MBTA general manager Luis Ramirez is out after just 15 months," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority general manager Luis Ramirez is out after just 15 months in the job. Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, who oversees the agency for the Baker administration, said it was time for a change. As she and Ramirez 'talked through what needed to happen in 2019 and beyond, we both agreed there was a different direction he needed to go in and the T needed to go in,' Pollack said in an interview."
- "Legislators signal support for gas oversight following Merrimack Valley disaster," by Milton J. Valencia, Boston Globe:"A state legislative committee Tuesday signaled backing of a new public safety requirement for the gas industry following the Sept. 13 Merrimack Valley disaster. Lawmakers indicated support for a proposal that Gov. Charlie Baker filed to require gas companies have a professional engineer, who has higher training and certification than regular engineers, review and approve construction projects that pose a public safety risk."
- "MASSFISCAL THANKS DEMS BACKING GREATER TRANSPARENCY," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service:"When the conservative nonprofit Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance singles out Beacon Hill Democrats, it's usually to criticize their votes. But the group on Tuesday extended 'the thanks of our organization, and of proponents of good government across the Commonwealth' to four newly elected Democrats who have pledged to support efforts to put state legislators' votes on record."
- "Housing blues is long-running lament," by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: "IT'S THE LONGEST running tragicomedy on the Boston area political stage. We desperately need to build more housing to accommodate growth and temper a price run-up that puts home ownership out of reach for thousands. Everyone seems to agree on that. Yet no one can seem to break the logjam — or jams — that keep it from happening. The current focus is a housing bill proposed by Gov. Charlie Baker that would allow local zoning changes to be approved based on a majority vote of the local governing body, not two-thirds support as is currently the case."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "New MBTA general manager gets high marks from Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, transit advocates," by Gintautas Dumcius, MassLive.com: "Boston Mayor Marty Walsh hailed the incoming MBTA general manager and said he didn't have much of a relationship with his immediate predecessor. Massachusetts transportation officials said Tuesday that Luis Manuel Ramirez, hired by Gov. Charlie Baker and his transportation chief Stephanie Pollack, is leaving after just 15 months on the job at the public transit agency."
- "She'll always be a Democrat to her core," by Thomas Farragher, Boston Globe: "If you don't immediately recognize the name of Jean Moulton, you can be forgiven. She has spent her life just beyond the klieg lights of election night. She's the face in the corner of the victory celebration photograph. She's the woman who once ran the mimeograph machine that morphed, over the last half century, to blast e-mail lists. She stuffed envelopes. She coached interns. She managed the finances. She turned the lights on in the morning and off in the evening. And her longtime role as special assistant to the chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party ends Tuesday."
- "Price of electricity going up in E. Mass." by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "THE PRICE OF ELECTRICITY in eastern Massachusetts is going up this winter to its highest level since 2015. Eversource Energy said its price for so-called basic service will be nearly 13.6 cents a kilowatt hour this winter in the eastern part of the state, up 0.7 cents from last winter and its highest level since prices hit just over 15 cents a kilowatt hour during the winter of 2015."
- "Business groups aim to curb emergency room use, and save money, too," by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Boston Globe:"Hospital emergency rooms are supposed to be for patients with severe medical conditions who need care right away. But in Massachusetts, emergency rooms are too often used by people who don't have emergencies at all and instead could be seen in a doctor's office or other clinic, according to new state data."
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| ALL ABOARD |
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- "THE TRACK LEAST TRAVELED," by Nate Homan, Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism: "In a system that covers hundreds of miles of tracks and serves hundreds of thousands of people a week in one of the 10 biggest suburban transit networks in the country, Plimptonville is the puniest pickup location of all. In 2005, according to MBTA records, the station serviced a mere three round trips a day. It's less than a mile and a half as the crow flies to either of the two neighboring Franklin Line stops, Walpole Station and Windsor Gardens. Those two averaged more than 1,000 combined inbound riders a day in 2013. I drove to Plimptonville one morning this fall, I think to find its reason for existing. Assuming there is one."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Doctor charged with manslaughter in opioid overdose death," by Felice J. Freyer, Boston Globe: "A Dracut physician has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2016 death of a woman who overdosed on opioids that he had prescribed, the first such indictment in the state, authorities announced Tuesday. Dr. Richard Miron is accused of continuing to authorize large doses of opioids and other drugs even though he knew the victim had overdosed in February 2016 on opioids he had prescribed. Attorney General Maura Healey said Miron is charged with prescribing opioids without legitimate medical purpose."
- "SJC upholds human trafficking law designed to target pimps," by John R. Ellement, Boston Globe: "The state's high court Tuesday upheld a law making it a crime to profit from prostitution, ruling that a man caught in a human trafficking sting by police with $250 in cash in his shoe was a pimp and should be prosecuted as one. In the 7-0 ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court noted a historical oddity: While 'pimp' is commonly understood to mean a person who profits by exploiting others, the word itself has never appeared in the state laws targeting them."
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| THE CLARK CAUCUS |
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- "Katherine Clark Discusses Her New Role As A Democratic Power Broker," by David S. Bernstein, WGBH News: "U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark of Melrose played a major role in the Democrats' recapture of the House, as recruitment vice chair for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She also thinks that experience gave her a pretty good idea of what her caucus peers need to do with that newfound control: namely, pass legislation following through on promises those successful new members made on the campaign trail."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "One Of The Democratic Stars Of 2018 Sharply Rebuked Her Party In A Private Meeting," by Darren Sands, BuzzFeed News:"Ayanna Pressley, the Representative-elect from Massachusetts' 7th Congressional District, offered a sharp rebuke of the Democratic Party in front of the party's biggest donors Tuesday, saying that she discovered a "mandate for hope" over the course her efforts to unseat an entrenched Democratic incumbent and campaigning for insurgent candidates around the country."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Plymouth area residents turn out for Town Hall meeting with Sen. Elizabeth Warren," by Dave Kindy, WickedLocal Carver: "Yes, progress is difficult in Washington, D.C., but it's not complete gridlock. That was one of the messages delivered by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, at a Town Hall meeting in Plymouth on Saturday, Dec. 8. A few hundred people attended the forum at Plymouth North High School as Massachusetts' senior senator touched on several topics and answered questions from constituents."
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| DATELINE MERRIMACK VALLEY |
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- "Whistleblower: Columbia Gas Cut Corners Prior to Explosions," by Karen Hensel, NBC10: "A 42-year Columbia Gas employee repeatedly raised alarms about policy changes and staff changes to his critical gas-pressure monitoring department, warning the changes could lead to catastrophe. Bart Maderios gave an exclusive interview to the NBC10 Boston Investigators in which he said he warned Columbia Gas's general manager, Frank Davis, and another senior employee, Dana Argo, that what he described as cutting corners would make work on gas lines less safe."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Both Mass. pot shops are limiting purchases to manage supply," by Jessica Bartlett, Boston Business Journal: "While one of the state's two recreational marijuana dispensaries has capped sales to individual customers since it opened last month, the other recently did the same due to supply concerns. Cultivate in Leicester has limited purchases to half an ounce total per person of recreational marijuana. When the store first opened to recreational sales on Nov. 20, it only restricted sales to the state's legal limit of one ounce per person."
- "Massachusetts' third recreational pot shop to open Saturday in Salem," by Jordan Graham, Boston Herald: "The first legal pot shop in the eastern part of Massachusetts will open Saturday, according to the company and city and state officials, but will only serve customers who make appointments. Alternative Therapies Group said it will open its Salem store to adult-use customers Saturday, the company said in a post on its website, after the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission gave the go-ahead to open."
- "Massachusetts marijuana retail shops bring in $7 million so far," by Gintautas Dumcius, MassLive.com: "The two Massachusetts marijuana retail shops that are open have brought in a total of $7 million since opening on November 20. Numbers released by the state's Cannabis Control Commission say the two stores pulled in $2.2 million over seven days in December. That's on top of $4.8 million they took in the first two weeks of operation."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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- "Seth Moulton may face a primary challenge as activists take aim," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "US Representative Seth Moulton burst onto the Massachusetts political scene in 2014 by pursuing what few Democrats had openly considered: challenging, and beating, one of his own. But four years later, that same willingness to buck the top echelon of the party is stirring calls for Moulton to face his own primary challenge, potentially drawing the Salem Democrat into a fight his own supporters say shouldn't be dismissed."
- "Pelosi on verge of deal with rebels to reclaim speakership," by Heather Caygle, Rachael Bade and John Bresnahan, POLITICO:"House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is on the verge of a deal with Democratic rebels once intent on denying her the speakership, an accord that could deliver her the decisive votes needed to reclaim the gavel, according to multiple Democratic sources Tuesday. The California Democrat and some of her fiercest party critics have tentatively agreed to limit her speakership to four years at most, these sources said ."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "GET THIS ON TRACK!" — Globe: "As health costs rise, a push to curb ER visits," "T's top executive exits after 15 months," "OPEN HOSTILITIES." |
| FROM THE 413 |
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- "Comerford, Spilka focus on inequality on area listening tour," by Dusty Christensen, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "It's no surprise that residents of western Massachusetts often feel ignored by Beacon Hill. But on Tuesday, at least, one of Beacon Hill's top lawmakers came to western Massachusetts. Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, visited the Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester Senate District on Tuesday, where she met with local leaders as part of a one-day listening tour focused on 'addressing inequality and creating lasting opportunity for all.'"
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Government files over 18K pages in Mayor Jasiel Correia case," by Jo C. Goode, Herald News: "Federal prosecutors have handed Jasiel Correia II's defense team over 18,000 pages of discovery related to its investigation and the eventual indictment of the second term mayor, according to federal court filings. The joint memorandum signed by Correia's defense attorney Kevin J. Reddington and federal assistant U.S. attorneys Zachary R. Hafer and David G. Tobin was filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Massachusetts Tuesday covering approximately 18,256."
- "Councilors push pursuing hybrid election system," by Rick Sobey, The Lowell Sun: "Two city councilors who have listened to residents from across the city about their desired election models are pushing a hybrid election system ahead of next week's mediation session in federal court over the voter rights lawsuit. Lowell City Councilors Vesna Nuon and Edward Kennedy made a motion Tuesday evening for the city's attorneys, facing off with the plaintiffs next week, to propose a change to the city's electoral system -- from an at-large system to a hybrid model of district and at-large."
TRANSITIONS - Berkshire County District Attorney-elect Andrea Harrington names Richard Dohoney as deputy district attorney and Jeanne Kempthorne as chief of appeals and legal counsel to the district attorney.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to At-Large Boston City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, WEEI's Alex Reimer, and Jeff Goldstein, MBA/MPA concurrent degree candidate at Dartmouth Tuck and Harvard Kennedy School
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Bruins beat the Coyotes 4-3.
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