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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
TRUMP IMPEACHMENT PUSH TARGETS NEAL — Rep. Richard Neal is among the top targets of a campaign to drum up support for impeaching President Donald Trump.
Billionaire philanthropist and activist Tom Steyer pledged to spend $40 million in 2019 on impeaching the president, including a public education initiative, town halls and "mobilizing millions" of supporters. Steyer's plan involves nudging key House committee chairs — like Neal — to get the gears turning. Steyer will hold a two-day summit in Washington next week to "provide about 300 participants with the tools they need to pressure their representatives to remove Donald Trump from power," according to a statement.
Neal, the new House Ways and Means chairman, says an investigation into the president's 2016 campaign needs to run its course before Congress makes a case to oust the president.
But some activists disagree, saying Trump has committed nearly a dozen impeachable offenses unrelated to the Mueller investigation, involving his business interests and other alleged abuses of power. "Members of Congress need to be pressed on the importance in starting impeachment proceedings against this president," Free Speech for People co-founder and President John Bonifaz, who lives in Amherst, told me yesterday. His organization is co-hosting the summit with Steyer, but said he's not in the loop on plans specific to Neal's district for the months ahead. A Steyer spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Neal could hold the key to the president's tax returns. Shortly after Democrats regained the House majority in November, Neal said he has his eye on the president's financial documents, but hopes Trump will release them on his own. Steyer's district-specific efforts will also focus on key House committee chairs Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Rep. Elijah Cummings.
"Congressman Neal ... has the ability in his role as chair of the Ways and Means committee to subpoena the tax returns of Donald Trump, and he needs to do that to help shine a further light on these questions that have been raised around the president's ties to foreign interests," Bonifaz told me.
There is an appetite for impeaching Trump out in Western Mass. Just outside Neal's district, the small town of Leverett approved a citizen petition to support Congress in an investigation into impeaching the president back at its 2017 Town Meeting. And Massachusetts has among the lowest Trump approval ratings in the country.
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 unveils his budget for the 2020 fiscal year with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Secretary of Education James Peyser and Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeff Riley. Baker and Polito join the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition's Day of Action for Road Safety. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is in Washington for a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting. Sen. Elizabeth Warren talks to voters in South Carolina.
State Reps. Paul Brodeur and Denise Garlick talk about the opioid crisis at a forum in Melrose. MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito talks artificial intelligence at the Harvard Kennedy School with Google's Milo Medin, Laura Manley of the Technology and Public Purpose Project and Danny Hillis of Applied Invention. Students are at the State House in support of a state Rep. Jennifer Benson climate pricing bill.
State Sen. Cynthia Creem, state Rep. Tommy Vitolo and state Rep. Nika Elugardo talk legislation at a roundtable in Brookline. Auditor Suzanne Bump talks to new lawmakers about her work. State Sen. Jamie Eldridge speaks at a MassCare lobby day rally. The Massachusetts Sierra Club holds a co-sponsorship fair for climate legislation.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Baker's budget proposal will include changes to education funding formula," by Matt Stout and Victoria McGrane, Boston Globe: "Governor Charlie Baker wants a tax increase to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for battling climate change. He's pitching an expansion to a Medicare program and, unlike last year, has prepared legislation diving into the complex debate over education funding. And that's only what Baker has revealed so far. Weeks removed from the pomp of inauguration, he is slated Wednesday to unveil his budget plan for fiscal year 2020 and his much-anticipated take on overhauling the state's 26-year-old school funding formula — a dual roll-out that could set the tone for the start of his second, four-year term."
- "Massachusetts Senate still plans to update sexual harassment policies," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "The Massachusetts Senate still has plans to update its sexual harassment policies, Senate President Karen Spilka said Tuesday. 'It's critical, I believe, that every person who comes to either work in the Senate or do work in the Senate, whether they be a senator, staff, intern, advocate or anybody, feels safe and welcomed when they come here, and we need to do everything we can to ensure that that happens,' Spilka, D-Ashland, said in an interview."
- "SEAT BELTS, DEVICE USE ARE FOCUSES IN GUV'S ROAD SAFETY BILL," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "Gov. Charlie Baker has some advice for Massachusetts drivers: Buckle up and put your phone down. The governor on Tuesday proposed his most sweeping set of road safety rules yet, calling for Massachusetts to join 16 other states in requiring hands-free cell phone use while driving and proposing to allow police to stop motorists for not wearing a seat belt."
- "Sal DiMasi's next chapter? Maybe lobbying," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "With the dawn last year of sweeping new rules for low-income Medicaid recipients, Joe Finn of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance was trying to get a 'full grasp' of the changes, when a friend recommended someone who could provide insight into the state's health care law. Enter: Salvatore F. DiMasi, the former House speaker and convicted felon, who by spring was meeting with the homeless advocacy group and serving as a consultant on, what Finn called, a ' slight retainer.'"
- "State board approves novel charter expansion plan," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "THE STATE EDUCATION BOARD approved a proposal to allow a New Bedford charter school to expand as part of an unusual partnership with the city's district schools that would break down some of the barriers that have traditionally separated the two systems. Under the plan approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Tuesday morning, the Alma del Mar charter school will be allowed to open a new K-8 campus enrolling up to 450 students. But rather than draw from a citywide lottery, the school's enrollment process will be integrated with the New Bedford district system and it will serve as the neighborhood school for students living in an area in the northwest corner of the city."
- "Police use of stun guns increasing statewide," by Christian M. Wade, Gloucester Daily Times: "More police are carrying stun guns to subdue unruly suspects, which is leading to an uptick in incidents involving use of the nonlethal weapons. State and local police agencies reported nearly 1,400 incidents involving stun guns in 2017 — an increase of about 8 percent from the previous year, according to the most recent data from the state's Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. That's up from 841 incidents in 2012 — an increase of nearly 60 percent from five years earlier."
- "State Lottery shifting some operations from Springfield to Worcester," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "The Massachusetts State Lottery will move some warehouse operations from Springfield to Worcester later this year, shifting many of its employees. The Lottery maintains a regional office at 20 Fort St. in Springfield. The lease for that office runs out May 31."
- "Weymouth compressor station foe restarts sit-ins at governor's office," by Jessica Trufant, Patriot Ledger: "A Weymouth woman who spent her lunch break sitting outside Gov. Charlie Baker's office on work days for months in 2017 has restarted her daily sit-ins after state regulators issued an air-quality permit for a proposed 7,700- horsepower natural-gas compressor station on the banks of the Fore River despite local opposition."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Mass. General Hospital says it plans large addition," by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Boston Globe: "Massachusetts General Hospital, the busiest medical center in the state, plans to spend more than $1 billion to build a large addition to its crowded campus to keep up with the demand for high-end medical care and compete for patients from around the globe. The project is likely the largest ever proposed by a hospital in the state, and promises to reshape a busy stretch of downtown Boston between Government Center and the Longfellow Bridge."
- "'She did not go along willingly;' Victor Peña arrested on kidnapping charges after Olivia Ambrose found alive in Charlestown," by Kristin LaFratta, MassLive.com: "Boston Police announced Victor Peña, 38, of Charlestown, has been charged with kidnapping in the disappearance of Olivia Ambrose, the 23-year-old woman who was found Tuesday afternoon. In a press conference, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said authorities entered the home of Peña at 49 Walford Way, at the Bunker Hill Housing Development on Tuesday, where they found the suspect standing near Ambrose."
- "Martin Luther King Jr. memorial plans run into questions, delays," by Michael Levenson, Boston Globe: "The dream of a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, in the city where they met and fell in love is running into a very Boston reality. Like other groups that have proposed dramatically altering some of the city's most historic sites, the group hoping to build a large, visually striking memorial to the Kings on Boston Common has encountered concerns about the costs and materials involved."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren rips White House over Puerto Rico: 'The legacy of colonialism dies hard,'" by Matthew Choi, POLITICO: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren rebuked the Trump administration for its response to Hurricane Maria during a rally in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, committing to combat any diversion of federal funding from disaster relief toward building a border wall. Speaking in San Juan, the Massachusetts Democrat advocated investigating the federal response to the devastating storm, even calling for the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Brock Long."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "Massachusetts lawmakers seek delay in Seabrook, New Hampshire, nuclear plant license renewal," by Mary C. Serreze, Springfield Republican: "Questions about degraded concrete at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station have prompted three Massachusetts lawmakers to call for a delay in the coastal New Hampshire facility's federal relicensing. In a Jan. 18 letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Sens. Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren joined U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton to ask that a license amendment for Seabrook be stayed until a hearing can be held this summer on the concrete problems and whether they pose a safety hazard."
- "Ocasio-Cortez and liberal freshmen join Oversight Committee," by Andrew Desiderio and Heather Caygle, POLITICO: "The House Oversight Committee is adding a group of progressive flamethrowers to its ranks. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) won spots on the high-profile committee on Tuesday, two sources told POLITICO. The new members, all of whom are freshmen except Khanna, have been critical of President Donald Trump, and their addition to the committee comes as Democrats have pledged to launch wide-ranging investigations into the president and his administration."
- "Trahan named to Education and Labor committee," by Alana Melanson, The Lowell Sun: "U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan was named to the House Committee on Education and Labor Tuesday, and is the only Massachusetts representative serving on it. In a statement, Trahan said she was honored to have earned an appointment on the influential committee, which she called 'critical to advancing policies that matter to hardworking families like the one I grew up in.'"
- "US Rep. Richard Neal: 'We'll just have to wait and see' where Trump delivers State of the Union Address," by Shannon Young, Springfield Republican: "Despite the White House's suggestion that President Donald Trump will deliver his State of the Union Address as planned, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal offered Tuesday that details surrounding the joint congressional address -- particularly it's location -- remain uncertain."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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- "Massachusetts MAGA fans: Our political message is shouted down," by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "Massachusetts conservatives say the feverish piling-on that the MAGA hat-wearing teenagers in Washington, D.C. experienced is what they routinely face whenever they dare to show President Trump garb or bumper stickers in public — their right to political free speech is shouted down with taunts, foul language and even threats here in the Bay State."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "FOUND ALIVE," — Globe: "An expansive plan for MGH," "Baker calls for ban on hand-held phone use." |
| FROM THE 413 |
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- "MGM Springfield not emerging as the tough competitor Connecticut casinos once feared," by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "MGM Springfield isn't drawing as many gamblers or their dollars away from two Connecticut casinos as that state once feared. Connecticut budget planners had expected a 25-percent drop in slot revenues from Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino due to MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor. Now, they forecast a much smaller hit of 9.2 percent."
TRANSITIONS - Liz May joins state Sen. Eric Lesser's office as legislative director and legal counsel.
SESQUICENTENNIAL - The Department of Public Health is marking its 150th year with a new anniversary logo. Link.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to chief of staff to Gov. Charlie Baker Kristen Lepore and Harvard Institute of Politics' Amy Howell (h/t Jeff Solnet).
Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you're promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
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