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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. It's the final day of winter!
CLARK AND MCGOVERN PUSH IMMIGRATION BILL — Reps. Katherine Clark and Jim McGovern flexed some legislative muscle at City Hall Plaza yesterday, advocating for an immigration bill that would give permanent residency to so-called Dreamers and those who hold temporary protected status in the United States. They were joined by Sen. Ed Markey and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh in their call to have the bill brought to the House floor.
It's been a tumultuous few months in Congress. Shortly after Democrats took back the House in the 2018 midterm, a battle over whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should hold the gavel ensued. The partial government shutdown brought things to a halt for more than a month. Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen unloaded on the president in a congressional hearing. The House denounced hate after first-year lawmaker Rep. Ilhan Omar made controversial comments about Israel.
But it seems like Democratic lawmakers are finding some synergy on the issues that dominated the last election cycle. And now that Democrats hold the House majority, McGovern and Clark are among the gatekeepers who can make the moves necessary to take legislation on issues like immigration to a vote. Clark is the number six member of House leadership, and McGovern chairs the influential House Committee on Rules.
"I'm the chairman of the Rules Committee. I can bring things to the floor. This is coming to the floor for a vote," McGovern said to a crowd of several dozen people. "And we're going to send it over to the Senate."
Sure, Democrats are getting some of their key issues through the House, like the gun reform bill approved by members of Congress last month. But what happens when those bills get to the Republican-controlled Senate?
"They have to take a vote at some point. They haven't had a vote on gun control in over three years," Markey told me after the event, in reference to his Senate colleagues. "They probably won't want to vote on this but there will be increasing pressure to deal with it."
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TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker attends Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts Centennial Celebration kickoff reception. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito attends the unveiling of the Southbridge CoGen Facility Completion and Master Plan. Polito highlights a Baker administration bill related to sexually explicit images in Worcester. Beto O'Rourkecampaigns in Keene, N.H.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins speaks at a breakfast hosted by the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus. The Kennedy Institute hosts a forum with Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell, Chelsea City Council President Damali Vidot, state Rep. Hannah Kane, state Rep. Tram Nguyen and Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll.
Rep. Katherine Clark is a guest on CNN's "New Day." The state JointWays and Means Committee hears testimony in Springfield. House Speaker Robert DeLeo speaks at a Dimock Community Health Center annual meeting.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Polito pitches new bill to help struggling schools," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito planned to file legislation Monday that would allow school districts across Massachusetts to create new zones to encourage innovation or address underperformance by struggling schools. Polito made the announcement at Bristol Community College, where she and Education Secretary James Peyser testified before the Joint Ways and Means Committee on Baker's education funding proposal for fiscal 2020."
- "'When you have a good thing, you often need more of it': Coalition pushes for expansion of career and technical education," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "Olivia Cassidy, an 11th-grader at Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School, started school interested in veterinary science. But once there, she discovered she liked plumbing — so freshman year she entered the school's plumbing program. In addition to her academic classes, she has earned professional certifications and gotten hands-on experience working with a local contractor."
- "Cultural council could get steady flow of dough," by Joe Dwinell, Boston Herald: "The jet-setting Massachusetts Cultural Council — called out for lavish spending on hotels, meals and trips — is in line for a big budget bonanza under the state's gaming law, with a new bill pending that would remove legislative control on that money. The arts council would reap a 2 percent cut of casino revenues from MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor, if and when the Everett gambling mecca opens."
- "Pay records show hefty spending at Mass. quasi-public agencies," by Matt Rocheleau, Boston Globe: "New payroll data show some hefty spending at Massachusetts' quasi-public agencies. Half of the staff at the state's student loan agency, the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, made six figures last year, led by two officials who collected more than $300,000 and a third who fell just shy of that mark. About 46 percent of the staff at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, which supports and finances affordable housing, made $100,000 or more, including four workers who made $200,000 or more. The agency saw its total payroll spending balloon 12 percent in 2018 compared with the previous year."
- RELATED: "Here's a list of the 100 highest-paid Mass. quasi-public workers in 2018." Link.
- BIG REIKI: "Reiki masters flex muscle on Beacon Hill," by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "Think of a powerful political lobbying organization, and the National Rifle Association or Big Pharma might come to mind — probably not "Big Reiki." But the peaceful, unorganized practitioners of reiki have been the only ones opposing a bill presented as a common-sense way to curb sex trafficking. Three years running, they have successfully fought such legislation on Beacon Hill because it would require them to be licensed by the state."
- "IN-STATE UMASS TUITION FREEZE HINGES ON BUDGET TALKS," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "The University of Massachusetts could freeze tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students next year, a UMass official said Monday, if lawmakers agree to a $26 million funding increase. Otherwise, a fifth consecutive year of tuition hikes could be on the horizon. Lisa Calise, senior vice president of administration and finance at UMass, presented the university's fiscal 2020 funding ask to legislative budget writers. The five-campus system is requesting $568.3 million, which Calise said would represent a $26.2 million increase over fiscal 2019."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "T board trying to kickstart revenue debate," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY STEPHANIE POLLACK said on Monday that she is willing to act as a conduit between members of the MBTA's Fiscal and Management Control Board and the Legislature on the need for broader transportation revenue initiatives even though she doesn't see a need for them. Several members of the five-person control board have indicated they support efforts to raise more revenues for transportation, with some of the money flowing back to the T. The idea first surfaced at a control board meeting two weeks ago, when Brian Lang said the MBTA can't raise fares in isolation - that if T fares go up so should the gas tax and fees paid by ride-hailing apps. There was also some support for congestion pricing."
- "Is Northeast's casino market saturated? Catskills resort is a cautionary tale," by Mark Arsenault, Boston Globe: "There's nothing obviously wrong with Resorts World Catskills, the 13-month-old casino tucked among forests and rolling hills about two hours north of New York City. The hotel rooms are big, the views nice enough. The casino is packed with Las Vegas-style table games and a couple thousand shimmering slot machines. Parking is easy, the staff friendly; everything is spick-and-span and there's a dining option for any budget. So why is the billion-dollar casino struggling so mightily, falling so short of revenue projections that some experts are already questioning its long-term viability?"
- "Massachusetts Regional Transit Authorities need more money and need to improve service, report says," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "Massachusetts' Regional Transit Authorities need more money. They also need to improve service, according to a new state report. A Task Force on Regional Transit Authority Performance and Funding released its draft report Friday, with two dozen recommendations for making the state's bus service better. While Greater Boston relies on the MBTA, much of the rest of the state relies on Regional Transit Authorities, which vary widely in the level of service they offer. For example, some RTAs run buses on nights and weekends; others do not."
- SHENANIGANS: "Read MBTA police's summary of St. Patrick's Day parade-related incidents." Link.
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Were Mass. State Police troopers in OT scandal told to fill ticket quotas? Agency denies new allegation in federal court filing," by Scott J. Croteau, Springfield Republican:"Massachusetts State Police troopers working specialized overtime patrols - the patrols authorities say were part of the overtime abuse scandal - were expected to write at least eight citations per shift, federal prosecutors wrote in a recent filing. A state police spokesman told MassLive in a statement that the department 'has no policy or operating procedures that establish quotas, and does not endorse a quota system.'"
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren calls for 'full-blown conversation about reparations,'" by Alex Thompson, POLITICO: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) gave her most detailed answer to date on the question of reparations for black Americans as a means of addressing centuries of slavery and legal discrimination. In a CNN town hall on Monday night in Jackson, Miss., Warren became the first 2020 presidential candidate serving in the Senate to endorse a House bill that would create a commission to study reparation proposals. "I love the idea of this congressional commission," she said at Jackson State, a historically black university."
- "Elizabeth Warren in Mississippi: What she said during stops in Delta before town hall," by Luke Ramseth, Clarion Ledger: "The 2020 presidential race came to Mississippi on Monday as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren pushed an ambitious affordable housing plan in the Delta, and was later scheduled to hold a CNN town hall at Jackson State University. "In a democracy, we need a government that doesn't just work for those who are already rich," the Massachusetts Democrat said in Greenville. "We need a government that says, 'You're rich? Good for you, but pitch just a little bit back in the kitty, so everybody else gets a chance.'" Warren began a three-state Southern tour with a town hall in Memphis on Sunday night, speaking to about 500 people."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "Ed Markey gives Robert Kraft's campaign funds to antitrafficking group," by Bob Hohler, Boston Globe: "Senator Edward J. Markey, who received $3,600 in campaign donations from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, intends to donate that money to an organization focused on ending human trafficking after Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution at an Asian spa in Florida. Markey, a Democrat, is among politicians across the country who are reckoning with having accepted financial support from Kraft and another billionaire with Massachusetts ties, John W. Childs, who also was charged with soliciting prostitution as part of a sweeping investigation into illicit sex at Florida massage parlors. "
- "Lawmakers call on Congress to pay interns amid calls to diversify staff," by Beatrice Peterson, ABC News: "As the new freshman class of Congress makes history as the most diverse class in the history of Congress, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling on colleagues to pay the intern class on Capitol Hill. Last week, a congressional committee gave final approval to a new program forcing Congress to set aside funding to mandate Congress to pay its interns ."
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| EYE ON 2020 |
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- "The Republican Who Wants to Defeat 'Malignant Narcissist' Trump," by Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone: "Sometimes, in politics, truth is stranger than fiction. As a cub reporter at Mother Jones in the late Nineties, I wrote an article about novels by American politicians called "Don't Quit Your Day Job," reviewing a noir thriller by former Republican Gov. Bill Weld of Massachusetts. Called Mackerel by Moonlight, the page-turner features hard-boiled prose that still make my ribs hurt from laughing: "They turned around like deer in the headlights. Deer who had also been shot." Today, Weld himself is the protagonist in a plot that 20 years ago no fiction editor would have greenlighted because it would have strained all bounds of believability: A former New England governor launches a Kamikaze 2020 primary campaign against a corrupt Republican president who is accused of bedding porn stars, dangling pardons for his henchmen — and may just be a Russian asset."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "NO RESPECT," Globe: "Troopers had quotas for tickets, officials say," "A glut of gambling." |
| FROM THE 413 |
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- "What's the price of admission? The Five Colleges respond to scandal," by Dusty Christensen, Daily Hampshire Gazette: For the past week, the national media have focused on higher education after news broke of a cheating scandal that saw wealthy parents essentially buying their children's admission into prestigious colleges. No local college or university was named in the scheme. But the resulting scandal has been far-reaching, calling into question long-standing practices like lax admissions standards for the children of alumni or donors, and solidifying the belief many have that the country's system of higher education is anything but fair."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Fall River Councilors push back against 'revenge politics,'" by Jo C. Goode, Fall River Herald: " The day before Mayor Jasiel Correia II admitted on a radio talk show that the removal of his political challenger from the B.M.C. Durfee Building Committee was politically motivated, two City Councilors submitted a request for emergency legislation that would require council approval before any such mayoral actions. Sponsored by City Council Vice President Pam Laliberte-Lebeau and Councilor Shawn Cadime, the resolution states that "political retaliation continues by the current Mayor at an alarming rate" and identified the most recent "revenge politics" against recall election candidate and School Committee member Paul Coogan, who ran against Correia, and School Committee Vice Chairman Mark Costa, who publicly supported Coogan - both of whom Correia removed less than 24 hours after he was recalled then re-elected as mayor."
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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- Zoe Greenberg joins the Boston Globe as a general assignment reporter next month. Greenberg is currently a writer and researcher at The New York Times. Link.
- Lucia Maffei joined the Boston Business Journal as a technology reporter. Link.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to the Alliance for Business Leadership's Jesse Mermell, Jill Abramson, creative writing professor at Harvard, who is 65; and Seth Rogovoy.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? No! The Nuggets beat the Celtics 114-105.
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