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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
MASS REACTS TO MUELLER — By now, you've heard the news: the much-awaited report by special counsel Robert Mueller found there was not enough evidence to charge the president for conspiring with Russia to win the 2016 election. But for the questions the report answered, it opened up some new queries — namely, now what?
While Trump and many Republicans say the report clears him of wrongdoing, Democrats are saying "not so fast." For many Massachusetts leaders, a summary of the report released Sunday by Attorney General William Barr was not enough. Just as news of the four-page briefing broke, the state's Democrats demanded the full report.
"We received Cliff Notes from the President's AG, not the full story," Rep. Katherine Clark, the 6th highest-ranking member of House leadership, said on Twitter yesterday. "The Mueller report must be made public, including the underlying investigative materials, and the House must continue its constitutional duty of oversight."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is running to knock Trump out of the White House in 2020, sent an email to supporters over the weekend, encouraging them to sign a petition to make the report public. "Let's be clear: The Trump administration shouldn't get to pick and choose which parts of the Mueller report the public will get to see," the Warren campaign wrote.
House Ways and Means chair Rep. Richard Neal voiced a similar opinion. "I continue to believe that AG Barr should respect the wishes of the American people & Congress and release the full report & supporting evidence found in Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election," Neal said in a tweet yesterday. The longtime Springfield congressman is facing pressure from billionaire Tom Steyer, who has spent close to a quarter of a million dollars to push Neal toward requesting Trump's tax returns, regardless of Mueller's findings.
Rep. Jim McGovern, who heads the House Rules Committee, said he'll do everything he can to make the report public at a town hall in Northampton last night. And Rep. Seth Moulton, who is weighing a 2020 bid, told reporters at a town hall in Danvers on Saturday that he believes the full report should be public.
MassGOP chairman Jim Lyons, on the other hand, took a victory lap . "This two-year investigation has cost taxpayers $25 million, and the result is that there was no collusion or obstruction going on at all," Lyons said in a statement yesterday. "Maybe it's time to investigate those responsible for ginning up hysteria, and those responsible for triggering this witch hunt."
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, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Robert DeLeo hold a leadership meeting. Sen. Ed Markey holds a press conference in support of the Green New Deal in Boston. Former Gov. Bill Weldtravels to Concord, N.H. Social workers hold an advocacy day at the State House. Rep. Seth Moulton talks mental health in Bedford.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "MassFiscal's biggest funder is a nonprofit it founded," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, the vocal conservative group that has long fought efforts to identify its donors, quietly created a separate nonprofit that in less than a year became its single biggest source of cash, adding a new layer to its already guarded financing. The $460,000 in contributions that Fiscal Partners Inc. gave MassFiscal in 2017 tether together what tax experts call an unusual relationship between nonprofit organizations, and could make it more difficult for campaign finance regulators to determine who's fueling the group's cash flow should it dip into election-related work."
- "Are Massachusetts politicians any closer to a consensus on education reform? Pathway to updating education funding formula still isn't clear," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com:"Lawmakers, state officials and educators agree that the 25-year-old state education funding formula needs to be updated, especially to account for the needs of low-income students and English language learners. How the Legislature will get there, however, may not be so clear even after Friday's education hearing at the State House."
- "Bills on tap at Statehouse target lead in school water," Associated Press: "Lawmakers on Beacon Hill are pushing legislation aimed at improving the safety of drinking water in schools in part by requiring schools and child care centers to test every drinking water outlet each year for elevated lead levels. Legislation on tap in the Massachusetts House and Senate would force schools to immediately shut off drinking water outlets that show elevated lead levels. The water outlet could be turned on only after it has produced at least two sets of certified test results showing no elevated lead levels.
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Retired Boston school administrator's pension and earnings spark local and state reviews," by James Vaznis, Boston Globe:"By many accounts, Linda Nathan is performing duties for the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Dorchester that a top leader would: fund-raising, managing facilities, disseminating the school's best practices, and evaluating the principal and director of operations. But Nathan, a retired Boston Public Schools headmaster who is collecting a $105,000 city pension annually, doesn't appear on the public charter school's payroll."
- "Meet The ARTery 25 — Millennials Of Color Impacting Boston Arts And Culture," by Amelia Mason, Amy Gorel, Andrea Shea, Arielle Gray, Cristela Guerra and Maria Garcia, WBUR: "Artists and creative professionals are change agents. They provide us with fresh ideas on old quandaries, from racial equity and gentrification to gender identity. Those ideas then shape our culture. Culture forms public attitudes. Public attitudes help mold our policy and legislation. In Boston, there's a palpable surge of new artistic energy. A daring cohort of young creatives is molding the city's cultural ecosystem in promising ways."
- "Massachusetts has highest rate of underage drinking," by Alexi Cohan, Boston Herald: "Underage drinking can damage young, developing brains and according to a new study, Massachusetts has the highest rate of underage drinking in the country. Nearly 29 percent of Massachusetts minors age 12-20 consume alcohol, according to research collected and analyzed by American Addiction Centers. States trailing Massachusetts include North Dakota with an underage drinking rate of 25.3 percent and Vermont with 25.2 percent."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "First wave of 'Varsity Blues' defendants hits federal court Monday," by Laurel J. Sweet, Boston Herald: "A dozen coaches, athletic directors and test proctors, who prosecutors allege were the spokes that kept the multimillion dollar college admissions scandal rolling coast to coast, will be arraigned en masse Monday in Boston's U.S. District Court. The 12 coaches, university administrators and testing officials are the first major wave of defendants from the nationwide scam the feds dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues" to appear in Boston. All have been indicted for racketeering conspiracy and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren on term limits: They make lawmakers 'more dependent than ever on the lobbyist,'" by Daniella Diaz, CNN: "Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she does not support term limits in Congress while speaking at a town hall in New Hampshire on Sunday. "Here's the problem on term limits on folks in Congress — it makes them more dependent than ever on the lobbyist. Believe me, if the senators only stay for two terms, the lobbyist will be there a lot longer and they'll know how the game is played," the senator, who's running for president, told an audience member at the town hall in Conway, New Hampshire. "It worries me that it will make them even more dependent on big money." Warren said that without term limits, she's been able to use the money she raises during election years for a grassroots campaign in her home state of Massachusetts."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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- "UMass student on stage with Trump as president signs campus free-speech order," by Jacquelyn Voghel, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "As President Donald Trump signed an executive order that he says will protect free speech on college campuses on Thursday, University of Massachusetts Amherst student Nicholas Consolini looked on from just a few feet away. Consolini was part of a group that joined Trump on stage at the White House as he signed the order. The executive order states that colleges and universities must agree to protect free speech in order to access federal research and educational funding."
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| EYE ON 2020 |
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- "Republican Bill Weld on challenging Trump: 'It's going to be a lot of fun,'" by Ed Pilkington, The Guardian: "There's only one way to begin an interview with the person poised to challenge Donald Trump for the presidential nomination of the Republican party in 2020, and that's to ask him: are you a masochist? Having witnessed the excruciating humiliation last time around of Lyin' Ted Cruz, Low Energy Jeb Bush and Little Marco Rubio, why would anyone put themselves through such misery?"
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "THANKS GRONK!" — Globe: "Mueller report finds no collusion on Russia," "For star tight end, one final big spike." |
| BEHIND THE TOFU CURTAIN |
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- "Markey airs Green New Deal in town hall at NHS," by Andy Castillo, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in the summer of 1933, America's economy was paralyzed. Gross domestic product had fallen from $103.6 billion in 1929 to $66 billion in 1934. More than 20 percent of the nation's population was unemployed. Shantytowns were commonplace. In the face of this crisis, Roosevelt introduced the New Deal — a series of large-scale public building initiatives and financial reforms intended to put Americans back to work. More than 80 years later, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., says lawmakers are facing a different kind of crisis — climate change."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "New Bedford advocates say helping the older population helps the community," by Aimee Chiavaroli, Standard-Times: "Per the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had 18,765 residents over 60, the fifth highest among cities in Massachusetts. It's no surprise that that number is only growing which is why community partners have been putting their heads together since at least 2015 when New Bedford started working toward the Age-Friendly Community designation."
- "Superintendents: 'Safety plans' aren't meant for sex assaults," by Breanna Edelstein, Eagle-Tribune: "Parents and guardians of high school girls have expressed outrage over the use of "School Safety Plans" in cases of sexual assault in North Andover. The plans serve as contracts that restrict where victims can be in school in relation to their attackers or accused attackers. Numerous parents and guardians have reached out to The Eagle-Tribune over the past week with the same question: Is this happening where my kids go to school?
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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- Shannon Young joins POLITICO New York to cover health policy in Albany. Young leaves the Springfield Republican and MassLive.com, where she covered politics.
TRANSITIONS - Kelley Gossett joins the Airbnb Policy team in Massachusetts and the mid-Atlantic. Gossett was previously on the public affairs team at Uber in the Northeast.
- FOR YOUR RADAR: "Gov. Baker proclaims last week of March through April 30th the Commonwealth's Motorcycle Safety Awareness Period," from Paul W. Cote: " More the 165,000 of the State's registered motorcycles will be coming out of winter's hibernation claims citizen-biker advocate/activism Paul W. Cote, of Amesbury, who coordinates the "Check Twice-Save a Life, Motorcycles are Everywhere" awareness effort with others reminding drivers."
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY - to Playbook's Westford bureau chief Paul Murray, who turned 8-0 on Sunday; and Josh Cohen, a Harvard Kennedy School alum now a cybersecurity analyst at DoD, who got engaged last year to occupational therapist Kelly Curtin -- pic.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to the Boston Globe's Felice Belman and Vail Kohnert-Yount, a student at Harvard Law.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? No! The Spurs beat the Celtics 115-96.
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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