WARREN gears up for TOWN HALL — JOKES from Southie Breakfast — MOULTON the entrepreneur — AOC’s WORCESTER connection

Mar 18, 2019

GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.

WARREN GEARS UP FOR TOWN HALL — Sen. Elizabeth Warren will take the stage tonight for a CNN town hall in Jackson, Mississippi, a televised event that has the potential to inject a shot of adrenaline into her presidential campaign.

Expect Warren to hit on her housing plan, which she outlined in a Medium post over the weekend. It's the latest in a series of policy proposals the 2020 candidate has rolled out since launching her campaign.

Warren has been to a dozen states over the last few months, where she holds question-and-answer style town hall events. Tonight's program will let her take that style to a national audience, where she can play up her wonky side and dive into policy details. Her in-person blitz across the country is similar to Warren's approach as a senator — she's held upwards of 30 town halls for constituents in Massachusetts.

Televised town hall events can act as a big boost for 2020 candidates. Just ask Pete Buttigieg, the openly-gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, whose campaign took off after a strong recent CNN town hall performance. Other media shaping up to be key stops for Democrats this cycle: MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show and the left-leaning Pod Save America podcast, hosted by former Obama aides. Warren has hit both.

And because there's always a Massachusetts connection, Buttigieg has a close friend on Beacon Hill. State Sen. Eric Lesser has endorsed Warren in the 2020 race, but he counts Buttigieg as a pal from their time at Harvard. Buttigieg was a senior when Lesser was a freshman, and they met while doing political work on campus and remained friends afterward, according to Lesser's office.

Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.

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TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker, Rep. Seth Moulton and Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken attend a reception highlighting Gloucester at Seafood Expo North America. Lt. Gov. Karyn Politotestifies on education and local aid before the state Joint Committee on Ways & Means, alongside Secretary of Education James Peyserand Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeff Riley.

Leaders from the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation meet. Sen. Elizabeth Warren takes questions at a CNN town hall. Members of the congressional delegation — Rep. Katherine Clark, Rep. Jim McGovern, Rep. Ayanna Pressley —and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh rally for a new Dream and Promise Act at City Hall Plaza.

DATELINE BEACON HILL

- "Will MBTA fare hike prod Beacon Hill to take action?" by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "Was this the fare hike finally heard on Beacon Hill? The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's board of directors last week approved a 5.8 percent fare hike that will take effect on July 1 — but only after frustrated board members said state leaders should find other ways to fund the T going forward."

- "Massachusetts Cultural Council wants more taxpayer money amid lavish spending," by Joe Dwinell, Boston Herald: "The free-spending Massachusetts Cultural Council is leaning on taxpayers for another $2 million budget hike — even as staffers continue to ring up hefty tabs for cross-country air travel, swank hotels, lavish meals and even gassing up the director's take-home state-provided car. The bills are mounting just halfway through the fiscal year, and now the agency is lobbying the Legislature for more — a $2 million, 11 percent bump to its current $18 million budget — despite taking heavy criticism for its high lifestyle in the wake of a Herald report last year."

- "Legislators seek to bar judges from sending drug users who relapse to jail," by Maria Cramer, Boston Globe: "Last summer, the state's highest court ruled that judges could continue to order jail time for defendants who violate probation by using drugs, dismaying public health advocates and addiction specialists who had hoped to revolutionize the way the criminal justice system treats people with substance use disorders. Now, they are asking the Legislature to do what the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court would not: Prevent courts from incarcerating defendants who are in treatment and fail a mandatory drug test while on probation."

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FROM THE HUB

- "In South Boston, A St. Patrick's Breakfast With A Heaping Helping Of Campaign 2020," by Adam Reilly, WGBH News: "The 2019 South Boston St. Patrick's Day Breakfast featured a new venue, a new host, and an array of references to the unfolding 2020 presidential campaign — some serious, some less so. It was the 118th iteration of the event, which took place at the Flynn Cruiseport on South Boston's waterfront after several years at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The host, State Sen. Nick Collins, succeeded former Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry, who became the first woman and person of color to host the breakfast in 2014 and left Beacon Hill for a private-sector job last year. In the run-up to the breakfast, there were rumors that Joe Biden, the former vice president and potential Democratic presidential candidate, would make an in-person appearance. Instead, Biden recorded a video in which he extolled the virtues of the Irish and made what may have been a veiled reference to a presidential run."

- "'I'm a shell of who I used to be.' A female prison guard's tale of torment," by Jenna Russell, Boston Globe: "Marycatherin — most people call her Maria — worked as a correction officer in the state prison system. She knew what victims endured: the grueling investigative interviews and endless court proceedings, the trauma of reliving the crime repeatedly, the toll of worrying that an assailant might return. Still, she believed she could move forward. She had made it out alive. The worst had to be behind her. She could not have imagined, that summer day in 2010, how new suffering would grow out of this pain. Her prison workplace would become her own prison, the torment she faced from her own colleagues unrelenting."

- "Biden connection puts Walsh in a tight spot with Warren," by Hillary Chabot, Boston Herald: "Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh gave a strong indication yesterday that he'd back former Vice President and long-time pal Joseph P. Biden in a 2020 presidential campaign — a move that'd be a stinging snub for hometown candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "Everyone's asking me who I'm going to endorse," Walsh said at Boston's annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast, an event where pols trade veiled barbs and croon Irish ballads off-key."

- "Boston-area cities to launch immigrant legal defense fund," Associated Press: "The Boston-area cities of Cambridge and Somerville are creating a fund to help pay the legal costs for immigrants. Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern and Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone say they'll announce the creation of the United Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants on Monday at Cambridge City Hall along with community and regional immigrant advocates. They say the initiative is also in partnership with the Cambridge Community Foundation, which helped Cambridge found the Cambridge Legal Defense Fund for Immigrants last year."

- "Cable access stations are facing a financial reckoning," by Andy Rosen, Boston Globe: "Tune in to Boston community television and you could catch an episode of "The Greek Program," a 24-year-old foreign-language talk show that is the city's longest-running public access offering. In Chelsea, viewers might see a farewell tribute to the landmark Soldiers' Home water tower. And for those up late in Somerville, and interested in this kind of thing, there's "Heavy Leather Topless Dance Party," a risque revue of hard-rock musicians and sparsely clad dancers. But this offbeat menu of shows — along with the steady coverage of hourslong public meetings — may not be long for your dial. Community television stations are facing an existential threat."

DAY IN COURT

- "FEDS: QUINCY DISCHARGED E. COLI, AMMONIA ONTO CITY BEACHES," by Michael P. Norton, State House News Service:"The city of Quincy violated the federal Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants, including E. coli, onto city beaches and tidal areas from 2009 through 2018, according to a civil complaint filed by the federal government that exposes the city to significant fines. Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan M. Poswistilo is leading the case, which also alleges that water samples taken from Quincy Bay, Sagamore Creek, Town Brook, Town River Bay and Furnace Brook from the period 2009 through 2013 "showed the discharge of ammonia, surfactants and pharmaceutical compounds, which are indicative of sewage waste," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling announced Friday."

WARREN REPORT

- "Why liberals and big tech companies broke up," by Nancy Scola, POLITICO: " Elizabeth Warren's latest fight with Facebook over allegations of censorship is the latest piece of evidence that Democrats running for president see big tech companies as enemies of the progressive agenda, rather than the allies they once were. Warren's complaint last week that the social media giant "has too much power" might have been a shock coming from a prominent Democrat just a few years ago, when Barack Obama's public appearances with CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter's Jack Dorsey were typical for a party seeking to boost its appeal to tech-savvy young voters."

- "Elizabeth Warren takes a road less traveled: to the South," by Jess Bidgood and Liz Goodwin, Boston Globe: "It was just another typical Friday in the Democratic mega-primary: Beto O'Rourke barnstormed the diners and coffee shops of Iowa; Senator Cory Booker stood on the stairs of a law office in Claremont, N.H., to meet 100 voters; while Senator Elizabeth Warren began the day by thanking a group of 10 small-dollar donors at a quiet cafe in Manchester. But on Sunday, Warren will again depart the bumper-car arena of the early primary states, and become the first presidential candidate to take a road trip through the Deep South."

DATELINE MERRIMACK VALLEY

- "Bay State legislators question Columbia Gas claims process," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: "Bay State lawmakers have sent a letter to Columbia Gas of Massachusetts questioning the effectiveness of its claims process for those affected by the Merrimack Valley gas disaster. The letter was sent late last week by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and Lori Trahan, to the presidents of Columbia Gas and its Indiana-based parent company NiSource Inc. It cites recent news reports of the company's "failure to provide full and prompt remuneration to affected residents" half a year after gas-triggered explosions and fires rippled across Lawrence, Andover and North Andover."

EYE ON 2020

- "The Democratic primary is so big, N.H. voters might only get to meet each candidate once," by Victoria McGrane, Boston Globe:"Primary voting is more than 10 months away, and the Democratic Party could already field a baseball team, and have players to spare, with the number of candidates who've jumped in the 2020 presidential race. Put aside the challenges that poses for candidates vying for scarce resources such as money, volunteers, and ultimately votes. Forget for now the logistical gymnastics such a robust roster of would-be presidents poses for debate organizers. Think instead about the voters on the receiving end of this stampede of senators, governors, and other politicos into the living rooms and diners and school gymnasiums of New Hampshire."

MOULTON MATTERS

- "The failed weight-loss company behind Seth Moulton's time as a 'successful' entrepreneur," by Joshua Miller, Boston Globe:"Representative Seth Moulton's sparkling resume and taste for political gambles have rocketed the 40-year-old to three terms in Congress and a spot on the national stage. The Massachusetts Democrat, who is considering a run for president, served four tours in Iraq, earned three Harvard degrees, and in his first run for public office, knocked off a Democratic incumbent on his way to winning a seat in 2014. Moulton has spoken with pride about cofounding a company aimed at providing a solution to obesity. But a closer look at his 2013 foray into the weight-loss industry, mention of which his campaign later removed from his website, reveals a less illustrious chapter of a career marked by service and ambition."

- "Moulton gets earful from NH voters," by Ethan Forman, The Salem News: "While he mulls a run for president, Salem Congressman Seth Moulton brought his service-first message to a small and passionate group of Democrats in meet and greet at the Teatotaller cafe on High Street on Saturday afternoon. Somersworth is the smallest city by area in New Hampshire (10 square miles), the youngest by demographics, and also "the gayest city" in the state, said the owner of the cafe, Emmett Soldati. Moulton fielded some tough questions for about an hour speaking to 16 people on the invitation of the Tri-City Young Democrats."

ABOVE THE FOLD

— Herald: "SORRY, LIZ!" "ARTFUL DODGE," Globe: "Cannabis eyed for 'sexual enhancement,'" "Moulton talks little of defunct startup," "BEARDED BRETHREN, BEGORRAH."

FROM THE 413

- "Officials say Berkshires not immune to domestic violence, domestic homicide," by Kristin Palpini, The Berkshire Eagle: "The apparent murder-suicide discovered in a house fire this week, if confirmed, would be Berkshire County's sixth domestic violence homicide in the past four years. The news of such incidents is shocking, but the signs were all over the county — and the country. "It's a natural human reaction to say intimate violence happens in other places and to other people, and I want you to know, from doing this work every day, no, it's a rampant Berkshire County problem. It's not other people," said B. Bradburd, LGBTQ and management consultant at the Elizabeth Freeman Center, a domestic violence service organization in the Berkshires."

THE LOCAL ANGLE

- "Worcester co-op prints for progressives such as Warren, Biden, Ocasio-Cortez," by Mark Sullivan, Boston Globe: "On the top floor of an old industrial building at 41 Jackson St., steps from a factory where garment workers a hundred years ago made women's corsets, a printers' cooperative is stoking a political revolution, one T-shirt and one coffee mug at a time. WorX Printing, a worker-owned union print shop, turns out materials every day for the online shops of two of the Democratic Party's leading lights, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., among a host of other progressive political organizations and causes."

- "Members of Mashpee Wampanoag tribal council face ouster," by Tanner Stening, Cape Cod Times: "Not even two months after the annual election, three Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council members are facing expulsion hearings in the coming days. The charges stem from their efforts to enforce the constitution to fill a council vacancy and for trying to obtain financial information about the burgeoning debt associated with the tribe's long-stalled casino project, according to sources with knowledge of the special hearings."

- FROM ACROSS THE POND: "How a Strange Massachusetts Election Helps Explain Britain's Brexit Chaos," by Max Fisher, The New York Times: "This is the story of a strange election in a small Massachusetts city called Fall River that, believe or not, helps explain Britain's week of Brexit chaos and its uncertain future. Fall River's saga began in October, when its then-26-year-old mayor, Jasiel Correia, was arrested on charges of defrauding investors and falsifying tax returns. He had raised funding to develop a marketing app called SnoOwl but, according to prosecutors, instead spent $230,000 of investors' money on jewelry, clothes, a Mercedes and his successful mayoral campaign."

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Steve Heuser, POLITICO's editorial director for ideas and features and a Boston Globe alum, and Carolyn Johnson, a national science reporter for the Washington Post, on Saturday welcomed Evan Reilly Heuser. Pic.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY — to Daniel Bellow, who celebrated Sunday.

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