WELD’S barely breathing PRIMARY CHALLENGE — State pols to tackle STUDENT DEBT — NEAL to seek a decade of TRUMP’S TAXES

Mar 06, 2019

GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.

NEW: WILLIAM WELD'S BARELY BREATHING PRIMARY CHALLENGE — Bill Weld announced his presidential exploratory bid last month with a flourish, capturing headlines by calling Donald Trump "a schoolyard bully" and dismissing Washington Republicans for exhibiting "all the symptoms of Stockholm syndrome."

Then he went dark. Aside from a few television hits and public appearances, the former Massachusetts governor has done little to suggest his primary election challenge to Trump is something the president needs to worry about.

"It's a very, very difficult thing to challenge an incumbent president in your own party. Even the best campaigns, even the most rigorous campaigns with lots of money, media and message still have a tough time," said Boston and New Hampshire-based Republican consultant Pat Griffin, who advised Jeb Bush in 2016. "The fact there's even a question about Weld's intensity is problematic at this point, because Trump is going to be very hard to beat."

The Weld 2020 campaign website is a single, bare-bones page that doesn't list his biography, any of his positions or even his first name. There's a place to donate, but no information about upcoming events. While Weld posts several times a week to his 75,000 followers on Facebook, when POLITICO reached out several times in February for his schedule, calls and emails were not returned.

Weld has only held two New Hampshire events since he announced he's considering a run at a Politics & Eggs breakfast in Bedford, N.H. Both were on college campuses, with what New Hampshire political consultant Bruce Berke called a "built-in audience."

"He's going to have to get down and dirty at some point," Berke said, meaning walking tours, fire station visits and small house parties that aren't guaranteed to draw a crowd.

Read my full story here.

BY THE NUMBERS: MASS. BORROWERS HOLD $33 BILLION IN STUDENT DEBT — Fewer than 900,000 student loan borrowers hold $33.3 billion in outstanding debt in Massachusetts, and that debt will go up by $1 billion across 12 months, according to a new analysis by the Student Borrower Protection Center released this morning.

A new coalition is headed to the State House today for a press conference to address the mounting cost of student debt, which the analysis found to average around $38,000 per borrower. State Sen. Eric Lesser will speak in support of his Student Loan Bill of Rights, a piece of legislation he filed again this session that would create a student loan ombudsman housed in the Attorney General's office. His bill would also establish a licensing structure for issuing and and servicing student loans.

"Right now it's very opaque where you go if you have a question," Lesser told me yesterday. "That ombudsman would be empowered with real ability to investigate servicers and follow up on complaints." Around 94,000 of the state's borrowers are delinquent on their student loans, according to the data.

Lesser will be joined by state Rep. Natalie Higgins, state Rep. Adrian Madaro, SBPC Executive Director Seth Frotman and students from advocacy group the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts and the nonprofit Hildreth Institute. MASSPIRG is also part of the coalition backing the student loan bill. States exploring similar bills include Colorado, Virginia and Oregon, Lesser said, and similar laws exist in California, Connecticut and Illinois.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Apologies for the late Playbook today. Technical difficulties!

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TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker speaks at the Environmental League of Massachusetts & State House News Service Forum titled "The Future of Offshore Wind - Racing Towards the Horizon." Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak attend the Blue Hill Avenue Station ceremonial opening with state Rep. Dan Cullinane and state Rep. Russell Holmes.

Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll speaks at a WGBH panel on the commuter rail. Walsh attends the Metropolitan Area Planning Council MetroCommon kickoff. Sen. Ed Markey speaks at a Press Event Announcing Legislation to Restore Net Neutrality Protections. StateRep. Shawn Dooley introduces Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio at a town hall in Boston.

DATELINE BEACON HILL

- "Lawmakers begin work on Baker's $42.7B budget," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: " The new chairmen of the Joint Ways and Means Committee understand the task ahead of them: in the coming weeks, they must craft a more-than-$40-billion budget for a fiscal year that starts in July while the economic picture of the current fiscal year shifts beneath their feet. Using the $42.7 billion fiscal year 2020 budget (H 1) Gov. Charlie Baker filed in January as a starting point, the budget-writing committee began its slate of public hearings Tuesday to give lawmakers their first real opportunity to grill the administration on its spending plans."

- "Lawmakers renew push to repeal welfare cap," by Christian M. Wade, Gloucester Times: "A large group of lawmakers is renewing its push to repeal a rule denying welfare benefits for children born into families that already get public assistance. Legislation backed by more than 100 lawmakers, including many who represent the North of Boston region, would end the so-called "cap on kids" estimated to affect 9,000 children. The proposal, which came close to passing in the previous legislative session, gets a public airing Tuesday before a legislative committee."

- "Lawmakers Eye Early Start On Conversion Therapy Ban," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "Longtime supporters of legislation that would make Massachusetts the sixteenth state to ban sexual orientation conversion therapy for minors are hoping this year is finally the year it becomes law. The proposed ban on state-licensed health care providers offering conversion therapy for minors nearly became law last summer, clearing both the House and Senate on the final day of formal sessions in July. Democratic legislative leaders failed, however, to deliver the bill to Gov. Charlie Baker, and are now restarting their effort to advance the controversial measure."

- "Mass. unions protest new limits proposed for political donations," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Labor unions and political organizers Tuesday urged the state's top finance regulator to reverse a proposal that would rein in how much money unions can donate to their preferred candidates, arguing it's "unfair" and could tip the scales of influence. But that line of reasoning, threaded through testimony to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, met immediate headwinds: Michael Sullivan, the office's director, told critics that his job isn't to "level the playing field" but to clarify the law, signaling the arguments will do little to shape the final regulations due later this spring ."

FROM THE HUB

- "What we know about the upcoming Wynn hearings," by Mark Arsenault, Boston Globe: "Encore Boston Harbor, the monolith on the Mystic, is already a landmark off Interstate 93. Gleaming by day, glowing by night, the Everett casino looks ready to throw open its doors. But just 15 weeks before the resort is slated to open, there is still some chance it won't. Standing between the $2.6 billion casino and its planned June ribbon-cutting is a reckoning more than a year in the making, the culmination of a painstaking reexamination of the company's qualifications for a gambling license."

- "King's English," by Andy Metzger, CommonWealth Magazine:"PAUL ENGLISH DIDN'T invent the idea of building a monument in Boston to the foremost civil rights hero of the 20th century, but in the parlance of the high-tech world where English made his millions, he was the angel investor who helped launch it. There was untapped demand in Boston for a suitable tribute to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his wife Coretta Scott King. The two met in the city where she studied music and he studied theology years before he became the emblematic leader of the cause that succeeded in granting voting rights and a more equal economic footing that had for centuries been denied to black Americans. Despite its seminal place in the Kings' history, Boston has not yet honored them in the manner of other cities such as Washington, DC, Atlanta, and San Francisco."

- "Boston exploring new entrance test for exam schools," by James Vaznis, Boston Globe: "Interim Boston schools Superintendent Laura Perille said Tuesday that her administration is exploring the idea of replacing the controversial exam that has determined the fate of tens of thousands of students vying for coveted spots at Boston Latin School and the city's two other exam schools. Perille disclosed the review during a City Council hearing that scrutinized exam-school admission policies. Her comments came six months after a Harvard University report found the school system's reliance on a test designed for private school admission was blocking thousands of students of color from an education at some of the city's best public schools."

- "Is Boston's Transportation Crisis Beyond Repair?" by Kyle Paoletta, Boston Magazine: "Getting around Boston has never been more of a pain in the ass. Between the city's booming population and its cratering unemployment rate, some 150,000 new commuters are using the same streets, trains, and buses that have improved only incrementally since 2010. Now the really bad news: The suffering has only begun. For the MBTA's network to be fully repaired and modernized, riders will have to endure another decade or more of station closures and shuttle buses. Gas guzzlers won't get off any easier, with the $1.1 billion plan to replace the viaduct that lofts the Mass. Pike over Allston poised to induce fist-shaking gridlock for what will probably feel like forever. As Harvard Kennedy School public-policy scholar Linda Bilmes puts it, our 'whole transportation system is a fire in the attic—a fire in the whole house.'"

- "At region's smallest colleges, poor graduation rates threaten their financial stability," by Laura Krantz, Boston Globe: "As financial problems trigger the deaths of small, private colleges across New England, the schools have been mourned as lost hallmarks of the region. But a closer look at their success in educating students creates a more complicated picture. At Newbury College, which will close this spring, only about a third of students graduated within six years of starting their degrees. At Green Mountain College in Vermont, which will also shut its doors, the percentage is roughly the same."

- "At Faneuil Hall, a move to recognize ties to slavery," by Brian MacQuarrie, Boston Globe: "The cream-colored sugar mold measures 24 inches from top to bottom, a cone-shaped shard of centuries-old ceramic found with 44 others in an archeological dig beneath Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston. To modern eyes, it looks like a broken piece of pottery. But this simple mold was packed by slaves, with sugar gathered by slaves, as part of a booming maritime trade in slaves and goods that made Boston one of the wealthiest Colonial ports in North America."

THE OPINION PAGES

- "A Massachusetts model for reaching neglected America," by state Sen. Adam Hinds, CommonWealth Magazine: "THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION has started and voters in neglected parts of the country will likely determine the outcome. Both parties will plan how to win voters in the Rust Belt and rural America with proposals to address their needs, and Massachusetts stands as a model. That may seem like a jarring claim. But only if the lens is fixed on the Greater Boston region, which too often is the reference point used to define the whole state. In fact, in recent years we have acted in several important ways to bolster our more remote regions. But we must do more."

DAY IN COURT

- "Trial date set for drunken driving charge against Brockton senator," by Marc Larocque, Brockton Enterprise: "Nearly a year ago, the state senator representing Brockton was pulled over in Weymouth, arrested, and charged with operating under the influence of liquor, after police said another motorist saw him swerving all over the road and called 911. Now a trial date is set. State Sen. Michael Brady, D-Brockton, is scheduled to be tried in Quincy District Court on June 4, according to the clerk's office. Brady, 56, is facing charges of operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and marked lanes violation after he was arrested in Weymouth on March 24, 2018."

WARREN REPORT

- "Elizabeth Warren's New Fundraising Rule Is More Than a Gimmick," by Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic: "Rejecting donations from corporate political-action committees has become a trend among Democrats. Roughly 180 of them took the pledge ahead of the November midterm elections, and it quickly caught on among members of the 2020 field, including Senators Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, and Kirsten Gillibrand, who assured their voters that they're prioritizing small-dollar contributions. But now Elizabeth Warren is upping the ante, rejecting an entirely new pool of donors on top of corporate PACs. The Massachusetts senator recently announced she would no longer participate in the high-dollar fundraisers and phone calls with wealthy donors that typically permeate a presidential campaign, and on Monday she challenged other candidates to do the same."

DATELINE D.C.

- "House Democrats likely to seek 10 years of Trump's tax returns in coming weeks," by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner, The Washington Post: "Congressional Democrats are likely to request 10 years of President Trump's tax returns in coming weeks, tailoring their inquiry in a way they hope will survive a court battle, according to lawmakers and others involved in the discussions. The exact parameters of the request are still in flux, including whether to seek tax returns related to Trump's many business enterprises in addition to his personal returns. But Democrats led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.), along with congressional lawyers, are in the advanced stages of preparing the request."

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

- "Facing Pushback, Markey Makes the Case for the Green New Deal," by Elizabeth Kolbert, Yale Environment 360: "In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Senator Markey discussed the background of the Green New Deal, why it's an important step in laying the groundwork for tackling climate change, and why advocates of climate action should "'be leaning into this fight.'"

ABOVE THE FOLD

— Herald: "TRIUMPH!" — Globe: "Border at 'breaking point' with migrants," "HIGH DRAMA, HIGHER STAKES."

FROM THE 413

- "Ramos Passes on Executive Springfield Pursuits," by Matt Szafranski, Western Mass Politics & Insight: "Less than a week after missing his self-imposed decision deadline, Springfield Ward 8 Councilor Orlando Ramos announced he would not run for mayor. Last month, the three-term councilor said he was "seriously considering" challenging Domenic Sarno this year. However, in a statement released early Tuesday evening, Ramos said he would seek reelection to his current office. Ramos' flirtation with a mayoral bid made him the first sitting elected to openly muse about unseating the incumbent. Despite some impressions, Sarno is not unbeatable and a stable of ambitious pols in the city exists. Although Ramos did not mention this, taking on Sarno will be a steep climb for any candidate."

THE LOCAL ANGLE

- "Feds move to shut down illegal Worcester radio station," Associated Press: "The federal government is seeking to shut down an unlicensed radio station in Worcester. Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts say they're seeking a court injunction against Vasco Oburoni and Christian Praise International Church. They say Oburoni and the church have been operating a radio station at the frequency 97.1 MHz without a Federal Communications Commission license, despite being issued multiple warnings. The FCC says a licensed broadcaster and others have complained the pirate station is interfering with radio signals."

- "Nuclear regulators extend Seabrook plant's license to 2050," by David Abel and Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: "After years of negotiations and vocal opposition, the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire will have its license to operate extended until 2050, officials at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday. The agency's decision comes despite recent petitions filed by opponents to delay the extension."

- "Main South stakeholders brainstorm on economic development," by Brad Petrishen, Telegram & Gazette: "How do you foster economic development in a historically poor neighborhood, and what might success look like? Those were two of many questions posed Monday night at the YMCA on Main Street, where more than 60 stakeholders from Main South turned up to provide feedback for a state initiative to spruce up business there. "You are here because you care about this community," Ivette Olmeda, who is spearheading the effort, told participants who took about an hour in groups discussing the needs of the neighborhood."

- "Quincy's luxury housing boom leaves many behind," by Erin Tiernan, Patriot Ledger: "Affordable housing options for people like Scherber are scarce, even as Quincy is in the midst of an apartment and condo construction boom. Private developers have built 3,800 new homes in the city in the last decade, but experts say low- and middle-income residents are priced out of the luxury-priced market and too little is being done to produce more affordable housing. The influx of new, high-end apartments to the rental market is driving up the cost of existing housing. Landlords are raising rents or pushing tenants out to take advantage of the robust economy by selling their buildings."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to UMass Journalism's Steve Fox, Blake Gottesman of Berkshire Partners, Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety Deputy Secretary Jenn Queally (h/t Ed Cash) and Freedom for All Americans Digital Campaign Manager and Chandler alum Lauren Young (h/t Alexandra Chandler).

DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes and yes! The Bruins beat the Hurricanes 4-3. The Celtics beat the Warriors 128-95.

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