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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. TGIF!
DEMOCRATS TRADE CAMPAIGN TIPS — Democrats will huddle this weekend for the state party's Democratic Campaign Institute. The two-day event features tips for fundraising, organizing and building coalitions, along with talks from elected officials including Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Sen. Ed Markey.
"The Democratic Campaign Institute is essentially a nuts-and-bolts training about how to get involved in politics," Massachusetts Democratic Party Executive Director Veronica Martinez said over the phone yesterday. "It's an opportunity to open up the party to folks who might have not felt welcome before."
Also on the speaking roster are Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell and state Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, and other experts like Democratic National Committee member Kate Donaghue, state Senate counsel Ava Callendar Concepcion, Liberty Square Group's Scott Ferson and Elizabeth Warren for President National Regional Political Director Chelsey Cartwright.
The two-day workshop has three tracks geared toward candidates, activists and campaign staff. One notable alum of the program, Martinez said, is Anthony Collins, who went on to become a field organizer on Pressley's 2018 campaign for Congress. Martinez said she expects around 200 people to attend the event, hosted at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury. Tickets are $75, though some attendees can attend through donor-supported waivers.
Shortly after being elected last fall, state Rep. Nika Elugardo, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins and Rep. Liz Miranda described the state party as racist, and raised concerns about the lack of support from the party for their campaigns. Martinez said the comments were "reflective of conversations" taking place within the party, and this year's event has "an eye toward diversity and inclusion."
"When we're working with speakers, we're asking them to keep in mind obstacles inherently built in these structures," Martinez said of this weekend's event.
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 visits the Quest Diagnostics laboratory in Marlborough. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Quincy Mayor Tom Koch,state Rep. David Biele, Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn and Michael Flaherty attend the Maritime Champion Award Ceremony & 2019 Cruise Season Kickoff. Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigns in Iowa.
Attorney General Maura Healey appears on "Boston Public Radio." Rep. Seth Moulton visits Iowa. The Joint Committee on Ways and Means hears testimony at Roxbury Community College. The Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schoolsholds a "Bring Your Legislator to School" day at the Brandon School in Natick.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "5 Republicans Vote 'Present' As Senate Overwhelmingly Votes To Ban Conversion Therapy For Minors," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "The Senate on Thursday voted 34-0 to ban the use of conversion therapy to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of minors, with five Republicans voting "present" rather than for or against the bill. Sen. Vinny deMacedo said he and Sens. Bruce Tarr, Ryan Fattman, Donald Humason and Dean Tran oppose conversion therapy but have concerns that the bill's wording is vague and infringes on the rights of mental health professionals."
- "Spilka calls for gender X bill's passage," by Andy Metzger, CommonWealth Magazine: "SENATE PRESIDENT KAREN Spilka took the rare step Thursday of appearing before her colleagues to argue for passage of a bill — in this case a measure to benefit non-binary residents that was jammed up at the eleventh hour last session. The bill Spilka supports would create a new non-binary gender classification of X instead of M or F on state IDs, including driver's licenses. It would also allow for the alteration of a person's gender listed on birth records to X at the request of the person or in the case of a child, their parents."
- "Sen. Don Humason is sole Senate vote against lifting the welfare 'family cap,'" by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "The Massachusetts Senate voted 37-1 on Thursday to lift a cap on benefits for children born once a family is receiving welfare. Sen. Don Humason, R-Westfield, was the lone dissenting vote. Humason, who is running for Westfield mayor, said he has heard from constituents who are having trouble making ends meet but who do not qualify for public benefits."
- "Credit card fees biting into state's savings from all-electronic Mass Pike toll system," by Mary Markos, Boston Herald: "Efforts to cut costs by dumping toll takers on the Mass Pike and switching to an all-electronic system have come up short, with climbing credit card fees threatening to take an even bigger bite out of the savings, according to state data. Prior to the transition in October 2016, electronic tolling was projected to reduce Pike operating costs from $56 million to $36 million, according to MassDOT."
- "State suspends $72,000 annual pension for ex-trooper in overtime fraud scandal," by Matt Stout and Matt Rocheleau, Boston Globe: "The State Retirement Board voted Thursday to suspend the $72,205-a-year pension of a former state trooper sentenced this week in the overtime fraud scandal, marking the first time it's made such a move since prosecutors began bringing charges in the sweeping investigation. Gregory Raftery, a retired trooper and the first defendant to face incarceration over the scheme tied to the now-disbanded Troop E, was sentenced Tuesday to three months in prison."
- "Advocates want ban on flavored tobacco and vaping products," by Victoria McGrane, Boston Globe: "More than 100 cancer patients, survivors, and their family members fanned out across Beacon Hill on Thursday to push for a ban on all flavored tobacco products, including the nicotine liquid used in vaping, as well as steep new taxes on e-cigarettes. "They are marketed and sold to our youth and our youth are getting sick and they have no idea what the consequences are," Representative Danielle W. Gregoire, a Marlborough Democrat and the lead sponsor of the House measure that would ban flavored e-cigarettes, told the advocates before they set off on their lobbying blitz at the State House."
- "Lawmakers hear support and concern for road safety bills," by Andy Metzger, CommonWealth Magazine: "DISTRACTED DRIVING HAS become an "epidemic," Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack told lawmakers on Thursday, pushing for a policy package that she said would make motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians safer. Gov. Charlie Baker's bill would allow police to pull over drivers for failing to wear a seat belt, ban handheld phone use by drivers, and provide a statutory framework to allow for electric scooters and electric pedal-assist bicycles on roadways."
- "Jim Lyons blasts bills expanding abortion access," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: "Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons blasted a pair of bills that would expand access to abortion as "radical infanticide" on Wednesday, while advocates defended a woman's right to control her own health care.In a letter to his party, Lyons said the legislation "removes all practical limitations on aborting unborn babies," adding, "absolutely nothing would be done to protect or even comfort a baby who survives a late-term abortion." "Is that really where we are in Massachusetts, that a helpless newborn child is to be left aside with no comfort and no ability to live?" Lyons, who opposes abortion, told the Herald."
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| WHAT CITY HALL IS READING |
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- "City Hall corruption case could head to trial, after all," by Maria Cramer and Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: "A federal appeals court vacated the dismissal of public corruption charges against two Boston City Hall aides Thursday, holding that a judge misinterpreted the law in the Boston Calling case — a development that now paves the way for prosecutors to bring the matter to trial. In a major win for the US attorney's office, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal prosecutors do not have to prove that the aides, Kenneth Brissette and Timothy Sullivan, personally benefited from the hiring of union workers at the Boston Calling musical festival in 2014."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Nine young people overdosed last year while under DCF's watch," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Three youths under the watch of the state's Department of Children and Families died of overdoses last year, and six others suffered nonfatal overdoses — the most since state officials declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency five years ago. The nine cases, disclosed in a recent state report, have set off alarms among child welfare advocates. While it's unclear if it's a grim, new trend or a tragic anomaly, they said the overdoses underline how much the drug crisis is still buffeting DCF, the agency charged with helping protect children from abuse and neglect."
- "Report on Laura Levis's death cites hospital's parent company," by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Boston Globe: "A report released Thursday identified serious flaws at the parent company of Somerville Hospital, where a 34-year-old woman dying from an asthma attack was locked outside the emergency room — but it stopped short of blaming any individuals for the 2016 incident. It criticized hospital officials for failing to share key details about the death of Laura Levis with her family and with hospital board members and describes Cambridge Health Alliance, the parent of Somerville Hospital, as beset by internal divisions."
- "Marty Walsh Promises to Fix Parking Ticket Errors," by Ellen Gerst, Boston Magazine: "Diligent and legal parkers in Boston are getting stacks of parking tickets on their windshields for violations they didn't commit. Turns out even if you think you're carefully moving your car every two hours to park it in a new zone, the city may still give you a ticket. Mayor Marty Walsh, appalled by a new NBC10 report on the unwarranted parking tickets, said he's sorry—but sorry isn't good enough for Marty."
- "Bed sores, smeared faces, helplessness: New reports paint dismal picture of care at VA nursing homes," by Andrea Estes and Donovan Slack, Boston Globe and USA Today: "At the Veterans Affairs nursing home in Brockton, a severely impaired veteran with dementia sat trapped in his wheelchair for hours, his right foot stuck between the foot rests. Inspectors watched as staff walked past the struggling man without helping. Nine months after USA Today and The Boston Globe reported that veterans received substandard care at many Department of Veterans Affairs nursing homes, newly released inspection reports paint a discouraging picture of the care that sick and frail veterans continued to receive at these federal nursing homes."
- "Taxpayers are asked to support falcons, fight pigeon poop," by Bob Salsberg, Associated Press: "Along with all the usual declarations and deductions, Massachusetts residents have been asked to keep something else in mind this tax season: pigeon droppings. In an unusual and at times stomach-turning appeal, the state agency MassWildlife proposed that one way to fight back against the sticky messes befouling cars and damaging bridges is for taxpayers to check a box on their tax forms to support the state's endangered species program. How so? Peregrine falcons are among the program's beneficiaries, and they prey on pigeons."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "'Chilling effect;' ICE made more than 100 arrests at Massachusetts courthouses in the past year," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "The phone rings off the hook at Ivan Espinoza Madrigal's office with complaints from immigrants about federal agents stalking local courthouses across Massachusetts. His organization, Lawyers for Civil Rights, has tracked more than 100 arrests in the past year by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at local courthouses. One of those include the arrest of an undocumented 21-year-old Cape Verdean man in a Boston courthouse in January."
- "Kraft lawyers file motion to toss video evidence in soliciting prostitution case," by Travis Andersen, Boston Globe: "Lawyers for New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Thursday filed a motion to toss video evidence in the misdemeanor prostitution solicitation case pending against him in Florida. The eight-page filing submitted in a Palm Beach County court said Kraft, 77, "seeks to suppress video recordings that are the fruits of an unlawful sneak-and-peek search warrant that the Town of Jupiter Police Department used to spy on Mr. Kraft and others, while they were in the private rooms of a licensed spa (the "Spa"), receiving treatment from licensed masseuses."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "To win in 2020, Elizabeth Warren channels a message from ... 1896?" by Niels Lesniewski, Roll Call: "Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has a new target in her campaign against big businesses: integrated agricultural conglomerates like Tyson Foods. And in making the policy announcement, she's channeling William Jennings Bryan. The Democratic senator from Massachusetts announced Wednesday morning that she would seek to change the Justice Department's antitrust enforcement to stop (and even reverse) large mergers in the agribusiness space, as well as change the way the department views vertically-integrated companies."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "Richie Neal's big moment," by Larry Parnass, CommonWealth Magazine: "RICHARD NEAL, consummate policy guy and inveterate old-school pol, had come to talk pensions. But after a March 21 roundtable in Boston, the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee was yanked back to the issue dogging him for months — when would he request President Trump's tax returns? The question seemed to annoy Neal. He told the press huddle at the State House that it had to be done right and he wouldn't "succumb to the emotion of the moment." What's the timeline, a reporter began to ask. "You weren't listening," Neal snapped back. An aide broke in: Any questions about pensions? "Yeah," Neal said with sarcasm. "There are other issues we might want to consider talking about." Dream on."
- "The Race Research Cited by DeVos," by Lauren Camera, U.S. News & World Report: "A MAJOR JUSTIFICATION for a controversial policy action taken by the Trump administration regarding discipline in schools relied on research from an academic considered well outside the mainstream who didn't know his work was being used to bolster the decision. The issue came to light Tuesday, when Rep. Katherine Clark, a Democrat from Massachusetts, pressed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos about her reasons for revoking Obama-era discipline guidance during a congressional hearing about the president's proposed budget for the Department of Education."
- "Rep. Joseph Kennedy III leads House condemnation of President Trump's transgender military ban," by Jacqueline Tempera, MassLive.com: "The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Thursday condemning President Donald Trump's proposed transgender military ban. The measure - which was brought forward by Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, a Massachusetts Democrat who is the chair of the Equality Caucus's Transgender Equality Task Force, passed 238-185 on Thursday."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "FIRED UP!" — Globe: "Overdoses on rise in DCF youths," "Hospital criticized in ER patient's death." |
| FROM THE 413 |
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- "Hampden DA Anthony Gulluni's decision not to charge Springfield cops before indictments was a 'dereliction of duties,' council president Justin Hurst says," by Scott J. Croteau, Springfield Republican: "The Springfield City Council is questioning Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni's handling of the Nathan Bill's assault investigation and has accused the district attorney's office of neglecting to complete a thorough investigation. Justin Hurst, council president, issued a scathing statement one day after the state attorney general's office secured indictments against one dozen Springfield police officers."
- "Three months in, Domb sticking to campaign promises," by Lillian Ilsley-Greene, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "After three months in the Legislature, state Rep. Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, continues to stand against what she considers to be the dangerous policies coming out of Washington, D.C. Since taking office in January, Domb has co-sponsored a series of progressive bills on immigration, education reform, and issues of gender and sexuality. She also was a strong voice on the recent vote to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "'I love New Bedford': Jon Mitchell gives State of City Address," by Kiernan Dunlop, Standard-Times: "At his annual State of the City Address Thursday, Mayor Jon Mitchell invited the audience to join him for a family meal and check in on how things are going in the city. As with many family meals, the audience was already familiar with the majority of subjects up for discussion. Mitchell used his 50-minute speech to highlight how much New Bedford has improved since he took office in 2012 , once again highlighting the documented drops in the crime and unemployment rates, and the rise of the high school graduation rate."
- "Bakers visit child development center," by Jessica Valeriani, Eagle-Tribune: "Gov. Charlie Baker and Lauren Baker, first lady of Massachusetts, visited The Professional Center for Child Development, or PCCD, Thursday morning to meet with students, parents, and staff, and read books to the children. PCCD works with children of all abilities to eliminate barriers to children's growth and development, said Executive Director Chris Hunt. Staff at the center also work to identify early stages of disabilities in children in an effort to guide them toward long-term success."
- MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: "Salem Home owner says he's working on cleanup of yard filled with printers," by Madeline Hughes, Eagle-Tribune: "Michael Bates cited his divorce, the Chinese ban on recyclables and an emotional decision to close his liquidation business as the reasons printer boxes are piled 5-feet high in the backyard of his home at 45 Maclarnon Road. Salem town officials have been working for nearly a year to get the homeowners, Bates and his estranged wife Christina, to clean up the property."
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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- "WBUR Board Looks To Increase Role Following News Of GM's Departure," by Martha Bebinger, WBUR: "Influential donors to WBUR are exploring ways to make the station more independent, including a separate governing board or a "spinout" from the station's owner, Boston University. Discussions began immediately after the group, known as WBUR's Board of Overseers, learned that WBUR General Manager Charlie Kravetz would no longer oversee daily operations of the station and would leave, officially, at the end of June. Members of the board, which has no direct decision-making authority, say they felt blindsided by the decision and ignored by BU when they protested."
- Rick Sobey joins the Boston Herald as a general assignment multimedia reporter. Sobey was a reporter at The Lowell Sun. Tweet.
SPOTTED: Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Seth Moulton on the same American Airlines flight from DCA to Des Moines last night.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to 1776 President & Chief Innovation Officer Peter Cherukuri, David King, senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School; Ned Gandevani, Sanjay Misra, Harvard PhD candidate; and Richard Lewontin who turns 9-0 today.
HAPPY BIRTHWEEKEND - to Victoria Ireton, an account executive at Lynch Associates and a Seth Moulton alum, who turns 25 on Saturday (h/t Joe Sherlock), and the Daily Hampshire Gazette's Dusty Christensen, who celebrates Saturday.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? No! The Mariners beat the Red Sox 12-4.
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