NEAL’S Tax Day — MARATHON Monday — TRAHAN’s loophole — Boston’s OTHER housing crisis

Apr 15, 2019

Presented by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts

GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. It's Marathon Monday!

MEETING DEADLINES — Today marks the first big deadline of the 2020 campaign cycle: Fundraising numbers for the first quarter of the year are due to the FEC. Some candidates have rolled out their totals early, among them Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who pulled in $6 million over the last several months.

In Massachusetts, a number of other big dates are just down the pike.

Rep. Seth Moulton set himself a deadline to decide whether he's running for president by the end of the month. But talking to reporters on Friday, it seemed like Moulton's would-be campaign pitch is already solidified. "I'm the only person announced or unannounced who's even talking about national security right now," Moulton said after a town hall in North Andover. Former GOP Gov. Bill Weld has set a similar end-of-April deadline for a presidential primary bid.

And today might be Tax Day, but Rep. Richard Neal set a different deadline for President Donald Trump to hand over his taxes — April 23. The Ways and Means chairman requested six years of the president's tax returns earlier this month, but the Trump administration ignored the first deadline for Neal's request. If the president skips out on the April 23 date, the next step is likely a subpoena for the documents.

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

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE MAKING THAT LEFT ON BOYLSTON, AND BE SURE TO CHEER EXTRA LOUD FOR THESE CHAMPS IF YOU SEE THEM ON THE RACE ROUTE — Lizzy Guyton, Jon Chesto, Danny Condon, Tyler O'Day, Eileen O'Connor, George O'Malley, Amy Sennett, Dan Koh, Gina Fiandacca, Heather Gasper, Nora Dohret, Gina Christo, Larry Tobin, Scott Zoback, Steve Roman, Stacy Hodes Roman, Kelsey Smithendorf, Tim O'Leary, Layth Elhassani, Emily Izzo, Jim Sweeney, Reilly McGreen, Chrissy Raymond, William Evans, Debbie Panek, Leah Potash, Jeanne Caron, Jamie Hoag, Dana Shulman, Andy Burnham and volunteer Dave Perry.

TODAY — Rep. Joe Kennedy III visits EY Technologies and attends a rally for Stop & Shop workers in Fall River. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh attends the Boston Marathon. Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigns in South Carolina.

A message from NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts:

Abortion is key to equality. All people deserve care without shame, stigma, or unjust barriers. The ROE Act affirms the fundamental belief that living a safe and healthy life is a basic right. Abortion opponents are misrepresenting efforts to protect abortion access, using inflammatory, insulating language to score political points. Learn more

DATELINE BEACON HILL

- "House budget adds $30 million to help nursing homes stay open," Associated Press: "The plight of struggling nursing homes is getting the attention of state lawmakers. The House Ways and Means Committee is calling for $30 million in rate increases for nursing homes in its proposed state budget for the fiscal year starting on July 1. Along with that extra money is a plan to create an emergency task force to study the financial stability of nursing facilities. The Massachusetts Senior Care Association has warned that 35 nursing homes around the state are at risk of closing this year, on top of 20 that permanently shut their doors last year."

- "The Massachusetts Lottery Is Getting A Tech Upgrade," by Zeninjor Enwemeka," WBUR: "The Massachusetts Lottery is getting a much needed tech boost. The lottery will replace its IT system Sunday — for the first time in 20 years. It's a critical change for a system that handles millions of lottery transactions each year. The new IT system will connect with more than 7,500 new lottery terminals that have already been rolled out over the last year."

FROM THE HUB

- "For foster parents, chaotic state system makes job even harder," by Kay Lazar, Boston Globe: "But instead of doing everything possible to assist foster parents like Suzor, the state has done little to lighten their load, and in many ways has made the work even tougher. Some 2,000 families have stopped accepting foster children in the past five years — almost as many as the total number of foster families currently in the system. The departures have further strained the longstanding gap between available foster homes and the thousands of abused and neglected kids who need a safe haven."

- "In tight labor market, employers going to great lengths to attract workers," by Katie Johnston, Boston Globe: "In low-wage sectors where wages and job quality have lagged for years, pay is rising, benefits are improving, part-time hours are turning into full-time work, and schedules are becoming more flexible and stable. One restaurant chain started closing before the MBTA stopped running to accommodate workers who rely on public transportation to get home. A long-term care facility reallocated some of the physically demanding duties required of nursing assistants to allow older employees to continue working."

- "Uber, Lyft trips to airport keep rising," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "MASSPORT OFFICIALS said Uber and Lyft vehicle trips to and from Logan International Airport are up 29 percent so far this year, and indicated on Friday they are determined to deal with the congestion by moving ahead with a plan to hike ride-hailing fees at the airport and concentrate all pickups and drop-offs in the central parking garage. The rapid growth of the ride-hailing apps at Logan is astounding. They first started serving the airport on February 1, 2017, and provided 4.8 million passenger trips during the remaining 11 months. The number of trips increased to 7 million last year, an increase of 46 percent."

- RELATED: "Don't blame Uber and Lyft for congestion," by Christina Fisher, CommonWealth Magazine: "NOT LONG AGO, many of us who live and work in Boston had to plan our days around times the T would run, hope that a taxi scheduled the night before would show up in the morning to help us catch an early flight, or coordinate rides from the nearest train station to visit loved ones. Fortunately, we have more alternatives to choose from now, including ridesharing, which has transformed and simplified traveling in Boston. In a few short years, it has become an essential service that both residents and visitors rely on every day, including for trips to and from the airport. However, consumers could soon see unwelcome changes that would limit their options."

- "Boston's Other Housing Crisis: The Cemeteries," by Nora Caplan-Bricker, Boston Magazine: "To the untrained eye, Greater Boston's most illustrious cemetery, the nearly 200-year-old Mount Auburn, looks full: There are plaques, pillars, and sarcophagi in all directions and statuary posing in every copse of trees. But if you ride around the cemetery with CEO Dave Barnett, you begin to spot the once-imperceptible openings. That's because Barnett has become an expert in finding new grave space in a cemetery—and a city—that is quickly running out of room."

- "Steve who? How far Wynn Resorts is going to distance itself from its founder," by Mark Arsenault, Boston Globe: "The ancient Romans called it damnatio memoriae, the damnation of memory. It was the rather extreme act of punishing someone by attempting to erase every trace of them from the historical record, so future generations would never know they had existed. Ambitious, if that person was the emperor or some other big shot. Did it ever actually work? If it did, we wouldn't know. A couple of thousand years later, Wynn Resorts is overseeing a modern version of the memory scrub."

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

- "The Green New Deal is more than a resolution — it's a revolution," by Sen. Ed Markey, Boston Globe: "Extreme weather fueled by climate change is wreaking havoc across the country, but Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican caucus are making a mockery of the debate on climate action. Republicans and President Trump may choose to be in denial about the consequences of climate change, but to everyday Americans the climate crisis isn't politics, it's life and death."

WARREN REPORT

- "Elizabeth Warren tells Stop & Shop shoppers, 'Do not cross the picket line,'" by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat running for president in 2020, delivered donuts and coffee to picketing Stop & Shop workers in Somerville on Friday, and urged shoppers to take their business elsewhere. "Do not cross the picket line," Warren said. "Understand people on the picket line are not just fighting for their families. They're fighting for all our families. They're fighting for basic fairness and equality in this country." On Thursday, the unions representing 31,000 Stop & Shop workers across Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut voted to go on strike ."

DATELINE D.C.

- "Q&A: Rep. Ayanna Pressley On Her First 100 Days In Congress," by Kimberly Atkins, WBUR: "U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley talked to WBUR'S Kimberly Atkins about her first 100 days in Congress, during which she questioned President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, filed or co-sponsored 115 bills and spoke on the House floor about the struggles she and her families have faced."

- "THESE HOUSE DEMOCRATS PLEDGED NOT TO TAKE CORPORATE CASH — BUT THEY'RE USING A LOOPHOLE TO DO IT ANYWAY," by Lee Fang, The Intercept: "ONE POLITICIAN WHO cited these loopholes in the pledge to take corporate money is Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., who was elected last November. "I firmly believe that we need to root out the corruptive influence of money in politics which is why I refuse to take any money from corporate PACs," Trahan wrote last year, when she was a candidate, as a way to explain how she differs from others in the race. In the run-up to Election Day and in the following months, however, Trahan accepted campaign cash from trade association PACs representing beer wholesalers, as well as grocery, hotel, hospital, and cable industry groups."

MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS

- "Mass. marijuana industry is mostly corporate and white. Inside one Boston battle to change that," by Boston Globe Spotlight Team: "Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to make social justice goals a cornerstone of marijuana legalization. But two years in, those equity provisions are giving way to old inequities, small players are being squeezed by the bigger national ones, and the question of which minority entrepreneur most deserves the neighborhood's trust is proving to be hard to discern, a Spotlight Team review shows."

- P.S. If you use medical marijuana or CBD (or if you're a health professional who has worked with it), we want to hear from you. Tell us your story and a reporter might reach out.

ABOVE THE FOLD

— Herald: "TOLL ROAD," — Globe: "FLEET OF FEET," "Tight job market, widening benefits," "On this round of glory, Tiger finds himself," "A district takes neighborly turn."

FROM THE 413

- "Has Morse Begun to Telegraph His next Move?" by Matt Szafranski, Western Mass Politics & Insight: "On a seasonably brisk spring day, College Democrats had assembled in the basement of Clark University's student center for their annual convention. There was drama, but that did not concern their guests, including one who was a few years out of college himself, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse. College Dems events were familiar territory for Morse. He was among several young electeds who spoke, including the area's rep David LeBoeuf and Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu. This visit came amid rising chatter here, and back in the 413, about his interest in higher office such as the seat held by US Representative Richard Neal."

WHAT A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG ADULTS! COURTROOMS ARE PUBLIC AND VERY FEW AVAIL THEMSELVES OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO VIEW. NEXT TIME YOU'RE NEAR A COURTHOUSE AND HAVE SOME TIME TO SPARE, MAYBE YOU'RE EARLY FOR AN APPOINTMENT, CONSIDER SITTING THROUGH A SESSION. YOU MIGHT BE ENLIGHTENED.

- "A unique civics lesson," by Joshua Solomon, Greenfield Recorder: "Walking down Main Street, a handful of Frontier Regional High School students saw the family of the deceased walking to grab a bite. Both had just left a murder trial at Franklin County Superior Court. "It's something you see in the news," Erin Senn, 16, said of the trial she and her classmates watched Wednesday. "You read about it. You watch it on TV." The students were in court on a field trip for their street law class at Frontier. The family was there in support of Amanda Glover, the 47-year-old woman who was killed in her Wendell home two years ago."

THE LOCAL ANGLE

- "How a Verizon Cell Tower Began a Furious Debate in Wayland," by Julie Suratt, Boston Magazine: "When Verizon Wireless started negotiations to build a 141-foot tower there several months earlier, they had every reason to think it would be a home run. After all, the proposed location—a nondescript, 2,000-square-foot plot of land on a heavily wooded, 15-acre property, bordered by miles of undeveloped wetlands and the Sudbury River—seemed the ideal spot to close a service gap in southwest Wayland. What could possibly be wrong with that?"

- "Councilors seek assurances as Quincy considers major land deal," by Erin Tiernan, Patriot Ledger: "As city councilors review a complicated land deal that could pave the way for the development of a state-of-the-art medical complex in Quincy Center while requiring the investment of millions in tax dollars, some are seeking assurances that residents' interests won't be overridden by those of a private developer."

- "Tensions rise as Stop & Shop talks continue," Salem News:"Tensions between Stop & Shop and unionized workers rose this weekend as police were called to several stores when tempers began to fray. Although talks between Shop & Stop officials and United Food and Commercial Workers were scheduled to resume Sunday morning, workers remained on the picket line all Sunday. Thousands of the supermarket's unionized employees walked off the job on Thursday over what they say is an unfair contract."

MEDIA MATTERS

- BostInno hired Rowan Walrath to cover the city's startups. Walrath previously worked at Wired magazine in San Francisco. Link.

MAZEL! To Rachel Dec, who is headed to the University of Chicago to attend the Harris School of Public Policy this fall. Tweet.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY - to former Rep. Chester Atkins, Lina Francis, Joe Rospars, founder and CEO at Blue State Digital and an adviser to Elizabeth Warren's campaign; Tom Werner, Ilya Rasner, Rebecca Pearcey and Laura Chester.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Asher MacDonald, special assistant to Rep. Seth Moulton.

DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes and yes! The Red Sox beat the Orioles 4-0. The Celtics beat the Pacers 84-74.

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A message from NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts:

We all deserve the freedom to control our bodies, our families, and our futures. Abortion is fundamental to our equality. But even in Massachusetts, people seeking abortion care face unjust barriers every day.

The ROE Act affirms the fundamental belief that living a safe and healthy life is a basic right - as is the freedom to define our own path. Abortion opponents have been misrepresenting efforts to protect access to abortion care, using inflammatory and insulating language to score political points.

With Roe v. Wade under threat like never before, our state has a duty to lead the way in protecting access to abortion care. Together, we can ensure that all people have access to abortion care without shame, stigma, or barriers. Massachusetts must lead by passing the ROE Act! Learn more

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