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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Happy Monday!
SPILKA WEIGHS IN ON CHARTER DEBATE — State Senate President Karen Spilka weighed in on a home rule petition that would have allowed a New Bedford charter school to break with state law and serve a specific neighborhood. The proposal created a stalemate on Beacon Hill despite support from New Bedford officials, and Spilka says the flare up raises questions about how the state handles charter schools more broadly.
"The charter school debate is probably one of the most heated, controversial debates in our state, and it's been going on for years," Spilka said during an appearance on WGBH's " Boston Public Radio" on Friday. "We need to eventually take a look at what we're doing with charter schools."
The plan would have allowed the Alma Del Mar Charter School to open a neighborhood campus, but it was killed on Friday after House and Senate lawmakers made procedural moves during informal sessions to slow the bill.
"Any single senator can object to it being heard on that one day. That has happened many many times in the past, it will continue to happen," Spilka said, in reference to the legislative move that stalled the bill last week. "It wasn't anything out of the ordinary to have one person object to a bill one time."
But charter schools are a polarizing issue in Massachusetts, especially after a failed 2016 ballot question to raise the cap on charter schools. Tensions around how the state handles the schools still exist, as evidenced by a scathing editorial in the Boston Globe last week.
The unfinished charter schools conversation continues as lawmakers try to hammer out an update to how the state funds public schools. Charter school critics say they drain funding from traditional public school budgets.
"I believe that charters were started to form as an alternative for regular public schools as incubators, and they were not used in the way they should have been used in terms of sharing all of their innovation," Spilka said.
"I am concerned we are beginning to develop two separate school systems," Spilka continued. "And we don't have the funding to fully fund all of that."
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 and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito meet with House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka. Attorney General Maura Healey speaks at the Student Loan Litigation Conference at Harvard Law School.
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A message from JUUL Labs:
Youth vaping is a problem. We're taking action. No youth or non-nicotine user should ever try JUUL products. We've taken a series of actions to greatly reduce youth use of tobacco products, including our own. Learn more about our youth prevention efforts: JUUL.com/youth-prevention
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DATELINE BEACON HILL
- "Three sets of Mass. public agencies nominated for government secrecy award," by Amanda Kaufman, Boston Globe: "Three sets of Massachusetts public agencies are facing stiff competition for an ignoble accolade: most secretive. State Police, three different district attorneys, and the state's court system are finalists for the Investigative Reporters and Editors' Golden Padlock Award, which is granted annually to the most secretive government agency or individual. Among the fellow nominees are Michigan State University's coverup of serial sexual abuse by Larry Nassar; former Alabama attorney general Luther Strange, who withheld records confirming his role in an alleged bribery conspiracy; and the Charleston, S.C., County School District for refusing to release documents showing the district had settled complaints brought by children claiming an employee had sexually molested them."
- "State GOP shifts right under Lyons' leadership," by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: "The state GOP is tacking sharply to the right under a new leader, former state Rep. Jim Lyons, embracing many of the hard-line positions of the national party under President Donald Trump. Lyons, who took over as party chairman in January, has unleashed a barrage of criticism at Beacon Hill Democrats, accusing them of promoting "infanticide" for backing a late-term abortion bill and blasting them for proposals to allow "Gender X" classification on driver's licenses and limit cooperation with federal immigration crackdowns."
- "Riley throws in towel on New Bedford charter plan," by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: "FOUR MONTHS AFTER he unveiled a novel proposal for a New Bedford charter school billed as a way to ease the acrimony that has plagued the state's education sector, Massachusetts education commissioner Jeff Riley pulled the plug on the plan, which had only seemed to trigger a fresh round of the warring he sought to end. Riley said Friday afternoon that the clock has run out on waiting for the Legislature to approve a compromise worked out with city leaders in New Bedford and the Alma del Mar Charter School that would have authorized a 450-student charter school to serve a defined section of the city. He said he will instead give the go-ahead for a backup plan allowing Alma del Mar to open a larger, 594-seat school serving students across New Bedford."
- "Mass. to double offshore wind procurements," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION is pushing ahead with plans to double the procurement of offshore wind power over the next several years, a move that will increase wind's share of the state's energy portfolio to 30 percent while locking Massachusetts into long-term contracts for nearly two thirds of its electricity. The announcement was another sign of just how bullish the state is on offshore wind, but it also highlighted some of the risks involved in negotiating 20-year contracts directly with electricity suppliers instead of relying on the region's competitive wholesale electricity market."
- "Keeping politics in check," by Steve Koczela, CommonWealth Magazine. Link.
FROM THE HUB
- "Women of color team up for Boston City Council run," by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "Women of color transformed the Boston City Council in the last municipal election by claiming six of the 13 seats. Now some of them are upending campaign traditions by banding together to run in the next council contest. Three-term Councilor Michelle Wu and newcomer Alejandra St. Guillen — both in the competition for four at-large council seats — will share Dudley Square campaign headquarters with first-term Councilor Kim Janey, who's running for reelection as a district councilor representing Roxbury. To Wu, the most established of the three and the top vote-getter in the citywide council race, the move is not just about sharing campaign costs and aligning with political allies. It's about supporting St. Guillen, a friend, mentor, and like-minded woman in public service — even if that means supporting a rival in her own race."
- "Boston drivers' choice: Parking tickets, the electric bill, lunch or diapers?" by Alexi Cohan, Jonathan Ng, Meghan Ottolini and Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "Mayor Martin Walsh's dramatic increase of parking fines last year coupled with aggressive enforcement is putting a financial strain on people who say a single mistake can wipe out the month's diaper budget or force them to forego lunch, while juggling other bills. Residents like Alexandra Haddad of Jamaica Plain say the fines that the city jacked up last July are a financial burden. The $40 she recently spent on a parking ticket could have gone toward a month's supply of diapers for her 10-month-old baby."
- "Mayor Walsh On What It Will Take To Lower Crime, Homelessness In Boston," WGBH. Link.
- "Seven arrested as March for Life turns violent," by Andrew Martinez, Boston Herald: "A demonstration turned violent Sunday afternoon on the Boston Common when protesters clashed with anti-abortion March for Life demonstrators, leading to seven arrests. C.J. Williams, director of community engagement for the Massachusetts Citizens for Life, said she was shoved by two men shouting expletives as a group of 25 people walked up to the annual March for Life event gathering at 11:30 a.m. near Tremont Street and Boylston Street. "One of our speakers ... who is black and gay, was assaulted by the other side and had urine thrown on him," she said. " It got a little bit hectic there, it was not the dialogue I'd hoped for." Boston police confirmed seven arrests."
TRUMPACHUSETTS
- "Cambridge-area activists hold public reading of Mueller excerpts," by Jeremy C. Fox, Boston Globe: "When Special Counsel Robert Mueller made his first public statement about his investigation last week, he declared that everything he had to say was in his report. "The work speaks for itself," Mueller said, perhaps hinting that more people should crack open the 448-page document, which even members of Congress admit they haven't read. On Sunday, local activists began a grass-roots effort to introduce voters to the account of Mueller's two-year investigation, gathering on the steps of the Cambridge Public Library to read selected passages aloud."
WARREN REPORT
- "Inside Warren's battle plan to win Iowa — and the nomination," by Alex Thompson, POLITICO: "Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign is obsessed with stickers. At a half-dozen events in rural Eastern Iowa over Memorial Day weekend, paid organizers and volunteers swarmed every attendee, affixing brightly colored circles to them as proof their contact information had been secured. The sticker patrol circled the room before Warren spoke — and afterward in the selfie line — just in case anyone happened to slip through."
- "As candidates descend on California, Kamala Harris struggles to defend her home turf," by Liz Goodwin, Boston Globe: "Senator Elizabeth Warren attracted the largest crowd of her presidential campaign so far Friday night in an unusual location — the hometown of rival Senator Kamala Harris. "Hello, Oakland!" a buoyant Warren shouted to an estimated 6,500 people packed into a soccer field, her arm pumping into the chilly air. "I'm Elizabeth Warren, I'm running for president, and I have a plan for that!" The crowd for Warren's speech — as well as those at the many other well-attended glitzy fund-raisers and campaign events held by other Democratic candidates in the Bay Area this weekend — sent a clear message to Harris, the state's junior senator: Her home state is still very much up for grabs as her campaign for the Democratic nomination has yet to take off."
- "Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she has always supported making recreational marijuana legal, but is that true?" by Jacqueline Tempera, MassLive.com: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she has supported legalization of marijuana since Massachusetts voted to decriminalize the drug in 2008, but a New York Times fact check says this claim is exaggerated. The Times fact checked a number of Warren's comments on the trail, as the Massachusetts Senator continues to rise in the polls for the 2020 race for the White House. At a CNN town hall in April, a student asked Warren about her position on marijuana legalization and her evolution in thought since she was first elected in 2012."
FROM THE DELEGATION
- "Pressley calls UMass Boston grads 'President Trump's worst nightmare,'" by Ysabelle Kempe, Boston Globe: "US Representative Ayanna Pressley praised the hard work and diversity of UMass Boston's Class of 2019, calling the graduates "President Trump's worst nightmare." "Represented here today are dreamers and doers, immigrants, people of every race identity, every gender identity and sexuality, sisters rocking Senegalese twists and hijabs," Pressley told the 2,783 graduates and their families gathered on the lawn of the waterfront campus for the commencement. Martin T. Meehan, president of the UMass system, told the crowd on the sunny morning that Pressley 'has not been afraid to speak up, stand up, and, in some cases, cause trouble.'"
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MOULTON MATTERS
- "Seth Moulton: 'If this country wasn't racist, Stacey Abrams would be governor,'" by Kate Sullivan, CNN: "Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton said Sunday Democrat Stacey Abrams should be governor of Georgia, and said she would be if the US "wasn't racist." "We have a problem with racism in America today. If this country wasn't racist, Stacey Abrams would be governor," the Democratic presidential candidate said at a CNN town hall in Atlanta. In response to a question about dismantling systemic racism in America, he called for a "new Voting Rights Act" and said "people of color are being systemically denied the most basic right in a democracy, which is the right to vote." Abrams, who would have been the first African American woman ever elected governor, narrowly lost her gubernatorial bid in Georgia last year."
ABOVE THE FOLD
— Herald: "EDELMAN: I GOT HACKED," "TICKETED BROKE!" — Globe: "Bishop's LGBTQ tweet stirs backlash," "FOR BOSTON, AN ELUSIVE GOAL."
FROM THE 413
- "Zen and the Art of Making Law (on the Police Commission)" by Matt Szafranski, Western Mass Politics & Insight: "For well over a decade, city councilors have grappled how to structure the Police Department leadership. The Control Board's abolition of the Police Commission in 2005 was among its most controversial moves. But it took several reform attempts and the Gregg Bigda imbroglio to produce the political capital to revive the Police Commission over the mayor's veto. The first Council elected post-Control Board was also the first with ward representation. It proffered no fewer than three bills to reform police oversight. None passed. Councilors would continue to debate the issue until Bigda's cinematic debut. Of course, mayoral opposition has reduced the passage of an actual police oversight ordinance to a footnote, at least for now."
- "Springfield grapples with surge in overdose deaths," by Felice J. Freyer, Boston Globe: "Milton Rivera has seen it with his own eyes, and it's scary. A man sat down for a meal at the Friends of the Homeless shelter — and suddenly turned white and collapsed. The staff revived him. Help came too late for another guy Rivera knew who overdosed in the shelter's bathroom. He was found hours later, dead from the illicit fentanyl that has infiltrated the drug supply throughout the state. "Thank God I stopped," said the 52-year-old Rivera, who gave up illegal drugs three years ago and now rents a room at the shelter. Rivera and many others live every day with a reality that became starkly apparent in Department of Public Health statistics released last month, surprising numbers that have brought a moment of reckoning for the state's third-largest city."
THE LOCAL ANGLE
- "Pilgrim ownership will determine path of nuclear plant's future," by Christine Legere, Cape Cod Times: "The decommissioning of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station could stretch to 60 years if current owner, Entergy Nuclear Generation Co., handles the job, or it could be completed in only eight years if Holtec International succeeds in purchasing the plant. Either way, the first steps remain the same. Removing the 580 radioactive spent fuel assemblies from the reactor vessel and transferring them to the adjacent spent fuel pool — a process done completely underwater — will begin Tuesday and continue for about 10 days."
- "'Put down your phone,' Gov tells Upper Cape grads," by Tanner Stening, SouthCoast Today: "Somebody kept telling Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School's Class of 2019 to put their phones away during Sunday's graduation ceremony. No, it wasn't a parent of one of the 158 graduating seniors, it was Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. "Believe it or not, your phone has no humanity," Baker said, addressing the graduating class. "It feeds on distance, anonymity and outrage." Baker delivered the commencement address after valedictorian Joseph Rotondo and Madison Brun, named outstanding vocational technical student of the year, offered some reflections on their high school careers."
MEDIA MATTERS
- "Now that's a good story: news revival in Berkshires," by Mark Shanahan, Boston Globe: "As he was nearing 70, the mandatory retirement age for judges in Massachusetts, Fred Rutberg began thinking about what he might do next. He had served on the bench in Berkshire County for 20 years, and lived in Stockbridge for 40. Then one soft summer night in 2014, Rutberg and his wife, Judith, were on Nantucket, listening to a talk at the island library by veteran political journalist Joe Klein. "At some point, [Klein] said, offhandedly, 'Democracy requires citizenship and citizenship requires a town square,' " Rutberg said. "And when he said that, I whispered to my wife, 'The Berkshire Eagle.' " Five years later, the former district court judge is president and publisher of the Eagle, a once-great daily newspaper whose staff, circulation, and prestige all declined dramatically during two decades of corporate ownership. Backed by a group with local ties and deep pockets, Rutberg bought the moribund paper in May 2016 and began investing in it."
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Mass. Playbook superfan Eric Farmer.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Red Sox beat the Yankees 8-5.
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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A message from JUUL Labs:
We're combating the problem of underage vaping by:
Advocating for raising the legal age to purchase our products to 21+ nationwide.
Stopping the sale of non-tobacco and non-menthol based flavored JUULpods to traditional retail stores.
Enhancing our online age verification process.
Strengthening our retail compliance program with over 2,000 secret shopper visits per month.
Shutting down our Facebook and Instagram accounts and working to remove inappropriate social media content generated by others on those platforms.
And investing in new technologies to further prevent youth use.
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