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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
SCOOP: MORSE GEARS UP FOR 2020 — Behind the scenes, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse has been asking prominent Western Mass Democrats and donors for support as he weighs a run for Congress against longtime Rep. Richard Neal.
Publicly, Morse has stayed quiet about his next political move.But privately, he's speaking seriously about a 2020 congressional campaign, according to a number of Western Mass sources familiar with the conversations, including someone inside the congressional delegation.
Chia Collins, a political donor who lives in Northampton, says she is on board with Morse, and that he recently asked if she would support his campaign for Congress around the time they attended a Northampton fundraiser for Attorney General Maura Healey in late June. Collins has previously donated to Morse's mayoral campaigns.
If he does run, Morse could pose a generational challenge to 70-year-old Neal, as the 30-year-old, openly gay mayor of Holyoke. Neal was sworn into Congress the year Morse was born.
But Morse would no doubt face an uphill climb against Neal, an established incumbent with a packed war chest, who holds one of the most powerful positions in Washington as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Democratic activists and elected officials are skeptical that Neal would be vulnerable in the ways that led to the defeat of former Reps. Joe Crowley of New York and Michael Capuano of Massachusetts in 2018. Neal bested primary challenger Tahirah Amatul-Wadud with 70 percent of the vote last cycle.
On the other hand, Neal has faced pressure in recent months, both from a very wealthy presidential candidate and a political writer who is weighing his own run for Neal's seat. For months, billionaire Tom Steyer has spent more than $250,000 to run television ads, put up billboards and hire canvassers in the 1st District through his Need to Impeach organization to push Neal to move more quickly on suing for President Donald Trump's tax returns.
And author David Daley has slammed the way Neal raises campaign funds, which he refers to as "pay-to-play politics," in a series of op-eds in the Boston Globe and local papers. Donor Jack Connors, who supports Neal, fired back in an op-ed of his own shortly after. Daley says he is seriously considering jumping in the race himself — he and Morse met in Northampton in the spring and discussed running against Neal. Morse didn't respond to a request for comment.
CLARK TALKS GUNS IN D.C. — Three Massachusetts advocates for gun reform are headed to Washington, D.C. to speak to House Democrats at a dinner tonight. Rep. Katherine Clark hosts members-only roundtables as part of her role as vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, which she was elected to after the 2018 midterm. Clark's office says this is the first time she's brought anyone from Massachusetts to this event.
Massachusetts advocates going to the dinner are Mark Mulliton from College Bound Dorchester, Elias Perea, a gun violence survivor and mentor for College Readiness Advisor, and Jack Hammond, of Mass General's Home Base program.
Clark has been an outspoken advocate for gun reform during her time in Congress. It was Clark's idea to hold a sit-in on the House floor in 2016, which she suggested to Rep. John Lewis, to protest Republicans for not allowing votes on gun provisions.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — The late Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter lies in state in the Brockton City Hall rotunda. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh speaks at a National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials summer conference session. Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins is a guest on WGBH's "Greater Boston," and Encore Boston Harbor president Robert DeSalvio appears in a separate segment. Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigns in Milwaukee.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Charlie Baker's plan to curb drug prices strains his relationship with biotechs," by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Boston Globe: "The state's booming biotech industry has long enjoyed a tight — some would say coddling — relationship with Beacon Hill. Massachusetts has invested hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to help life sciences companies grow. Suddenly, the relationship is more complicated. A proposal by Governor Charlie Baker to curb drug prices paid by the state Medicaid program has biotech leaders up in arms. As state lawmakers meet behind closed doors to hash out a final version of the plan, they are also grappling with this question: How does Massachusetts hold accountable an industry that it helped to build?"
- "Bill would limit public access to police video in Massachusetts," by Todd Wallack, Boston Globe: "Secretary of State William F. Galvin is raising alarms about a bill that would allow government agencies in Massachusetts to withhold all police dash-cam and body-camera footage from the public for any reason. Galvin pointed out there are already exemptions in the state public records law for information that could potentially jeopardize an ongoing investigation or invade people's privacy. But the bill sponsored by state representative Denise Provost, a Somerville Democrat, would go much further, creating a new exemption in the public records law for "any recordings made by a body camera, dashboard camera, or any similar device by a law enforcement officer," including video capturing fatal police shootings."
- "DeLEO, CHAIRS HUDDLE TO TALK TRANSPORTATION FIXES," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "House Speaker Robert DeLeo met with the House chairmen of the ways and means, revenue and transportation committees for about two hours Wednesday morning to sketch out the broad transportation financing package expected to get a vote in the House this fall. As congestion on the roads and unreliable service on public transportation test the patience of commuters and residents, DeLeo has indicated that he is open to tax hikes or just about any other policy prescription to address the state's critical transportation needs."
- "Baker proposes new ride-hailing regs," by Andy Metzger, CommonWealth Magazine: "Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday proposed a range of new regulations to prevent abuses of the Uber and Lyft ride-hailing platforms and to more precisely monitor how those on-demand travel services are being used. The legislation would require the tech giants that host the services to share reams of anonymized data about rides so that cities and towns can make more-informed transportation plans and so the state can monitor the amount of vehicle emissions. That privately held data would be far more than the state already receives, giving officials a window into when - within a minute - and where - within 110 yards - rides begin and end, plus information on the type and age of vehicle driven and how long it took a driver to go pick up their fare, said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides."
- "FORMER TOP SENATOR FORFEITS $90,000 IN OCPF SETTLEMENT," b y Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "A former top Beacon Hill Democrat has made a $48,000 payment to the state's general fund as part of an agreement with regulators to resolve campaign finance issues including a failure to disclose roughly $175,000 in credit card expenditures made by his committee. Richard Moore, who served as Senate president pro tempore when he lost his seat to Republican challenger Ryan Fattman in 2014, forfeited a total of $90,000 in the settlement, the Office of Campaign and Political Finance announced Wednesday. He had served in the Senate since 1996 and in the House from 1977 to 1994. OCPF said Moore's campaign rung up $181,942 on five credit cards from 2008 to 2015, but disclosed only $7,253 of that in campaign finance reports."
- "Application to destroy RMV records withdrawn," by Mary Markos, Boston Herald: "Applications to destroy records from the Registry of Motor Vehicles were withdrawn before a meeting of the Records Conservation Board on Wednesday, though they were unrelated to the ongoing investigation into the agency. The "routine" applications were submitted by the MassDOT before the tragic June 21 crash in New Hampshire that took the lives of seven motorcyclists and spurred an in-depth investigation into the registry, according to MassDOT spokesman Patrick Marvin. The petitions were submitted in April, May and June, Marvin said, and did not contain RMV driving records or documents related to operator violations. The records in question were comprised of items such as paper accounting receipts and applications to the MassDOT Highway Division for overweight vehicles to travel on Massachusetts roadways."
- "On Beacon Hill and beyond, everyone has a stake in women's rights," by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "In Massachusetts, abortion rights advocates who are countering the national trend by trying to expand abortion access actively sought a male ally to sponsor legislation on Beacon Hill. "We felt strongly that as one of our co-leads, we needed a man," NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts' executive director, Rebecca Hart Holder, recently told supporters. Not in a white-knight way, but because women's issues can be relegated to second-class status unless they are framed as a matter of economic equality and racial justice, she noted."
- "State lawmakers try to bridge widening local-news gaps," by Monica Busch, CJR: "ON THE LAST FRIDAY IN MAY, GateHouse New England distributed the final edition of the Hopkinton Crier—a small, 32-year-old weekly paper covering the idyllic Massachusetts town most famous as the start of the Boston Marathon. On Friday, June 7, GateHouse replaced the Crier with Village News, a regional weekly newspaper whose coverage includes Hopkinton as well as nearby Westborough, Southborough, Northborough, and Shrewsbury—towns whose weekly papers had also been subsumed. "We've brought together the most important news, information and entertainment from your area and put it all in one easy-to-find place," read a short note to readers placed in the Village News' first edition. "We are introducing some change, but much remains the same." The note, whose authorship was not disclosed, likened the new consolidation to "minimalist millennials" and "Marie Kondo's tidying," further remarking that 'everyone nowadays seems to be distilling their surroundings to their most essential purpose.'"
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "New superintendent open to replacing entrance test for exam schools," by James Vaznis, Boston Globe: "Boston Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, less than two weeks on the job, expressed a willingness on Wednesday to explore replacing the long-controversial admission test for the city's exam schools, a polarizing issue that could end up in court. Cassellius made her comments on WGBH radio Wednesday afternoon in response to questions from hosts Margery Eagan and Jim Braude, who raised the exam school issue. Cassellius said she was shocked when she learned in recent days that the district's cost of administering the Independent School Entrance Exam was $140 per student, noting, "That's a lot of money." "We could talk this over and see, are there other options in terms of the exam," she said. 'There might be something that, quite frankly, will save us money.'"
- "Visits to Mass. prisoners fall sharply under new rules," by Mark Arsenault, Boston Globe: "The number of visits to inmates in Massachusetts correctional facilities fell 23 percent in 2018, the first year under new rules restricting how many individuals may visit any one prisoner, according to Department of Correction statistics. Advocates for prisoners say the decline is a worrying sign for inmates, their families, and the communities to which most prisoners will eventually return. "Many studies have been done, including by the DOC, that correlate prison visits with reduced recidivism," said Elizabeth Matos, director of Prisoners' Legal Services of Massachusetts, a nonprofit advocacy group for inmates."
- "Differences over Hub desegregation still an issue," by Yawu Miller, Bay State Banner: "In the minds of many white Bostonians, the court-ordered desegregation plan implemented in the 1970s seems to boil down to a two-word phrase that's as vile as an epithet: "forced busing." After California Sen. Kamala Harris pounded at former Vice President Joe Biden for his stance in the 1970s in opposition to busing, white columnists in Boston and across the country came to Biden's defense. "Joe Biden was right. Busing was wrong" was the headline on a July 2 column by conservative Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby that has run in news outlets around the country."
- "Boston faces major challenge as sea levels rise," by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: "Boston led the Northeast Atlantic region for most high-tide flooding days last year, a concerning trend that's expected to only increase in the Hub and for coastal communities across the country, ocean researchers said in a report released Wednesday. High-tide flooding, often referred to as "nuisance" or "sunny day" flooding, is now more common due to years of sea-level rise, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report. Boston experienced 19 days of high-tide flooding last year. It no longer takes a strong storm or a hurricane to cause flooding in many coastal areas, NOAA researchers wrote."
- "Unsettling news for Vineyard Wind," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "VINEYARD WIND, the company seeking to build a large wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, faced some uncertainty on Wednesday after federal regulators said they wouldn't be taking action Friday on a key environmental approval as had been expected. The company posted a statement on its website downplaying the significance of the action, but industry officials said the news was concerning. At the very least, an extended delay could throw off the company's construction timetable. Vineyard Wind had planned to begin construction this year and complete work in 2021."
- "Harvard Suspends Roland Fryer, Star Economist, After Sexual Harassment Claims," by Ben Casselman and Jim Tankersley, The New York Times: "Roland G. Fryer, a onetime rising star in economics who has been accused by several women of sexual harassment, will lose his Harvard University research lab and be suspended for two years, the university said Wednesday. Harvard's actions represent a remarkable fall from grace for an economist who until recently was among the profession's most admired researchers — and one of Harvard's highest-paid faculty members. He is also one of the most prominent African-Americans in a field that has long struggled with racial diversity."
- "The first pieces of a Boston Marathon memorial have been installed on Boylston Street," by Kellen Browning, Boston Globe:"Pedestrians on Boylston Street Wednesday were greeted by an unexpected but overdue sight: four towering pillars of spiraling metal, bronze gleaming in the morning sunlight. The spires, which took about two hours to install, are the most visible features thus far of two long-awaited memorials commemorating the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 260 others. "It's a big moment," said Patrick Brophy, Boston's chief of operations. "I think it's important for Boston. I think it's important for the families who suffered tragedy here, lost loved ones here, who were injured." Over the next week, workers will continue to add to the memorial site at 755 Boylston St., where one of the bombs detonated in front of the former Forum restaurant."
- "Is there a double standard in how the Boston Police Department disciplines cops?" by Yawu Miller, Bay State Banner:"Black officers have often spoken of disparities in how cops are disciplined in the Boston Police Department, but data on suspensions, firings and other sanctions has long remained out of public sight. Six months after requesting information on hiring, promotion, discipline and termination, broken down by race, Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) in June filed a lawsuit against the department demanding release of the data. Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers President Sgt. Eddie Crispin says that if the civil rights group receives the data, they'll likely find patterns of bias ."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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- "Wayfair Employees Are Having a Town Hall to Discuss Next Actions," by Alyssa Vaughn, Boston Magazine: "Last month's Wayfair walkout drew national attention and crowds of supporters. Two weeks later, the organizers want to make sure they haven't been forgotten. Employees of the Boston-based furniture retailer staged the initial walkout to protest the company's contract selling bedding to an immigrant detention center at the U.S.-Mexico border. According to an employee, Wayfair recently agreed to supply about $200,000 worth of beds and bed frames to the government contractor BCFS to stock a new facility built to detain as many as 3,000 migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Texas. The employee, who asked not to be named, says that Wayfair stands to make about $86,000 in profit from the deal."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Elizabeth Warren reintroduces legislation requiring corporations to disclose climate risk exposure," by Emma Newburger, CNBC: "Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday reintroduced legislation that would force companies to disclose their exposure to climate-related risks. Warren's Climate Risk Disclosure Act, originally announced last year, would require every public company to disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission information about climate risks to business, such as greenhouse gas emissions. The measure requires fossil fuel companies to release even more detailed reports and pushes firms to switch more quickly to cleaner and more efficient energy sources."
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| KENNEDY COMPOUND |
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- "With impeachment in the air, Joe Kennedy inhales," by Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe: "With impeachment in the air, think for a moment of US Representative Joe Kennedy III as a canary in the coal mine of Democratic politics. For the party, there's risk in inhaling. For individual lawmakers, there's risk in resisting. Kennedy is inhaling. In May, Kennedy echoed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's argument that President Trump was baiting Congress to take up impeachment. In June, he called for an impeachment inquiry. With that, Kennedy, a close Pelosi ally, broke with her more cautious approach. Maybe it's a signal that Pelosi is leaning toward impeachment, too. Or maybe it's just a way to cover his left flank. Either way, his impeachment evolution signals how uncertain the times are for Democrats — even for a Kennedy in Massachusetts."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "DANGER ON DUTY," — Globe: "Baker drug price plan strains biotech ties," "Schools chief open to entrance test review," "CHAMPIONS AGAIN." |
| ALL ABOARD |
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- "Red Line boardings at Kendall Square T stop to double by 2040, new report says," by Marie Szaniszlo, Boston Herald: "Red Line boardings at Kendall Square MBTA Station on weekdays are expected to double to about 30,000 by 2040, making investments critical on the problem-prone line, in expanded bus service and in a passenger transit link between North Station and a future West Station in Allston, according to a new report by the Kendall Square Association. Since 1980, there has been more than 7 million square feet of commercial development in Kendall Square, where over 65,000 people now live, work, eat, play and learn, according to the business association, which represents such powerhouses as Google, Microsoft and Biogen."
- "T cautious on biz-funded management initiative," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "DESPITE A DESPERATE NEED for management talent, the MBTA has moved very cautiously in taking advantage of a novel initiative spearheaded by several Massachusetts business groups offering money for training and recruitment efforts as well as loaned executives. The T has spent just over a third of the $365,000 provided by the business groups in the fall of 2017, with most of the money going for a program developed by Roxbury Community College to provide training for officials from bus maintenance and operations. No executives have been loaned to the transit authority so far."
- "For these people, every day is leg day at Porter Square Station," by Lauren Fox, Boston Globe: "It is the Mount Everest of the MBTA, a daunting ascent that pummels quads and sends heart rates racing. There are 199 steps of punishing incline, from the depths of Porter Square Station to the street above. Lots of people take the stairs nowadays, in an age of fitness watches that count every step. But the breathless climb at Porter Square is a true challenge, reserved for the fiercest few. The escalator is right there, after all. So after a skeptical glance upward to size up the situation, most people quickly think better of it and make a beeline for the stairs that move."
BY THE WAY - I was a guest on this week's Horse Race podcast talking all things Rep. Seth Moulton and his 6th District primary challengers. Make sure you give it a listen. Link.
TRANSITIONS - Philjay Solar was appointed to the Asian American Commission by Auditor Suzanne Bump.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Sen. Ed Markey, who is 73 today, WBUR's Jack Lepiarz, Maximos Nikitas and Chris Maloney, partner at the Black Rock Group and a Mitt Romney alum.
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