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Presented by the American Heart Association
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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
EXCLUSIVE: PATRICK JOINS HIGHER GROUND LABS — Former Gov. Deval Patrick is joining the advisory board of Higher Ground Labs, an accelerator and venture fund for commercial startups that sell technology to progressive campaigns and causes.
Higher Ground Labs has invested in startups like voter engagement platform MobilizeAmerica, polling group ChangeResearch, and political messaging tool Swayable, among others. The fund has raised $15 million since it was founded in 2017. Patrick will serve as an honorary member on the incubator's advisory board.
"Considering the high levels of voter disengagement and the many ways our voting systems ... are dysfunctional, it would be easy to conclude that America's democracy is in peril," Patrick told POLITICO in a statement. "But innovations in technology are poised to reverse this trend and mobilize civic engagement. Higher Ground Labs is at the center of enabling that."
Patrick had considered running for president at the beginning of the 2020 campaign cycle, and the former Massachusetts governor grabbed national headlines when he decided against launching a presidential bid. Former Patrick aides even created a Reason to Believe PAC focused on promoting Patrick's values ahead of the 2020 cycle.
In the months following his decision to stay out of the race, Patrick largely stayed out of the public eye. But the former governor has ramped up his public profile in recent weeks. Patrick joined CBS News as a political contributor last month. Patrick is also the founder and co-managing partner at Bain Capital Double Impact, the impact investing fund at Bain Capital.
EXCLUSIVE: 'SLEDGEHAMMER SHANNON' — Senate candidate Shannon Liss-Riordan is playing up her experience as a high-powered labor attorney in a new campaign video released today.
The 60-second spot is based on the "sledgehammer" nickname Liss-Riordan earned by taking big corporations like Starbucks, Amazon and Uber to court for "stealing their employees' tips and wages." The ad highlights legal cases Liss-Riordan has won on behalf of baristas, strippers, and ride-share drivers. It's also the first campaign video to feature a stripper in a positive light, according to the Liss-Riordan campaign.
"At a time when workers' rights and women's rights are being eroded, no one in the Senate would be better to take up their fight than Shannon," the ad says. At the end of the video, a person wielding a sledgehammer smashes a television screen which displays images of President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, GOP Sens. Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, and Lindsay Graham and Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
EXCLUSIVE: MORSE RAISES $217K — Alex Morse, the Democrat challenging Rep. Richard Neal for his House seat, raised close to $217,000 for his campaign this quarter.
Morse is the 30-year-old mayor of Holyoke running against Neal, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who had close to $4 million in his campaign war chest at the end of last quarter. Neal's campaign did not say how much he raised this quarter. Reports are due to the FEC on Oct. 15.
Morse's fundraising total this quarter is more than Neal's last primary opponent raised in the entire 2018 cycle. Springfield attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud raised around $150,000 over the course of her bid to unseat Neal.
Thirty-four percent of Morse's campaign contributions came from inside the 1st Congressional District, and 60 percent came from Massachusetts, according to the Morse campaign. The Holyoke mayor is aiming to raise $2 million over the course of the 2020 cycle.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: PRESSLEY'S AT-LARGE PICKS — Rep. Ayanna Pressley is backing four women of color running for the Boston City Council at-large seats on the ballot next month.
Pressley will announce today that she is endorsing Boston City Councilors Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi-George, along with candidates Alejandra St. Guillen and Julia Mejia for the four Boston City Council at-large seats. Pressley's city council endorsements carry special weight because she knows what it takes to do the job. Pressley served five terms as an at-large city councilor in Boston before she was elected to the House in 2018, and now her congressional district covers most of Boston.
"Collectively, Michelle, Annissa, Alejandra, and Julia have devoted decades to advocating for and lifting up the residents of Boston," Pressley said in a statement. "In this moment, it is even more essential that we elect leaders at the local level who will stand with those who find themselves under attack, and who will advocate and work every day, in partnership with community, to make real progress on the challenges facing Boston residents."
Pressley has already endorsed City Councilors Lydia Edwards and Kim Janey in their reelection bids, and District 5 candidate Ricardo Arroyo.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Massachusetts Playbook will not publish on Monday, Oct. 14. I'll be back in your inbox on Tuesday morning!
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, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and Rep. Richard Neal attends the opening of Wayfair's new customer service center in Pittsfield. Baker, Polito, state Sen. Adam Hinds and Rep. Smitty Pignatelli make a Last Mile program announcement in Blandford.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is in Copenhagen, Denmark for the C40 World Mayors Summit. Rep. Joe Kennedy III and Attorney General Maura Healey are guests at a live taping of the Horse Race podcast. Kennedy attends a groundbreaking for a new SSTAR facility in Fall River, and speaks at the Harvard Institute of Politics John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. Rep. Katherine Clark and Rep. Lori Trahan tour the Mount Wachusett Community College child care center.
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A message from the American Heart Association:
Sugary drinks are a major contributor to the increasing rates of diabetes and heart disease. And with our country already spending $190 billion per year treating these preventable diseases, we need to address the problem. Healthy drinks should be priced at an equal or lower cost than less healthy options. Learn more here. |
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INTRODUCING POLITICO's ENERGY PODCAST sponsored by Chevron: Your daily, five-minute update on the latest in energy and environmental politics and policy from POLITICO's expert ten-person team. Ways to listen: Via your email - click the link in the POLITICO Morning Energy newsletter, or subscribe for free - click here and follow the link for your podcast player.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Polito keeps helping O'Connell in run for mayor," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "LT. GOV. KARYN POLITO, who stirred controversy by giving Rep. Shaunna O'Connell a headstart in the race for mayor of Taunton, is now trying to give her campaign an edge. Polito is providing financial help by headlining an O'Connell fundraiser Wednesday night in Taunton. City Councilor Estele Borges, O'Connell's opponent in the mayor's race, said Polito also appears to be blocking her from gaining a slight political advantage by becoming the city's interim mayor. Like Polito, O'Connell is a Republican. It's not clear how close the two politicians are, but the available evidence suggests that Polito has gone to great lengths to help O'Connell in the race for mayor of Taunton. Indeed, Polito is gaining a reputation in the Baker administration for her willingness to reward friends with jobs."
- "Baker: 'Nobody's hiding anything' in 53,000 hidden RMV documents," by Mary Markos, Boston Herald: "Gov. Charlie Baker is insisting that "nobody's hiding anything" despite withholding over 53,000 documents from the outside auditing firm hired by his administration to conduct a costly review of the Registry of Motor Vehicles. "Everything they asked for, they got," Baker said Wednesday. "Nobody's hiding anything." MassDOT lawyers refused to provide 53,391 documents to Grant Thornton, the auditing firm tasked with investigating the scandal of deadly incompetence at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, claiming they contained "legally privileged communication." A spokeswoman for MassDOT refused to answer questions about how the lawyers deemed those documents privileged, whether or not each record was examined individually and how much time was devoted to studying them."
- "REAL TROOPERS & BEEPER DAYS," by Chis Faraone, Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism: "With the future of the nation's oldest motorized statewide police force unclear, and new ethical and legal lapses surfacing regularly, it seems important to attempt to understand how a department that has historically been considered one of the most elite law enforcement operations anywhere arrived at this juncture. For the effort, our research and hindsight has been illuminated by the aforementioned document, a 50-page "Cultural Diagnostic of the Massachusetts State Police" that, as far as we can tell, was buried and largely ignored."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Garrison Raises Eyebrows At Roxbury Candidates Forum," by Saraya Wintersmith, WGBH News: "Boston City Councilor Althea Garrison took aim at fellow councilors — and at the area of the South End known as "Methadone Mile" — Tuesday night. Her comments came during a forum for at-large city council candidates in Roxbury. "I am the independent candidate councilor," she declared in response to the first question: What makes you stand out from the other candidates? "Michelle Wu goes around and she pretends like she is doing good things, but she's not doing very good things for the public," she said, referring to Councilor Michelle Wu's proposal for residential parking permits fees as a tax. "Maybe she can address that tonight." Wu addressed the criticism indirectly."
- "Suffolk County breakup with ICE a mixed bag," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "The number of county jails in Massachusetts that have contracts to hold detainees for federal immigration authorities is about to go down to three. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins announced Tuesday evening the department is ending its contract with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. About 200 immigrants who are waiting for immigration court hearings, as well as those who have lost hearings and are waiting to be deported, are housed at the Suffolk County jail."
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| THE OPINION PAGES |
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- "Bankruptcy isn't for Sackler billionaires," by Attorney General Maura Healey, Boston Globe: "Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, are back in court this week seeking to halt the lawsuits that would hold them accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic. The Sacklers made billions of dollars selling OxyContin, while thousands of Americans became addicted, overdosed, and died. The Massachusetts state court recently denied efforts by Purdue and the Sacklers to dismiss our office's case. Now, they are asking a bankruptcy court to freeze our lawsuit and those brought by dozens of other states and hundreds of American cities and towns. Our actions to enforce the law should be allowed to go forward."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "'We are not criminals': Fight by Liberians to stay in the U.S. goes to federal court," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "A federal court judge in Worcester will hear from civil rights lawyers and the Trump administration Wednesday on whether to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the government's decision to terminate relief from deportation for Liberians living in the U.S. The lawsuit, filed in March, challenges the Trump administration's decision to terminate Deferred Enforced Departure. The relief offers some 4,000 Liberians relief from deportation, the lawsuit states."
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| THE VAPING SALES BAN |
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- MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: "'Thank You, Gov. Baker': N.H. Vape Shops See Rush After Mass. Ban," by Zeninjor Enwemeka, WBUR: "Boston, Everett and Holbrook are just some of the places that Massachusetts residents drove from on a recent weekday to get to Smoker Choice, a vape shop just across the border in Salem, New Hampshire. Store manager Ali Shaikh says he's had a rush of Massachusetts customers. Stores in New Hampshire certainly see their share of Massachusetts customers looking to escape the state sales tax or age restrictions on tobacco products. But Shaikh says his sales have increased about 30% since Massachusetts banned the sale of vaping products."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren swears off high-dollar fundraisers in potential general election," by Alex Thompson and Elena Schneider, POLITICO: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she will continue to swear off high-dollar campaign fundraisers in the general election if she becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, extending her personal ban on the events beyond the primary and reversing an earlier statement. "When Elizabeth is the Democratic nominee for president, she's not going to change a thing in how she runs her campaign," campaign spokesperson Kristen Orthman said in a statement Tuesday, which Warren later amplified in a Twitter thread."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "Pols seek answers on sick immigrant medical program," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "CONGRESSWOMAN AYANNA PRESSLEY and Sen. Ed Markey say the Trump administration has not followed through on its pledge to reinstate a program that helps seriously ill immigrants remain in the country legally without risk of deportation. The program, called medical deferred action, provides temporary legal immigration status for sick immigrants that cannot otherwise be treated in their home countries. The program was canceled and then reinstated by the Trump administration over the past two months. At a roundtable event at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts on Wednesday, Pressley said attorneys working for patients in the program say they have received no confirmation of the reversal from the Trump administration."
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| DATELINE D.C. |
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- "US Rep. Richard Neal blames Trump pullout for assault on Kurds," by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "House Ways and Mean Chair Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., joined both Republican and Democrats on Wednesday in criticizing President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to pull back American troops and allow Turkey to move into northern Syria. Turkey launched airstrikes and fired artillery aimed at crushing Kurdish fighters in northern Syria on Wednesday after U.S. troops pulled back, paving the way for an assault on forces that have long been allied with the U.S. in the fight against ISIS and earlier, Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein."
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| THE CLARK CAUCUS |
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- "Katherine Clark Has Been Calling for an Impeachment Inquiry for Months," by John Nichols, The Nation: "Most members of Congress don't begin as members of Congress. They start in their hometowns, with campaigns for the city council or a county post or the school board. House Democratic Caucus vice chair Katherine Clark came up that way, beginning with a bid for the Melrose, Massachusetts, School Committee in 2001. Her service on the committee continues to guide her activism on behalf of education, just as her service as a state legislator in Massachusetts informs her fierce commitment to maintaining a system of checks and balances in Washington—a commitment that led her to become the first member of the House Democratic leadership to call for an impeachment inquiry."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Macy rejects state's request to 'recertify' Fall River marijuana agreements," by Jo C. Goode, Herald News: " With federal charges looming over Mayor Jasiel Correia II over accusations he extorted four of the 14 marijuana vendors who received letters of non-opposition from him, the City Council expressed frustration over the issue Tuesday. Corporation Counsel Joseph Macy, at the request of City Council Vice President Pam Laliberte-Lebeau, explained his position regarding the Cannabis Control Commission's request that the city "recertify" a number of host agreements signed by the mayor."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "CATCH OF HIS LIFE," "BAKER'S BILL," — Globe: "Turkey pummels US allies in Syria," "Biden calls for Trump's impeachment," "Toxins are found in blades of artificial turf." |
| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Revere City Councilor Accused Of Anti-Islamic Social Media Posts," The Associated Press: " Muslim rights and advocacy groups in Massachusetts have accused a Revere city councilor of anti-Islamic social media posts. George Rotondo Jr. insisted late Tuesday his online posts "are not what they are being called" and said the allegations were "totally politically motivated." But Jetpac, a political action committee that supports Muslim candidates for public office, and the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called for an investigation of the posts. The two groups want to know if Rotondo is using city resources to promote what they say is an Islamophobic and anti-immigrant agenda."
- "Safe injection sites controversial, but many in Massachusetts support pilot program," by Lindsey Vickers, MetroWest Daily News: "Doctors, legislators and medical students spoke during a recent Statehouse hearing in support of implementing so-called "safe injection sites" - facilities where trained medical personnel oversee people using illicit substances. The safe injection sites, also known as safe injection facilities or safe consumption facilities, are public health spaces that provide hygienic equipment and areas for people who use drugs to take pre-obtained illicit substances. Trained medical staff are on-site in case of overdose, according to the Massachusetts Medical Society."
- "7th-grader who suspected inappropriate behavior by a popular teacher was punished. But she was right." by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "In what world does a school not only ignore concerns about inappropriate behavior by a teacher but even suspend the student who raised them? That would be Concord, N.H., where the consequences are still unfolding five years later, with the teacher accused of rape, the superintendent and principal placed on leave, and the whistle-blower, Ana Goble, being honored at Thurday night's annual fund-raiser for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence."
- "State education chief sees much to be learned in Scituate," by Mary Whitfill, The Patriot Ledger: "The state's commissioner of elementary and secondary education wants to see Massachusetts schools incorporate more project-based learning, ditch old-school memorization-based testing and combine skills from multiple subjects into single assignments — and he's looking to Scituate's middle school to see how its done. Jeffrey Riley, who started as commissioner in the spring of 2018, was in town Wednesday to tour Scituate's Gates Middle School and pick the brains of administrators, teachers and students."
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to state Rep. Jim Hawkins, Brilee Weaver, Algirde Pipikaite, Tanveer Kathawalla and Megan McCafferty.
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 the American Heart Association:
Consuming sugary drinks, such as fruit drinks with added sugar, sports drinks, and soda, poses a real health risk to kids. Sugary drinks are a major contributor to the increasing rates of diabetes and heart disease. And with our country already spending $190 billion per year treating these preventable diseases, we need to address the problem. Every child deserves to grow up at a healthy weight, which means promoting healthy beverage options - like water and milk. Healthy drinks should be priced at an equal or lower cost than less healthy options. Learn more here. |
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FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE: Health care is deeply personal for most Americans and is the number one issue for many voters heading into 2020. We will bring a special edition of the POLITICO Pulse newsletter to the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit where more than 125 speakers will discuss trends in biomedical innovation, aging and longevity, health financing, philanthropy, mental health, addiction and stigma, drug pricing, food and sustainability, health data, neuroscience, and technology. Dan Diamond will take you inside this highly influential gathering and keep you apprised of the key takeaways from these important conversations. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the Summit in Washington, D.C. from October 28 - 30.
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