GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
MERMELL JUMPS IN — Jesse Mermell will launch her congressional campaign in Fall River today, becoming the fourth candidate officially running to replace Rep. Joe Kennedy III. Mermell is a former Gov. Deval Patrick aide, was a member of the Brookline Board of Selectmen and recently resigned from her job as president of the Alliance for Business Leadership to run for office.
The 4th District field is shaping up to be a crowded one , and several other likely candidates are waiting in the wings. Already in the race are former Wall Street regulator Ihssane Leckey, City Year founder Alan Khazei and Newton City Councilor Becky Walker Grossman. State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is looking at a run, and Dave Cavell recently left Attorney General Maura Healey's office to prepare a campaign. Also considering a congressional bid is Newton City Councilor Jake Auchincloss.
Right now, the congressional race is a battle between Democrats from the Boston suburbs — namely Brookline and Newton. That's not a surprise due to the area's proximity to Democratic activists, operatives and donors, Stonehill College dean and political scientist Peter Ubertaccio told me yesterday afternoon.
"Their work over the years has introduced them to Democrats all around the state and all around the country," Ubertaccio said, referencing the candidates. "And they have a built in advantage as they launch their campaigns because they have access to money and organizations and fairly decent name recognition among Democrats who pay attention to these sorts of things."
But even as the political action is concentrated close to the Hub , the 4th District stretches south to cities like Fall River and Attleboro. That's why launching a campaign outside her hometown is a smart move for Mermell, Ubertaccio told me.
"She is pretty well known in Greater Boston. So she's got some work to do to introduce herself on the ground in the South Coast. It's smart to launch your campaign in an area that is not your base," Ubertaccio said. "If she can make some inroads among folks on the South Coast, then that will be really helpful to her."
HAPPENING TONIGHT — The Environmental League of Massachusetts is holding a forum on energy and the environment for the Boston City Council at-large candidates tonight, and I'm moderating! Join us at the Boston Public Library at 5:30 p.m. Details here.
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 speaks at a Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce dinner. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito chairs a weekly meeting of the Governor's Council and speaks at a Bank of America anchor grant event. Rep. Richard Neal hosts an economic development policy summit at Berkshire Community College, and tours Greylock Federal Credit Union's new Community Empowerment Center in Pittsfield. The House meets in formal session. Sen. Ed Markey tours the proposed site of the Weymouth compressor station.
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NOMINATIONS WANTED: There's just one week left to submit your nominee for the 2019 Women Rule "Women of Impact." Tell us about the women you see on the front lines, moving the needle and changing the game in their respective fields. We are looking for women bringing their bold visions to life—whether they're running for office, leading a business, or championing a cause. We'll honor them at the Women Rule summit in December in Washington, D.C. NOMINATE A WOMAN OF IMPACT HERE.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Baker Lays Out Opposition To Purdue Settlement For Court," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "Gov. Charlie Baker went on record in federal bankruptcy court on Tuesday opposing a national injunction that would block lawsuits like the one filed by Massachusetts against Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. Attorney General Maura Healey has refused to sign Massachusetts on to a proposed settlement with between state and local governments and the opioid manufacturer, and has promised to continue her lawsuit against the company and the family that owns it for the role she alleges they played in the opioid addiction crisis. Baker has supported Healey's decision."
- "States unveil plan to curb transportation emissions," by David Abel, Boston Globe: "Massachusetts and 11 other Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states released a framework agreement Tuesday for a "cap-and-invest" system to curb transportation emissions, the nation's largest source of greenhouse gases. The plan, which includes Washington, D.C., seeks to cap vehicle emissions from Maine to Virginia and would require hundreds of fuel distributors in participating states to buy pollution permits for the carbon dioxide they produce. That cap would decline over time, mirroring a similar compact that has reduced power plant emissions in the Northeast."
- "What To Know About The Mass. Paid Leave Tax — And How It Affects Your Paycheck," by Zeninjor Enwemeka, WBUR: "You'll now start to see more money coming out of your paycheck. That's because payroll deductions kicked in Tuesday for Massachusetts' new paid family and medical leave program. The estimated $800 million program will make it easier for workers to take care of personal medical needs or family members, or bond with a new child with less financial worry. The benefits will be available to every worker in the state and affect every employer."
- "NEW COLLEGE CLOSURE BILL RELEASED BY WAYS AND MEANS," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "Rep. Aaron Michlewitz released a revised version of a bill Tuesday evening designed to ensure the financial stability of higher education institutions in Massachusetts ahead a planned debate in the House Wednesday. The redraft of the bill (H 4075) was shared with members of the House Ways and Means Committee with a Wednesday deadline of 10 a.m. for committee members to vote whether to recommend the legislation to the full House."
- "Bills allowing parole hearings for murderers stir outrage," by David McLellan, Greenfield Recorder: "After hours upon hours in court, listening to the graphic details of her mother's murder, reading her victim's impact statement and seeing her mother's killers put away for life, Lucinda Costa thought the grueling process was finally over. But now, it might not be. Proposed legislation in Massachusetts strives to eliminate life sentences without the possibility of parole — the harshest criminal penalty in the state, and the mandatory sentence for first degree murder."
- "Severely injured police beseech State House in benefits battle," by Mary Markos, Boston Herald: "Two local police officers, forced to retire after facing death in the line of duty, are battling for a bill that would provide violently injured cops with benefits to spare them an added financial burden. "Bob and I are fighters," former ATF Agent Mario Oliveira told the Herald. "I think we were kept on Earth for a reason and that reason is our brothers and sisters. They are fighting on the streets, we're still continuing fighting here at the State House." Oliveira was shot point-blank six times during a shootout in 2010, one bullet missing his heart by just two millimeters. He died twice on the operating table."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Tensions mount as Battery Wharf Hotel strike continues," by Katie Johnston, Boston Globe: "As the Battery Wharf Hotel strike stretches into its fourth week, with workers picketing 12 hours a day and negotiations going nowhere, tensions are ramping up. The union is looking into a pair of Canadian consultants it thinks are behind a "Draconian" contract proposal intended to drive down labor costs, which it said could put the hotel in a better position to be sold and potentially benefit those same consultants. Meanwhile, residents who live in condominiums at the luxury waterfront property are reporting being screamed at, flipped off, and photographed in their homes by the protesting workers, who are living on $400 a week from the union."
- "Tens of thousands of Mass. children still live in areas of concentrated poverty, report says," by Martin Finucane, Boston Globe: "A recent report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a philanthropy organization for poor children, says tens of thousands of children in Massachusetts still live in areas of concentrated poverty, though the number has declined as the nation has recovered from the Great Recession. The foundation, in a recent data snapshot, compared population data from the US Census Bureau for the years 2008 to 2012 and for the years 2013 to 2017. It found that for the more recent period, 90,000 children, or 6 percent, lived in areas of concentrated poverty, down from 114,000, or 8 percent, in the earlier period ."
- "State Police to create special unit to investigate unsolved homicides a week after man pleads guilty to 27-year-old murder of Lisa Ziegert," by Jeanette DeForge, Springfield Republican: "The Massachusetts State Police has created a statewide unit to investigate unsolved open homicide cases and other violent crimes. The new unit will be staffed with five troopers who are experienced homicide investigators. They will work with the multiple district attorneys statewide to identify open cases in which a renewed focus may help find the perpetrators, Col. Kerry A. Gilpin, commander of the state police, announced Tuesday."
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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- "Markey, Kennedy participate at immigration roundtable," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "SEN. ED MARKEY and US Rep. Joe Kennedy III made a joint appearance on Tuesday at an immigration roundtable event focused on the Trump administration's decision to cap refugee admissions at a record-low level of 18,000 for the coming fiscal year. Markey and Kennedy, two of the four candidates running for the US Senate, mentioned the immigrant backgrounds of their families and pledged to work for an increase in refugee admissions. Kennedy said he wanted to change the politics of immigration and Markey touted legislation he has filed that would increase immigration levels to 95,000 a year. The new cap is 40 percent below the 30,000 allowed in the 2019 fiscal year."
- "Senator Rebecca Rausch Endorses Ed Markey for United States Senate," from the Markey campaign: "Senator Rebecca Rausch, D-Needham, has endorsed Ed Markey in his bid for re-election to the United States Senate. Senator Rausch represents the Bristol, Norfolk, and Middlesex District, which also includes Franklin, Millis, Norfolk, Plainville, Wellesley, Wrentham, Attleboro, North Attleborough, Natick, Sherborn and Wayland. "Senator Ed Markey wants to do what's right for Massachusetts and for the people of my district," Rausch said."
- "Memo to Dan Koh: Don't make a dumb run," by Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe: "To Dan Koh. Re Your trial balloon. Um, Dan, got a minute? For a smart guy, you're making yourself look awfully silly. For the better part of this year, you've been mulling another run for Congress. And as you have, you and your camp have been trying to make a mountain out of a campaign-finance molehill to hurt Lori Trahan, who beat you in 2018 in the Third Congressional District Democratic primary. But your effort to gin up critical coverage isn't hurting Trahan so much as it's muddying the reputation of someone else."
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| THE VAPING SALES BAN |
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- "Banned in Boston: Without vaping, medical marijuana patients must adapt," by Jacqueline Tempera and Jonathan Allen, Reuters: "In the first few days of the four-month ban on all vaping products in Massachusetts, Laura Lee Medeiros, a medical marijuana patient, began to worry. The 32-year-old massage therapist has a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from childhood trauma. To temper her unpredictable panic attacks, she relied on a vape pen and cartridges filled with the marijuana derivatives THC and CBD from state dispensaries. There are other ways to get the desired effect from marijuana, and patients have filled dispensaries across the state in recent days to ask about edible or smokeable forms. But Medeiros has come to depend on her battery-powered pen, and wondered how she would cope without her usual supply of cartridges."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Judge Rules Harvard Does Not Discriminate Against Asian-Americans," by Esteban Bustillos and Kirk Carapezza, WGBH News: "A federal district judge ruled Tuesday that Harvard does not discriminate against Asian-American applicants in its admissions process. Judge Allison Burroughs handed down her decision in Boston nearly a year after a three-week trial in which the group Students for Fair Admissions claimed that Harvard held Asian-Americans to higher standards than other groups of applicants. Throughout the course of the trial, Harvard adamantly denied these charges."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "'You go to the mat': Zuckerberg vows to fight Warren's Facebook breakup bid," by Cristiano Lima and Abbey Marshall: "Mark Zuckerberg pledged to "go to the mat" to fend off Elizabeth Warren's plan to break up Facebook in an audio recording leaked Tuesday, foreshadowing a major fight between her would-be administration and the Silicon Valley giant. The mogul and Facebook CEO predicted during an open meeting with employees in July that the social media company would best a Warren administration in court if the 2020 presidential hopeful follows through on her pledge to unleash antitrust enforcers against the company."
- "Ahead of Warren-Zuckerberg spat, Buttigieg criticized Massachusetts senator on big tech," by Ben Jacobs, Jewish Insider: "South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg offered veiled criticism of presidential rival Elizabeth Warren's views on regulating big tech companies while speaking to reporters in Iowa last week, days before the Massachusetts senator engaged in a back-and-forth exchange with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over regulating the social media giant. In Iowa, Buttigieg told reporters, "There's an interesting conversation to be had about the kind of the neo-Brandeisian way of dealing with tech regulation, which I think is fairly convincing." The Indiana Democrat then took a veiled shot at Warren."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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- "Seth Moulton Proposes Digitizing Drivers License Notices," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: " Outside the Danvers branch of the Registry of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday, Congressman Seth Moulton publicly announced legislation he's filed in hopes of making it easier for traffic safety officials to share information about drivers across state lines. The legislation comes in response to the crash involving a commercial truck driver this June that killed seven members of a motorcycle club in Randolph, New Hampshire. After that crash, the Massachusetts RMV discovered that it should have suspended the commercial license of the truck driver prior to the incident because, in May, he had been arrested in Connecticut on charges of OUI and resisting a chemical test."
- "U.S. Rep's impeachment stance challenged," by Ethan Forman, The Salem News: "During a Town Hall gathering Tuesday night, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton sparred with a couple of supporters of President Donald Trump who appeared upset and indignant with the three-term Democratic congressman's outspoken pro-impeachment stance. Moulton, a Harvard-educated decorated Marine Corps Iraq War veteran, fielded various questions from constituents about climate change and the need to elect more Democrats to Congress during a standing room gathering of about 75 people at the Danvers Senior Center on Stone Street."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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- "Rep. Neal: Ways And Means Committee Wants To Speak To Trump Tax Whistleblower," by Adam Frenier, NEPR: "Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Richard Neal of Springfield said the House Ways and Means Committee is looking to interview a whistleblower who alleges "inappropriate attempts to influence" a tax audit of President Trump. Neal spoke about the situation Tuesday at an appearance in Springfield. In an August letter to the treasury secretary, Neal, a Democrat, said the Ways and Means Committee he chairs received an "unsolicited communication" from a federal employee. Neal is not offering much else about the complaint. He said he's not sure how it might impact his lawsuit to get the IRS to release Trump's tax returns."
- "A Bit of Impeachment-um for Tax Return Quest?" by Matt Szafranski, Western Mass Politics & Insight: "When Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representative formally announced the opening of an impeachment inquiry, she described team effort of sorts. While articles of impeachment will ultimately be drawn up in the Judiciary Committee, the many other committees investigating Donald Trump would continue their probes and report back. Among those looking into various dimensions of Trump is Springfield Congressman and Chair of Ways & Means, Richard Neal. After a whistleblower revealed details of Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the impeachment posture of the Democratic House leadership changed. The brazenness and clearness of Trump's request that Zelensky investigate former Vice-President Joe Biden on spurious ground goaded Democrats into action."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "WHAT TIME WE HAVE LEFT," — Globe: "Harvard's admissions upheld," "House leaders, Pompeo battle." |
| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Disputes flare between sober homes, cities and towns," by Felice J. Freyer, Boston Globe: "No matter where you're coming from, you have to climb a long, steep hill to reach the sober home known as Crossing Over. The program's founder, Donald Flagg, jokes that the ascent to the off-white triple decker in this famously hilly city is the first test of whether a participant will succeed. But these days, the steepest climb may be the one facing Flagg: He is locked in a dispute with city officials over zoning and safety regulations that he says could force him out of business. Flagg has plenty of company around the state among fellow operators of sober houses, residences that offer a bridge between addiction treatment and independent living."
- "Jon Mitchell tops field, Brian Gomes distant 2nd in New Bedford mayoral preliminary," New Bedford Standard-Times: "Mayor Jon Mitchell trounced his challengers with 57% of the vote as he and City Councilor Brian K. Gomes emerged as the top two vote-getters in Tuesday's preliminary election, earning the right to move on to the Nov. 5 final election. But whether Gomes does so remains to be seen. In a bleak turnout that saw just 9.5 % of city voters head to the polls, Mitchell led the field of six mayoral candidates with 3,150 votes, followed by Gomes with 1,118. Four other candidates trailed even further behind.
- "State utility regulator slams Columbia Gas," by Bill Kirk, Eagle-Tribune: "The state Department of Public Utilities came out swinging Tuesday, hammering Columbia Gas for breaking federal law in one letter and then threatening to fine them $1 million for every violation listed in another letter - both of which were issued as a result of last Friday's Level 1 gas leak. Last week's leak forced the evacuation of dozens of homes and businesses in the same South Lawrence neighborhood devastated by last year's gas disaster. Hundreds of people were displaced and forced to seek reimbursement for lost food, wages and more."
FOR YOUR COMMUTE: THE 100TH LAP - On this week's Horse Race, we celebrate the 100th episode of the podcast with a special episode. Congressional candidate Jamie Belsito talks about her primary challenge to Rep. Seth Moulton, and Katie Lannan of the State House News Service breaks down the big education funding bill that has emerged on Beacon Hill. And last but not least, Horse Race co-founder and former host Lauren Dezenski talks about her role at CNN and reminisces about the podcast. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud.
MAZEL! to Benchmark Strategies, which celebrates its 5th anniversary today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Rosie Quick, Marlena Baldacci and Sejal Hathi.
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THE TOP 2020 ISSUE - Health care 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 in Washington, D.C. from October 28 - 30. Dan Diamond will take you inside one of the most influential gatherings of health industry leaders and innovators as they tackle today's pressing health challenges—from rising costs to accessibility. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of the Summit.
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