PATRICK MEETS THE PRESS — The last five days have been a roller coaster ride. On Monday night, we found out former Gov. Deval Patrick was considering a presidential bid. By Wednesday, we knew he was calling allies and telling them he would run for president. Patrick was on television bright and early Thursday morning to announce his news, and filed for the New Hampshire primary ballot in Concord soon after. Next up: Patrick is off to California and Nevada. He'll visit Iowa next week.
But we didn't learn the earliest news from Patrick's hometown papers. Instead, the initial intel about Patrick's intentions was leaked to national outlets: Twice to the New York Times and once to CNN. For the local media chasing the story, members of Patrick's inner circle were difficult to reach, and there was a noticeable lag before the Boston press confirmed any Patrick news, up until he was ready to make it official late Wednesday night.
There are strategic reasons for that approach, but it also hintsat Patrick's often tense relationship with the Boston press. Patrick's first term as governor got off to a rocky start in 2007, with a series of gaffes that included hiring an expensive scheduler for his wife, choosing $12,300 drapes to decorate his office, and leasing an expensive Cadillac.
Even though it happened 12 years ago, the press in Boston have not quite let the curtain fiasco go. Just take the front page of this morning's Boston Herald. The headline reads: "CURTAINS FOR LIZ," with photos of Patrick and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a tongue-in-cheek reference to those expensive drapes from a decade ago. Patrick ended up reimbursing the state for the decorations back in 2007. On the other hand, Patrick's campaign received a warm reception from several Boston Globe columnists this week.
Over the course of his time in politics, Patrick has largely received positive coverage from the national media, so he could be in for some culture shock. The Washington Post took a sober look at his last-minute campaign yesterday, for example, noting early in its story that the website DevalPatrick2020.org directs visitors to a Howie Carr column calling his campaign a "practical joke." This morning, the ex-guv awakened to this headline in the Daily Beast: "Dem Savior? Deval Patrick Repped Predatory Loans, Big Oil."
Patrick is already facing criticism over his ties to Bain Capital — the private equity firm vilified by Democrats when Republican Mitt Romney ran for president in 2012 — though he focused on social impact work during his time there. Patrick also served as general counsel to the oil company Texaco, making it likely his record there will come under scrutiny as Democrats have soured on the oil and gas industry in light of the climate crisis.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: KEATING BREAKS DOWN UKRAINE ISSUE — Rep. Bill Keating is releasing anew video today that lays out the history of Ukraine and its relationship with Russia. Keating says understanding the Ukraine-Russia relationship is crucial context for the testimony coming out of President Donald Trump's impeachment hearings.
"The shorthand of the investigation is that the president was withholding life saving defensive arms in exchange for personally beneficial dirt on his political rival," Keating says in the video.
"Yet there's another side to this testimony which hasn't received enough attention. This is the story behind why Ukraine needs the military assets that were being conditioned by the president," Keating explains.
In the video, Keating quotes testimony from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who spoke to lawmakers this week as part of the impeachment hearings. Keating also cautions that Ukraine cannot be used as a "political football" or go without military aid for fear that Russia could take over the country. Keating is the chair of the Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment Subcommittee, which is part of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The subcommittee Keating heads has jurisdiction over Ukraine and Russia, which is why Keating is so versed on affairs there.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — Boston Mayor Marty Walsh holds a press conference on the city's winter weather preparations. Walsh speaks at the Irish Echo Golden Bridges Conference. Sen. Ed Markey, state Sen. Eric Lesser and state Rep. Brian Ashe attend a ribbon cutting for the Longmeadow rail crossing. Markey visits Springfield.
DATELINE BEACON HILL
- "Senate ousts Brady from chairmanship," by Andy Metzger, CommonWealth Magazine: "The Senate ousted Sen. Michael Brady from his position as chairman of the Public Service Committee Thursday because of his behavior during a night of drinking and driving more than a year ago. The ouster was adopted by a voice vote Thursday night at the recommendation of the Senate Ethics Committee. The committee headed by Sen. Eric Lesser zeroed in on when and why Brady handed the arresting officer his State House identification card, and his apparent dissembling about where exactly he drank before getting behind the wheel. The 57-year-old Brockton Democrat was pulled over in Weymouth in the early hours of Saturday, March 24, 2018, and this June he essentially admitted to the facts of the case, avoiding a trial."
- "Outgoing State Police head files for six-figure pension," by John R. Ellement, Boston Globe: "Kerry A. Gilpin steps down as the top commander of the Massachusetts State Police on Friday and has applied for her six-figure state pension, which she has indicated she will split with her wife, who is also a State Police trooper. In records filed with the state Retirement Board, Gilpin noted that she has worked for the department for the past 25 years and nearly six months and that her last day of work is Nov. 15 — this Friday. Her first day of work was logged as May 31, 1994. State retirees have three options when they put in their papers: a pension with no survivor benefits, a lump sum payment to a beneficiary in the "event of an early death," and finally, a joint survivor allowance, which offers reduced payments but also covers a surviving spouse."
- "DeLeo calls off transpo tax debate - for now," by Bruce Mohl and Andy Metzger, CommonWealth Magazine: "HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO is putting off a debate over tax legislation to fund transportation improvements until next year, throwing into doubt whether anything will happen in an area that advocates and business groups say is in desperate need of more funding. After expressing some uncertainty Wednesday about his plans to take up the tax bill this fall and as word began to leak out on Thursday, DeLeo and House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz told the State House News Service that they were postponing the debate."
- "Vape ban violators face fines, loss of cars," by Christian M. Wade, Gloucester Daily Times: "Anyone caught bringing untaxed e-cigarettes into the state could face hefty fines and seizure of their vehicle under a proposed ban on flavored vaping products that's working its way through Beacon Hill. The penalties are tucked into first-in-the-nation legislation approved Wednesday by the state House of Representatives. The bill outlaws flavored vapes, including menthol and mint-flavored cigarettes; limits the nicotine content of vape pods; and imposes a 75% excise tax on the wholesale price of e-cigarettes. Vaping industry officials have blasted the legislation as government overreach and warned that it will drive people to buy products on the black-market or in other states."
- "Baker Signs Bill To Protect Students When Colleges Close," by Roberto Scalese, WBUR: "Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday signed into law a bill designed to protect students and parents when Massachusetts colleges suddenly close. The bill, which gives the Board of Higher Education more authority to monitor the financial health of colleges and universities, requires schools to fulfill their obligations to enrolled or admitted students. "Through this legislation, the Board and Department of Higher Education can ensure transparency for students and families without being overly burdensome to colleges," Education Secretary James Peyser said in a statement released Thursday."
- "Cost of Budget Delay Surpassing $1 Million," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "Having watched another week go by without finalizing budget work left over from fiscal year 2019, the House and Senate now stand to forfeit more than $1 million in interest that the state could have earned had lawmakers completed their work on time. The Legislature's inability to agree on a bill closing the books on the fiscal year that ended in June is keeping Comptroller Andrew Maylor from filing an annual report, which he was statutorily due to file by Oct. 31. And with the branches at loggerheads over the supplemental budget, hundreds of millions of dollars in fiscal 2019 surplus funds are sitting in the General Fund waiting to be transferred to the Stabilization Fund."
FROM THE HUB
- "Investing in a college degree? These four Mass. schools offer the biggest payoff," by Deirdre Fernandes, Boston Globe: "Would you be better off enrolling at pharmacy school or Harvard University? If you're looking for a long-term return on investment, a new study suggests that attending Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the Longwood-area pharmacy school, may be a better option. MCPHS ranked No. 3 in a study of colleges based the economic gains they provide their students after 40 years, done by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce and released Thursday. Students who attend MCPHS could on average see a net economic gain — after paying off their college debt — of $2.4 million after 40 years."
- "In Hyde Park, two early women's rights activists get their due," by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "When US Senator Elizabeth Warren was famously silenced on the Senate floor in 2017 — as she tried to amplify Coretta Scott King's words on the suppression of African-American voting rights — some female historians' thoughts turned to Angelina Grimké. She, too, was a white woman who spoke up for African-Americans in a legislative chamber, as an abolitionist. But her remarks before the Massachusetts Legislature in 1838 represented the first time in history that a woman had ever addressed an American legislative body. And after emancipation, she and her older sister, Sarah, became early advocates for women's suffrage, leading a defiant march to cast ballots in Hyde Park 50 years before voting was legal."
- "Boston Welcomes First LGBTQ Housing For The Elderly," by Tori Bedford, WGBH News: "The city of Boston is welcoming its first LGBTQ-supported housing development for seniors, according to plans released by Mayor Marty Walsh's administration Wednesday. Within the next few years, the city hopes to complete a transformation of the William Barton Rogers Middle School in Hyde Park into a $33 million development with 74 apartments. "As Boston's residents continue to age, the need for safe, affordable housing that is welcoming to all remains essential," Walsh said in a press release Wednesday."
- "No agreement on McCormack field lease," by Yawu Miller, Bay State Banner: "When Boston Public Schools officials first made public last year the idea of redeveloping the McCormack Middle School's athletic field and schoolyard in a public-private partnership, then-BPS Superintendent Tommy Chang and other department officials stressed that the desires of the McCormack school community would drive the process. "We want to make sure the community actually decides how this land will be used for years and years and years to come," Chang said in a May 11, 2018 meeting. From the outset, McCormack students, teachers and residents of the abutting Harbor Point neighborhood testified against what many saw as an attempt to transfer public open space into private hands."
- "State says hard frost has hit — and mosquito threat is over," by Martin Finucane, Boston Globe: "The Massachusetts Department of Public Health says a hard frost has now occurred in all communities across the state, so people are no longer at risk of mosquito-borne illnesses until next year. A hard frost, a period of at least four consecutive hours of temperatures below 28 degrees, kills off the mosquitoes that carry the disease, according to the state's Department of Public Health. The frost is welcome after the state was hit hard this year by the mosquito-borne disease Eastern equine encephalitis."
PATRICK PRIMARY
- "How Deval Patrick could torpedo Joe Biden," by Maya King and Marc Caputo, POLITICO: "Deval Patrick looks like the ideal candidate to break Joe Biden's grip on African-American voters. He's just the second elected black governor since Reconstruction and has close ties with former President Barack Obama. But even as the former Massachusetts governor's entry into the race is embraced by many black lawmakers and strategists, they question whether his record, relative lack of name ID and late start in a crowded field will impede his ability to make a mark."
- "Deval Patrick has no money and not much staff. He's counting on optimism." by Matt Viser and David Weigel, The Washington Post: "Newly minted presidential candidate Deval Patrick wants to appeal to black voters, but by a matter of days missed the deadline to make the ballots in Alabama and Arkansas, two states with large black populations. He wants to win moderates and build a national coalition, but because he didn't alert officials in Michigan of his candidacy earlier this week, he now faces the extraordinary task of gathering 11,000 signatures in the next month. His campaign forgot to register the domain devalpatrick2020.org, so it's instead forwarding to a harsh piece by Howie Carr, a Boston Herald columnist and longtime Patrick antagonist."
- "With Patrick out, Bain vet to lead firm's social impact fund," by Greg Ryan, Boston Business Journal: "When Deval Patrick joined Bain Capital in 2015, the Boston-based private equity giant did not have a fund dedicated to delivering social good on top of financial returns. It was Patrick's job to build it. With Patrick resigning from Bain on Wednesday to launch a last-minute bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, he leaves behind a social impact team. Bain Capital Double Impact now has 20 employees, according to its website, including four managing directors and three principals."
- "'A Hail Mary from two stadiums over': Patrick faces harsh reality in N.H.," by Trent Spiner, POLITICO: "Deval Patrick thinks his road to the Democratic presidential nomination starts in New Hampshire. Granite Staters think it ends here. Several Democratic operatives who have worked on winning Democratic presidential primary campaigns in the state, from Gary Hart to Bernie Sanders, said they do not see a path to victory for the former Massachusetts governor. As much as polling suggests the electorate is largely undecided, there is no clear constituency for Patrick, according to Andy Smith, the University of New Hampshire's pollster. If anything, voters are looking for candidates to leave the race, not join it."
- "Baker: Prez Candidates 'Get a Pass Out of the Gate,'" by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "He challenged him for the governorship here in 2010 and succeeded him in the corner office in 2015, but Gov. Charlie Baker said Thursday he won't be weighing in on Deval Patrick's presidential run, at least not yet. "Look -- People who want to run for president, they get a pass out of the gate as far as I'm concerned," Baker said Thursday morning in the office that Patrick occupied for eight years. "That's just the way it works." Baker had been asked what insights he could provide about what he inherited from Patrick when the job changed hands almost five years ago."
DAY IN COURT
- "SJC upholds rulings challenging Baker on vape ban," by Dan Adams and Naomi Martin, Boston Globe: "The state's highest court Thursday upheld a lower judge's decision challenging Governor Charlie Baker's authority to unilaterally ban vape sales in Massachusetts. The ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court had no immediate practical implications — consumers are still forbidden from purchasing any vaping products in the state. The only exception is for registered medical marijuana patients, who may purchase vaporizers that heat ground marijuana flower. Baker implemented the ban on all types of nicotine and marijuana vapes in September, saying state law granted him broad emergency powers to protect public health amid an outbreak of vaping-related lung illnesses."
WARREN REPORT
- "Lloyd Blankfein mocks Elizabeth Warren after attack ad: 'Maybe tribalism is just in her DNA,'" by Kevin Breuninger and Dan Mangan, CNBC: "Lloyd Blankfein hit back at Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Thursday, after she singled him and other billionaires out for greed as she pressed for higher taxes on the wealthy. "Vilification of people as a member of a group may be good for her campaign, not the country," Blankfein, the 65-year-old Goldman Sachs senior chairman, said in a tweet. "Maybe tribalism is just in her DNA," Blankfein added in an apparent dig at Warren's much-criticized prior claims of Native American ancestry."
ABOVE THE FOLD
— Herald: "CURTAINS FOR LIZ,"—Globe: "Patrick sees an opening," "Pelosi puts bribery charge on the table."
ALL ABOARD
- "Poll: Mass. Voters Support Fees And Tolls To Raise Money To Fix Transportation Issues," by Zeninjor Enwemeka, WBUR: "It's no secret that Massachusetts residents are fed up with transportation and congestion in the state. Now, a new poll finds strong support for a number of measures that would raise revenue to improve transportation. According to a new MassINC poll (topline results, crosstabs), most voters want new revenue for transit upgrades and say action is "urgently needed" to improve transportation in the state."
TRUMPACHUSETTS
- "Arrests lead to 500 bags of heroin stamped 'Trump 2020,'" by David McLellan and Melina Bourdeau, Greenfield Recorder: "With help from Montague Police K-9 Artie, Greenfield Police arrested two on drug trafficking charges Monday night. A traffic stop and subsequent search around 9 p.m. Monday led to the discovery of 500 bags of heroin — each branded with "Trump 2020" stamps — and nearly 28 grams of crack cocaine, as well as the arrests of Springfield residents Kaliah D. Malloy, 29, and Fernando Massey Jr., 22."
THE LOCAL ANGLE
- "Morrissey demands action on 'illegal' sentencing guidelines," by Jessica Trufant, The Patriot Ledger: "Norfolk County District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey is calling on lawmakers to set a deadline for the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission to submit to the Legislature proposed sentencing guideline changes, which he said were already implemented without lawmakers' approval. Morrissey said Thursday that he plans to ask members of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association at its Nov. 20 meeting to withdraw the association's representatives from the commission until it stops "breaking the law" by using guidelines that lawmakers haven't enacted into law."
FOR YOUR RADAR - I was a guest on Cheddar yesterday to talk about former Gov. Deval Patrick's last-minute entry to the 2020 presidential race. You can watch it here.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to U.S. Ambassador Scott Brown, MassLive.com's Melissa Hanson,Gail Gitcho and Emily Schlichting.
HAPPY BIRTHWEEKEND - to Saturday birthday-ers Winthrop School Committee member Valentino Capobianco, Brad Wyatt, Josh Gee and Stephanie Harris. And to Ann Murphy of O'Neill and Associates, who celebrates Sunday.
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