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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
PATRICK'S BAY STATE SWING — With the Iowa and New Hampshire contests looming, Deval Patrick will rally his supporters at the Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Dorchester tonight.
The event comes days after the former governor announced six additions to his Massachusetts campaign team. Patrick's national campaign is based here in the Bay State, but adding a Massachusetts state director, among other staffers, is a sign Patrick is preparing for his longshot bid to last through Super Tuesday. That's when Massachusetts and a host of other states vote on March 3.
While he's received a warm reception in the press in recent days — the Washington Post urged voters to give him a chance in an editorial last week — Patrick has had a more difficult time with actual voters. A Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll released on Tuesday showed Patrick is polling at 0.6 percent among New Hampshire voters, and there are only three weeks to go until the primary.
Patrick raised $2.2 million for his campaign in the last quarter of the year — he joined the race in November and had around six weeks left in the quarter to raise cash before the reporting period closed. For comparison, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he raised $34.5 million, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren reported raising $21.2 million.
But Patrick has been buoyed by the Reason to Believe PAC, a political action committee that's spending big bucks on television ads in New Hampshire and South Carolina on his behalf. The super PAC made a $2 million ad buy earlier this month.
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 speak at a Veterans' Service Officers Legislative Luncheon hosted by House Speaker Robert DeLeo. Baker and Polito announce their fiscal 2021 budget proposal. Polito speaks at the MetroWest Foundation's launch of the Impact MetroWest initiative, and chairs a meeting of the Governor's Council. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh travels to Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting. Sen. Ed Markey is a guest on WGBH's "Morning Edition." Rep. Katherine Clark tours the Woburn Head Start program.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "In State of the Commonwealth speech, Baker presses for more aggressive climate action, more money for T," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Governor Charlie Baker on Tuesday pledged more aggressive action in tackling climate change and the region's transportation woes, using his State of the Commonwealth address to press for increased MBTA funding, quicker cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, and stronger support for a hotly debated carbon pact. Addressing lawmakers and a television audience, the second-term Republican laced his 35-minute speech with new initiatives and attempts to rally the Democratic-led Legislature behind many of his biggest priorities."
- "Super PAC with ties to Baker keeps cruising," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "A SUPER PAC with close ties to Gov. Charlie Baker is continuing to raise money at a fairly rapid pace, easily replacing funds over the last two months that were spent last year to support a number of candidates in municipal elections. The Massachusetts Majority PAC, which supports Republicans and Democrats, is a new fundraising mechanism for Baker now that he and the state Republican Party are at odds over how to raise money and the merits of President Trump. Baker and the PAC cannot coordinate their activities, but it's clear the governor is supportive of the PAC. Some have suggested he's trying to create a new political party."
- "DeLeo Takes Pass on Rent Control, Housing Fees," by Michael P. Norton, State House News Service: "House Speaker Robert DeLeo declined over the weekend to say how he feels about rent control and new fees on higher-priced housing transactions, ideas that are being pushed on Beacon Hill as potential solutions to the state's housing affordability problem. "Not at this point, I'm not weighing in," DeLeo said during an appearance Sunday on WCVB's "On the Record." Analysts and lawmakers have for years cautioned that the state is up against a "housing crisis," an assessment DeLeo also used during the interview."
- "Film tax credit gets support from city and town officials," by Christian M. Wade, The Salem News: "City and town leaders are pressing lawmakers to make permanent a popular, yet controversial subsidy that doles out tens of millions of dollars worth of tax credits to Hollywood studios. They're pushing for approval of a bipartisan proposal, backed by more than 100 lawmakers, that would lift a Jan. 1, 2023, expiration date on the film tax credit. Under the program, the state issues tax credits to partially cover expenses for the production of movies, TV shows, documentaries and commercials filmed in Massachusetts."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Children may not have a place in Boston's future, report cautions," by Tim Logan, Boston Globe: "Boston has added a lot of people in recent decades, but the number of school-age children has dropped dramatically. That's the thrust of a study set to be released Wednesday by the Boston Foundation that highlights the dwindling number of children — particularly middle class children — in an otherwise-growing and thriving city. Since 2000, according to the report, the population of school-age children in Boston has fallen by nearly 10,000 — down about one-tenth — even as the city as a whole has added 10 times that many people. Reasons, researchers say, range from the high cost of housing to the perception that the city's public school system is inferior. For some families, it boils down to a preference to raise their children in roomier suburbs."
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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- "Planned Parenthood Action Fund Endorses Ed Markey for U.S. Senate on the Eve of 47th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Supreme Court," from the Markey campaign: "Ed Markey and Planned Parenthood acting president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson announced that the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political advocacy arm of the largest reproductive health care provider in the country, is endorsing Markey for re-election to the United States Senate."
- "Three candidates file for special Taunton state rep election," by Ted Nesi and Eli Sherman, WPRI: "Two Democrats and a Republican have submitted nomination papers to compete in an upcoming special election for the legislative seat left open by newly inaugurated Taunton Mayor Shaunna O'Connell. Democrat Carol Doherty, a school committee member, and Republican Kelly Dooner, a national committeewoman, both of Taunton, filed paperwork to run for the Third Bristol district in the House of Representatives ahead of Tuesday's deadline, according to the city's Registrar of Voters. In Easton, Muzammil Nazir also filed nomination papers to run as a Democrat, according to the town clerk there."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Lawyers say at least 10 Iranian students deported in last year," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "AN IRANIAN STUDENT enrolled at Northeastern University who was deported from Logan Airport on Martin Luther King Jr. Day is hardly the first to end up sent home after arriving here. Mohammad Shahab Dehghani Hossein Abadi was deported on Monday night despite a federal judge's order that he remain in Customs and Border Protection custody and not be deported as his case was being considered. Abadi had been visiting family in Iran and arrived in Boston with a valid F-1 student visa after going through a renewal process."
- "Lawyers offer dueling portraits of parents suing Boston Children's Hospital," by Kay Lazar, Boston Globe: "Justina Pelletier's lawyer on Tuesday painted a perplexing and harrowing picture of complex medical problems Pelletier faced from her very first breaths. Born premature, and having suffered a stroke during or just after birth, her lawyer said, she has been plagued by pain and severe gastrointestinal problems all her life. But an attorney for Boston Children's Hospital told a Suffolk Superior Court jury that Pelletier's parents overmedicalized her care and were "very resistant" to doctors' suggestions that psychological issues were at the root of her condition and that she needed psychiatric care."
- "Inyoung You manslaughter-by-texting defense wants to fight back in the press," by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "Inyoung You's defense team wants permission to take their fight to the front pages as her attorney pushes to be able to share text messages with the media in the controversial texting-suicide manslaughter case. Steven Kim, You's attorney, spent the 21-year-old's Tuesday court appearance railing against District Attorney Rachael Rollins and the active protective order introduced by her office that forbids You's attorneys from giving the text messages between You and her then-boyfriend, Alexander Urtula, to the public relations firm they've hired in the high-profile manslaughter-by-text case."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren campaign hires pair of top Castro aides," by Alex Thompson, POLITICO: "Elizabeth Warren has hired two senior officials from Julián Castro's presidential campaign: campaign manager Maya Rupert and political director Natalie Montelongo, a Warren official told POLITICO Tuesday. Rupert, who previously was a senior policy adviser for Castro at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and before that worked at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, will be a senior adviser and serve as a campaign surrogate. Montelongo, who previously worked at the ACLU and in Nevada and Colorado during Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, will be a senior strategist focusing on political and constituency outreach along with the campaign's surrogate program."
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| PATRICK PRIMARY |
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- "Deval Patrick rolls out foreign policy agenda as he struggles with voters," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: "Longshot Democratic presidential hopeful Deval Patrick made his foreign policy pitch Tuesday, but political strategists say his time would be better spent reaching voters when he is failing to even register in polls. "No one has been asking, 'Where does Deval Patrick stand on foreign policy?' " said UMass Lowell professor and former political operative John Cluverius. "The question they're asking is, 'Who is Deval Patrick?' " Democratic strategist Scott Ferson said, "Deval Patrick is so far away from being nominated, he should be devoting more time knocking on doors in New Hampshire."
- LOL: "Contrarian 'New York Times' Travel Section Breaks With Paper To Endorse Deval Patrick For Democratic Nomination," via the Onion. Link.
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- Top progressives, DCCC reach ceasefire over 'blacklist,'" by Ally Mutnick, Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle: "Top liberals have reached a détente with the House Democratic campaign arm in a dispute over a policy that inhibits primary challengers to incumbents — a move intended to unify Democrats in this year's battle to protect their majority and defeat President Donald Trump. More than a third of all Democrats hadn't paid dues as of December 2019, according to a campaign report obtained by POLITICO. That list included progressives like Pocan, Jayapal and Khanna, some of whom have since contributed to DCCC or say they plan to this year. Three other prominent liberal Democrats, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), also did not pay dues as of December."
- "Group presses for investigation of Trahan's funds," by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: "A watchdog group says U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan "knowingly and willfully violated federal law" by loaning money to her campaign ahead of the 2018 election. In a new filing to the Federal Election Commission, the Campaign Legal Center says an investigation by the House Ethics Committee suggests Trahan illegally tapped hundreds of thousands of dollars of her husband's money for her campaign and falsely reported the contributions as personal loans. The Washington, D.C.-based center filed a complaint with the FEC a year ago. Since then, it says, the House ethics probe has poked holes in Trahan's defense."
- "After Trade Deal, Neal Says Infrastructure Bill 'Doable,'" by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, the chair of the chief tax writing committee in the House, met with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week following the final passage of US-Canada-Mexico trade deal to discuss moving forward with a infrastructure bill, and continues to believe it might be possible to work with the White House on highway funding. Neal, who was at the State House Tuesday night for Gov. Charlie Baker's State of the Commonwealth address, said he plans to meet with Mnuchin again next week when he returns to Washington, which is currently in the throes of an impeachment trial in the Senate ."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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- "'History is testing us,' Congressman Jim McGovern says of impeachment of President Donald Trump," by Benjamin Kail, MassLive.com: "Rep. Jim McGovern, who kicked off the House impeachment proceedings with a resolution establishing hearing rules, argues Trump and his backers on Capitol Hill will face tougher judges in history books than they do at raucous campaign rallies. "History is testing us," McGovern said in a recent roundtable discussion with reporters in Worcester. "I fear that some of my colleagues, especially in the Senate right now, are failing that test." A Democrat who chairs the House Rules Committee, McGovern said even if the president is not convicted and removed from office by the Republican-controlled Senate, history will not look favorably on Trump."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Marijuana applicants get Cannabis Control Commission's ear, with forum set Thursday," by Susan Spencer, Telegram & Gazette: "Marijuana retail license applicant Leah Cooke Daniels of Boston might not have intended to spark a movement when she interrupted the Cannabis Control Commission's first public business meeting in Worcester Dec. 19, demanding action on her priority application. But after the ruckus that closed that meeting early, as well as the next meeting on Jan. 9, commissioners set up an applicant forum from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday at Union Station, to discuss applicants' experience with the licensing process and related concerns."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "CALL OF THE WILD," — Globe: "Iranian student just latest to be sent away at Logan," "Partisan acrimony dominates battle on impeachment rules," "Divisive primary in 2016 looms over Democrats' spat." |
| IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN |
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- "Don't celebrate yet: Clean energy jobs have slipped in Mass." by Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: "The latest tally of the state's clean-energy economy might seem like reason to celebrate. Nearly 112,000 jobs in 2019. Three percent of the state's total workforce. Nine straight years of growth. Keep that champagne on ice, folks. This measurement of the clean-tech sector is more somber than it looks at first glance: Job growth in the state has been decelerating for the past four years. The 1 percent increase in clean-energy workers last year represented the smallest rise since the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center first started tracking these numbers nine years ago."
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| FROM THE 413 |
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- "With top MGM Springfield executives out after low gaming revenue, where does casino go under Chris Kelley?" by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "The ouster of MGM Springfield President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Mathis and Vice-president and Chief Financial Officer Courtney Wenleder on Tuesday followed a record-low gross gambling revenue for December and months of disappointing results for the 17-month-old, $95 million resort. MGM Resorts International's move of Mathis from Springfield — where he'd worked since 2014 preparing for the casino's construction and August 2018 opening — may be a reaction to gambling revenues that have been about half the pre-opening projections, employment levels that are not at the 3,000 jobs MGM promised and commercial development around the 17-acre MGM property that seems never to have taken off."
- "Northampton Board of Health snuffs out proposed tobacco restrictions," by Elise Linscott, MassLive.com: "The Board of Health decided not to move forward with regulations that would have restricted cigarettes from being sold in convenience stores after hearing from a number of vendors and their supporters Thursday night. The board also said they want to see how effective the state's new flavored vape and tobacco ban will be at curbing youth tobacco and nicotine use, which Gov. Charlie Baker passed in November. At that time, the board was originally considering a vote on the proposed restrictions."
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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- "Reporter Steph Solis to take over State House coverage for MassLive," by Noah R. Bombard, MassLive.com: "MassLive is pleased to announce that reporter Steph Solis will be taking over coverage of the Massachusetts State House for the news organization. Solis joined MassLive in March 2019 and has covered immigration issues for MassLive as well as in-depth coverage of the state's gaming industry."
TRANSITIONS - Hema Sarang-Sieminski, formerly of the Victim Rights Law Center, joins Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, as policy director.
- Eileen O'Connor of Keyser Public Strategies was appointed as the first executive director of the Boston Bulldogs Running Club.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Duxbury state Rep. Josh Cutler, Ipswich state Rep. Bradford Hill, Business Wire account executive Sarah Mattero, Carson McGrath and Stephen Glick, who is 73. Gail Shalan is 3-0
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Bruins beat the Golden Knights 3-2.
FOR YOUR COMMUTE: WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR VOTE - On this week's Horse Race podcast, hosts Steve Koczela and Stephanie Murray talk about the recent Democratic presidential debate, and where things stand in Iowa for the 2020 hopefuls. Liberty Square Group founder Scott Ferson joins to talk about the Welcome Party, a group that's reaching out to independent voters in New Hampshire. Later, Evan Fulchuk of Voter Choice Massachusetts talks about ranked choice voting and how it could impact the Bay State. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud.
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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