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Presented by Bay State Wind
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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
ANYONE'S GAME IN 4TH DISTRICT — It's a story we've seen before. A congressional seat opens up for the first time in a long time. Suddenly, the field is full of candidates with what seem to be more similarities than differences.
So I spoke with former Congressman Barney Frank about how he sees the race shaping up for his old seat in the 4th Congressional District. Frank was in Congress for more than three decades, and Rep. Joe Kennedy III cleared the field when he ran to succeed him in 2012. Now that Kennedy is running for Senate, the seat is wide open and it's anyone's game, Frank says.
"This district hasn't been hotly contested in normal times for a long time. So I don't think there's too much of a read on it right now," Frank told me yesterday.
Frank told me he's spoken with four of the candidates, along with one Democrat who had considered running but dropped out. Frank declined to say what kind of advice he gave them, but he did reiterate some advice for another Bay State pol: Joe Kennedy.
Frank would've preferred that Kennedy stay out of the Senate race, he told me last month, and he has not changed his mind.
"My problem with Joe Kennedy's decision is a lot of the money that could have gone to defeating Republicans will now go to electing him or Ed Markey, or one of the people seeking to fill Joe's seat," Frank said. "This means a diversion of our resources, manpower and money. So in essence, I wish the race wasn't there."
But the race to replace Kennedy is on. And among the six candidates in the race - Ihssane Leckey, Jesse Mermell, David Cavell, Becky Walker Grossman, Jake Auchincloss and Alan Khazei - all six hail from Newton or Brookline. Frank said that could leave room for a Democrat from the southern part of the district to get in the race, which he says is quite ideologically different from the northern suburbs. It's just not clear who that candidate would be.
"When I was in Congress, I represented both the single poorest and the single richest communities in the state," Frank said. "That creates a great divide in the district."
Frank described the district like a dumbbell, with the more liberal and higher educated Boston suburbs like Brookline and Newton at one end of the district, and the more blue collar and less educated cities like Fall River and Attleboro at the other.
"You have a more national issue-oriented liberal north, and a more bread-and-butter concern for their economics in the south," Frank said, and pointed out differences on immigration, environmental issues and globalization on either side of the district.
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 celebrate STEM week with an announcement in Lawrence. Baker is a guest on WGBH. Rep. Katherine Clark and other Democratic lawmakers hold a press conference on the SHIELD ACT in Washington, D.C.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh attends a ribbon cutting and tour of Piaggio Fast Forward's newly-expanded headquarters. Walsh celebrates the Age Strong Commission's new public awareness campaign at City Hall. The House meets in formal session.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Baker defends health care plan as concerns arise," by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Boston Globe: "Governor Charlie Baker defended his new health care bill Tuesday, while some in the health care industry began raising concerns about parts of his wide-ranging proposal. The governor's bill calls for expanding primary care and mental health care. It also would penalize pharmaceutical companies that sharply raise drug prices, prohibit certain surprise bills, limit the use of hospital facility fees, and regulate urgent care centers, among other changes."
- "Families want to end prison phone call charges," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "AYANA AUBOURG MET her father Winchel Aubourg as an infant while he was behind bars for a drug-related crime. For the next 17 years, she spoke with him over the phone, and occasionally visited while he was held in facilities in Massachusetts and New Jersey. "You have no idea what receiving those phone calls meant for me," Aubourg, now 25, told members of the state's Criminal Justice Reform Caucus at a briefing on Tuesday. The conversations were invaluable, she said, but they came at a steep cost."
- "Senate drops tax change that pitted trio of House women against leadership," by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "For days, Beacon Hill has been abuzz about a dustup in the House between the leadership team of Speaker Robert DeLeo and a trio of newly elected progressive women. The women had tried to halt a corporate tax change from being swept through the House as part of a supplemental budget bill last week. Two of them were not allowed to speak on the floor, while a third was scolded for not yielding to a member of leadership."
- "Slammed shut: Speaker DeLeo shields House from scrutiny as taxpayers foot the bill," by Joe Battenfeld, Hillary Chabot and Joe Dwinell, Boston Herald: "It's a rare glimpse into the shadowy, secret world of the Massachusetts House — a tally of credit card purchases for everything from $6,500 dinners to antique restoration services to a job search website for voice acting. The expenditures, which add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, are buried in the state Comptroller's office and offer a revealing look at what the House has been billing taxpayers for behind closed doors over the past six years. But because the Legislature exempted itself from public records laws in the mid-1970s, the Speaker's office refuses to provide any details for the charges on the credit card, which are kept by the House business manager."
- "Massachusetts Considers Banning B-Word, Ruining Lizzo Concerts," by Alyssa Vaughn, Boston Magazine: "If you're a boss bitch, bad bitch, or 100 percent that bitch according to your DNA test, if you love screaming out the lyrics to "Bitch I'm Madonna," "Bitch Better Have my Money," or "Work Bitch," or if you can't stop bitching about Boston traffic, transportation, weather, or rent—a local legislator would like you to please learn some new adjectives. Tuesday afternoon, a rather unusual bill will appear before Massachusetts' Joint Committee on the Judiciary—a measure that would assign penalties to anyone who uses the aforementioned obscenity to "accost, annoy, degrade or demean" another person."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Boston City Council At-Large Debate At WBUR CitySpace." Link.
- "District Attorney Rachael Rollins: 'Not Helpful' That Boston Police Didn't Wear Body Cameras At 'Straight Pride,'" Greater Boston, WGBH: "Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said it was "not helpful" that Boston police didn't wear body cameras during the so-called Straight Pride parade in the city last August. "It is not helpful, I will say, when we don't have body cam footage," she told Greater Boston host Jim Braude on Tuesday. Police logged over 9,000 hours of overtime during the parade without capturing any of it on body-worn cameras, WBUR reported. Boston police rolled out their body camera program in June."
- "For patients, Biogen news is an infusion of hope on Alzheimer's," by Michael Levenson, Boston Globe: "It started when Michael McCormack began struggling to complete routine tasks he'd done as a production supervisor at the company where he'd worked for 30 years. After a battery of tests, he was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer's disease. He was 54. In the five years since, McCormack has held out hope for a cure, even as he has given up his career, stopped driving, and watched promising treatments fail and friends with the disease die or move into memory care facilities."
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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- "DA Rachael Rollins endorses Ed Markey, as law enforcement takes sides in Senate race," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who charged into office this year as a progressive change-maker, is backing Senator Edward J. Markey in his contested primary fight, further splintering political support between the incumbent and his chief challenger, Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III. Rollins's endorsement comes amid a wave of Democratic law enforcement officials picking sides in the high-profile race. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins appeared with Kennedy at a Monday event to announce his support of the 39-year-old congressman, while Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, a Waltham Democrat, said he, like Rollins, is endorsing Markey, 73."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Baker Appeals Judge's Order to Alter 4-Month Vaping Ban," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "Gov. Charlie Baker has appealed a Superior Court judge's ruling that would have lifted the governor's ban on the in-state sale of nicotine vaping products on Monday unless he opened a new process that would invite public testimony and require the administration to gauge the full impact to small businesses. The governor's office confirmed on Tuesday that Attorney General Maura Healey had filed an appeal on the administration's behalf, along with a stay seeking to keep the full ban in place while the case proceeds."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren Is Mass. Democrats' Top Choice. Her Health Plan Isn't," by Anthony Brooks and Martha Bebinger, WBUR: "In the race for her party's presidential nomination, home state U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has opened up a wide lead among likely Democratic primary voters in Massachusetts, according to a new WBUR poll (topline results, crosstabs). The result reflects national surveys that show Warren steadily building support since the spring. But the WBUR poll also has a note of caution for Warren. Medicare for All, which she supports, and which would end private insurance and replace it with a single, government-run system, is less popular among likely Democratic voters in this blue state than a plan that would include a public option, also known as "Medicare for All who Want It.'"
- "Most 2020 Candidates Have Something In Common: Their Supporters Also Like Warren," by Julia Wolfe and Laura Bronner, FiveThirtyEight: "At this stage in the Democratic primary, many likely Democratic voters are still considering multiple candidates — and this was true for more than two-thirds of respondents in our poll with Ipsos. Which got us thinking, how many respondents were only considering one candidate?"
- "Elizabeth Warren pushes Treasury Secretary Mnuchin for answers on overnight lending issues," by Jeff Cox, CNBC: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pressing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for answers on recent events in the overnight lending, or repo, markets. In a letter, the Democratic presidential candidate says she worries banks will use the issue as an excuse to get financial regulations eased. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she is worried that banks may try to use the recent tumult in short-term lending markets as an excuse to get regulations eased on the industry."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "Ayanna Pressley blasts President Donald Trump for comparing impeachment inquiry to 'lynching,'" by Benjamin Kail, MassLive.com: "U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts's 7th District on Tuesday called President Donald Trump bigoted and expressed hope that he would one day be held accountable "for every single thing he says and does," including a Tuesday morning tweet in which he compared the impeachment inquiry to "a lynching." "Haven't even had coffee yet and the occupant of the (White House), the bigoted man who called for the execution of the exonerated five, is tossing the word 'lynching' around," Pressley, the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts, wrote in a tweet."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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- "For a Republican, even a city council race is all about Trump," by Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe: "All politics is local? No longer. Today, all politics is Donald Trump. Potholes don't care what party you are. But as Jennifer Nassour is finding out, Boston voters do. Nassour, a candidate for a district seat on the Boston City Council, said that once voters find out she's a Republican, they have one question: Why? "The question I'm most asked is, why not change my party?" said Nassour, a former chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, whose campaign literature makes no mention of her political affiliation. Sometimes, she said, people hand it back when they learn her true political identity."
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| IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN |
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- "New EPA chief in New England barred from many decisions because of conflicts," by David Abel, Boston Globe: "A former chemical industry lobbyist who was recently appointed as regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency has been barred from overseeing a range of vital issues in New England because of conflicts of interest that could compromise his public duties. Dennis Deziel, who spent five years as director of federal government affairs for Dow Chemical Co. before his appointment in August, must recuse himself from decisions involving nearly one-fifth of the region's Superfund toxic waste sites, the agency's ethics office has said."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Starting in November, medical marijuana patients in Mass. will no longer have to pay annual fees," by Felicia Gans, Boston Globe: "Medical marijuana patients in Massachusetts will no longer have to pay annual registration or renewal fees starting in November, a long-sought change by patients who have called the fees a barrier to access. The elimination of the $50 annual fee was unanimously approved by the state's Cannabis Control Commission during its recent review of the medical use of marijuana regulations."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "SLAMMED SHUT," — Globe: "Another day, another biotech bombshell: Biogen revives failed Alzheimer's drug," "Diplomat says q uid pro quo was clear." |
| EYE ON 2020 |
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- "Anxious Democratic Establishment Asks, 'Is There Anybody Else?'" by Jonathan Martin, The New York Times: "When a half-dozen Democratic donors gathered at the Whitby Hotel in Manhattan last week, the dinner began with a discussion of which presidential candidates the contributors liked. But as conversations among influential Democrats often go these days, the meeting quickly evolved into a discussion of who was not in the race — but could be lured in. ... Former Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who associates say has wondered aloud about whether he should have run and has found it hard to watch Mr. Biden's missteps, has also been urged to get in. ... And Deval Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor, who also weighed a campaign run before deciding not to, said he too has been nudged by friends to reconsider."
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| NO PLACE LIKE THE CITY OF HOMES |
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- "Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno: 'It just didn't dawn on me' that on-duty firefighters didn't belong at political fundraiser," by Stephanie Barry, Springfield Republican: "Mayor Domenic J. Sarno concedes that, in hindsight, he probably should have realized on-duty firefighters in full uniform with a ladder truck parked outside did not belong at a political fundraiser for City Council candidate Chris Pohner. "It just didn't dawn on me at the time," Sarno told reporters and editors at The Republican Tuesday. "I was there for five minutes on my way to Mass at Mount Carmel." Captured on video Sept. 18 at the Marconi Club in East Springfield, Sarno delivered a rah-rah speech for Pohner, a retired firefighter running for an at-large seat on the City Council, who held a pig roast that Saturday."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Quincy council opposes opioid deal," by Fred Hanson, The Patriot Ledger: "The city council has declared its opposition to an out-of-court settlement in lawsuits brought by state and local governments against opiate manufacturers and distributors. The council unanimously passed a strongly worded resolution calling for Mayor Thomas Koch to formally reject any settlement offers. "We don't want their blood money," said Ward 4 City Councilor Brian Palmucci, who offered the resolution along with At-Large City Councilor Nina Liang."
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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- "Gwen Ifill, journalist and former Springfield resident, to be honored with U.S. postage stamp," by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "Gwen Ifill, the late journalist who spent her teenage years in Springfield and graduated from the former Classical High School in 1973, will be depicted on a postage stamp in 2020, the U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday in Washington. Ifill served as a co-host of PBS's "NewsHour" and moderator of "Washington Week." Her stamp will be the 43rd in the Postal Service's Black Heritage series."
SPOTTED: making her Capitol Hill press conference debut in Washington, D.C. last night ... Emmy Moulton with her dad, Rep. Seth Moulton, at the Future Forum advocating for paid family leave. Pic. Another pic.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Annika Lichtenbaum and Arielle Tait.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Bruins beat the Maple Leafs 4-2.
FOR YOUR COMMUTE: WU TRAIN PLAN - On this week's Horse Race podcast, Steve Koczela and I break down the latest Democratic presidential debate. We speak with Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu about her proposal to scrap the BPDA, and Steve talks about Gov. Charlie Baker's ban on vaping sales with Allyson Perron of the American Heart Association. 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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