Weekly roundup: Old transit system, epic winter collided to create top story of 2015
Fantasy sports, Green Line, Olympic hopes die
- See more at: http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2016/01/03/227589-Weekly-roundup-Old-transit-system-epic-winter-collided-create-top-story#sthash.JhtOdUWC.dpuf
Sometimes two massive storylines collide to give news writers and telecasters enough material for months. That was the case this year as weather and trains intersected to provide the makings of the top Massachusetts political story of 2015, as voted by the State House press corps.
The Olympics and Boston 2024's aborted bid to host the 2024 summer games gave the Snowpocalypse a run for its money, but in the end couldn't compete with the dish that Mother Nature served up to brand new Gov. Charlie Baker.
Themes associated with new leadership on Beacon Hill, from Baker to Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, were sprinkled within the year's top stories, and many major developments that might have made the cut in another non-election year just didn't have the votes.
Of the stories that didn't quite make our list but still received votes, Massachusetts opened its first slot parlor in Plainville and its first medical marijuana dispensaries. Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was tried, convicted and sentenced, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth announced its plans to shut down by 2019, and top education officials officially decided to scrap the PARCC exam and develop a new standardized test for Bay State students.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's continued prominence as a national voice of the left and her resistance to taking sides in the presidential race caught everyone's attention, but didn't make the cut. Neither did the beginnings of citizen initiatives to expand charter schools or tax millionaires extra on their incomes over $1 million.
The Olympics and Boston 2024's aborted bid to host the 2024 summer games gave the Snowpocalypse a run for its money, but in the end couldn't compete with the dish that Mother Nature served up to brand new Gov. Charlie Baker.
Themes associated with new leadership on Beacon Hill, from Baker to Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, were sprinkled within the year's top stories, and many major developments that might have made the cut in another non-election year just didn't have the votes.
Of the stories that didn't quite make our list but still received votes, Massachusetts opened its first slot parlor in Plainville and its first medical marijuana dispensaries. Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was tried, convicted and sentenced, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth announced its plans to shut down by 2019, and top education officials officially decided to scrap the PARCC exam and develop a new standardized test for Bay State students.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's continued prominence as a national voice of the left and her resistance to taking sides in the presidential race caught everyone's attention, but didn't make the cut. Neither did the beginnings of citizen initiatives to expand charter schools or tax millionaires extra on their incomes over $1 million.
So what is on the list? The following are the top 10 political stories of 2015, as voted on by many of the state political reporters who write and report daily on the people and issues of Beacon Hill:
1) Snowmageddon Exposes the MBTA
2) 2024 Olympics Bid Sputters
3) Opioid Epidemic
4) Troubles Continue at Department of Children and Families
5) Fantasy sports becomes Big Business
6) House and Senate Out of Sync
7) Economic Recovery Can't Keep Pace with Spending
8) Green Line Extension in Doubt
9) Baker's Popularity Soars
10) Syrian Refugee Crisis Becomes Bay State Flashpoint
1) Snowmageddon Exposes the MBTA
2) 2024 Olympics Bid Sputters
3) Opioid Epidemic
4) Troubles Continue at Department of Children and Families
5) Fantasy sports becomes Big Business
6) House and Senate Out of Sync
7) Economic Recovery Can't Keep Pace with Spending
8) Green Line Extension in Doubt
9) Baker's Popularity Soars
10) Syrian Refugee Crisis Becomes Bay State Flashpoint
Counting Down the Top 10:
10) GIVE US YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR....YOUR REFUGEES FROM SYRIA
As concerns grew in the immediate wake of the Paris terrorist attacks that the Islamic State might be exploiting the west's humanitarian response to the Syrian refugee crisis, Gov. Charlie Baker said he was not interested in helping to resettle Syrian refugees in Massachusetts until he learned more about the federal vetting process. Baker appeared to be echoing the more hard-line stands being taken by some of his fellow Republican governors, and drew immediate condemnation from some, but not all, in the state's Democratic establishment. Congressman Seth Moulton had the harshest criticism for his constituent, the governor, and Baker ultimately softened his tone, if not his position, and refused to join his GOP counterparts in calling on Obama to halt the resettlement process. The episode stood out as one of the few rocky moments of the governor's first year in office.
9) MOST POPULAR GOVERNOR IN AMERICA
The year started with a new governor entering the corner office and memories still fresh of how the prior two-term Democratic governor stumbled early as his administration worked to get its sea legs. But in 2015, there was no election hangover for Gov. Charlie Baker. The Swampscott Republican's return to Beacon Hill went about as well as he could have hoped. With approval ratings above 70 percent that eclipsed any other state chief executive in the country, Baker's "Mr. Fix It" personality played well with both the electorate and the power brokers at the State House where he forged a tight working relationship with Democrats in both the House and Senate. Sure, he had to weather some storms (both literally and figuratively) and much of his agenda remains in limbo, but Baker largely succeeded in building a strong foundation for the rest of his term.
8) GREEN LINE EXTENSION???
Will it get built, and if so how far will it extend? Somewhere along the way in 2015, the roughly $2 billion Green Line extension project to Somerville and Medford became a $3 billion boondoggle and now transportation officials are considering whether the state can afford to built it at all. With project costs rising, MassDOT and MBTA officials decided to void its current contracts, change its internal project management team and possibly try to rebid for a lower price. If that doesn't work, some consultants have suggested cutting stations or shortening the route, all of which could potentially jeopardize federal transit dollars.
7) "WE'RE JUST BLEEDING MORE MONEY"
Less than a month in office, Gov. Baker's budget team was learning about the depth of the hole it was in. Administration and Finance Secretary Kristen Lepore identified a $765 million deficit in the fiscal 2016 budget, and she warned that every day that went by without action the state was "bleeding more money." That gap would be plugged by cutting spending, offering corporate tax amnesty and tapping into capital gains revenues earmarked for savings, but another larger fiscal challenge loomed in the fiscal 2016 budget. Another $1.5 billion plus spending-and-revenue gap required more solutions, including an early retirement program that trimmed thousands from the state payroll. Despite a recovering economy and unemployment that finished the year at 4.7 percent, keeping up with the state's evolving financial picture was a running theme in 2015, and promises to be no different in 2016 with Baker again eyeing emergency cuts and a tight fiscal 2017 budget.
6) HOUSE AND SENATE FEELING EACH OTHER OUT
With the Senate under new leadership and House Speaker Robert DeLeo newly unshackled from the term-limits he helped impose in the first place, the House-Senate dynamic proved almost more intriguing to watch than Democrats versus the new Republican governor. As first-year Senate President Stanley Rosenberg tried on a new leadership style in the Senate that he said would be more inclusive, the year got off on the wrong foot with a surprise dispute with the House over joint rules and the flow of bills to the floor. That led into a parliamentary fight over the budget that required settling by the Supreme Judicial Court. The court sided with the Senate, ruling the branch had not overstepped its authority by proposing tax law changes out of turn to increase the earned income tax credit for low-income families. The session got off to a slow start, once routine supplemental spending bills dragged on for months in conference committee and major policy proposals languished. The changed dynamics and renewed tensions between the branches were evident for all to see, but through it all both DeLeo and Rosenberg insisted they get along just fine.
10) GIVE US YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR....YOUR REFUGEES FROM SYRIA
As concerns grew in the immediate wake of the Paris terrorist attacks that the Islamic State might be exploiting the west's humanitarian response to the Syrian refugee crisis, Gov. Charlie Baker said he was not interested in helping to resettle Syrian refugees in Massachusetts until he learned more about the federal vetting process. Baker appeared to be echoing the more hard-line stands being taken by some of his fellow Republican governors, and drew immediate condemnation from some, but not all, in the state's Democratic establishment. Congressman Seth Moulton had the harshest criticism for his constituent, the governor, and Baker ultimately softened his tone, if not his position, and refused to join his GOP counterparts in calling on Obama to halt the resettlement process. The episode stood out as one of the few rocky moments of the governor's first year in office.
9) MOST POPULAR GOVERNOR IN AMERICA
The year started with a new governor entering the corner office and memories still fresh of how the prior two-term Democratic governor stumbled early as his administration worked to get its sea legs. But in 2015, there was no election hangover for Gov. Charlie Baker. The Swampscott Republican's return to Beacon Hill went about as well as he could have hoped. With approval ratings above 70 percent that eclipsed any other state chief executive in the country, Baker's "Mr. Fix It" personality played well with both the electorate and the power brokers at the State House where he forged a tight working relationship with Democrats in both the House and Senate. Sure, he had to weather some storms (both literally and figuratively) and much of his agenda remains in limbo, but Baker largely succeeded in building a strong foundation for the rest of his term.
8) GREEN LINE EXTENSION???
Will it get built, and if so how far will it extend? Somewhere along the way in 2015, the roughly $2 billion Green Line extension project to Somerville and Medford became a $3 billion boondoggle and now transportation officials are considering whether the state can afford to built it at all. With project costs rising, MassDOT and MBTA officials decided to void its current contracts, change its internal project management team and possibly try to rebid for a lower price. If that doesn't work, some consultants have suggested cutting stations or shortening the route, all of which could potentially jeopardize federal transit dollars.
7) "WE'RE JUST BLEEDING MORE MONEY"
Less than a month in office, Gov. Baker's budget team was learning about the depth of the hole it was in. Administration and Finance Secretary Kristen Lepore identified a $765 million deficit in the fiscal 2016 budget, and she warned that every day that went by without action the state was "bleeding more money." That gap would be plugged by cutting spending, offering corporate tax amnesty and tapping into capital gains revenues earmarked for savings, but another larger fiscal challenge loomed in the fiscal 2016 budget. Another $1.5 billion plus spending-and-revenue gap required more solutions, including an early retirement program that trimmed thousands from the state payroll. Despite a recovering economy and unemployment that finished the year at 4.7 percent, keeping up with the state's evolving financial picture was a running theme in 2015, and promises to be no different in 2016 with Baker again eyeing emergency cuts and a tight fiscal 2017 budget.
6) HOUSE AND SENATE FEELING EACH OTHER OUT
With the Senate under new leadership and House Speaker Robert DeLeo newly unshackled from the term-limits he helped impose in the first place, the House-Senate dynamic proved almost more intriguing to watch than Democrats versus the new Republican governor. As first-year Senate President Stanley Rosenberg tried on a new leadership style in the Senate that he said would be more inclusive, the year got off on the wrong foot with a surprise dispute with the House over joint rules and the flow of bills to the floor. That led into a parliamentary fight over the budget that required settling by the Supreme Judicial Court. The court sided with the Senate, ruling the branch had not overstepped its authority by proposing tax law changes out of turn to increase the earned income tax credit for low-income families. The session got off to a slow start, once routine supplemental spending bills dragged on for months in conference committee and major policy proposals languished. The changed dynamics and renewed tensions between the branches were evident for all to see, but through it all both DeLeo and Rosenberg insisted they get along just fine.
5) DAILY FANTASY SPORTS
Promo codes were everywhere in 2015. Spilling over from baseball season into Sunday football, daily online fantasy sports sites like Boston-based Draft Kings exploded into the marketplace and caught policy leaders on their heels. Is it gambling? Should it be taxed? As states like Nevada and New York moved to block companies like Draft Kings and Fan Duel from accepting wagers in their states, Attorney General Maura Healey said she could find nothing in state law outlawing online daily fantasy sports betting. Healey, instead, proposed a new set of regulations that would require players be at least 21 years old and ban professional athletes in Massachusetts from using the sites. Gov. Charlie Baker disagreed with Healey over whether the activity amounted to a form of gambling (he said it isn't) but applauded her approach to the industry. Those regulations are currently under review, but it might not be the end of the debate on Beacon Hill. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, among others, has suggested that daily fantasy sports should be taxed, and Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is actively exploring whether the Lottery could get a piece of the daily fantasy sports betting action. The thinking at the Lottery is when it comes to the long view, scratch tickets and Keno will only go so far.
4) DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Finishing in the top five for the second year in a row, high profile child deaths in families known to the Department of Children and Families once again exposed management and process failures at the state's child welfare agency. The story of Bella Bond, a toddler whose body was found in a trash bag on Deer Island and whose identity was unknown for months, captured the attention of the state, but there were other cases in Auburn and Hardwick that cast fresh doubts on the state's ability to keep children safe. With multiple reports showcasing how social workers missed warning signs and cut corners in their interactions with families, Baker rolled out reforms intended to streamline and standardize procedures for tracking children and to make sure DCF does not miss any signs of possible abuse, including an updated in-take policy that had not been revisited in 12 years.
3) OPIOID EPIDEMIC
Nearly four deaths a day from opioid abuse in 2014. A total of 4.6 million prescriptions for opioids written in Massachusetts that year totaling more than 255 million pills. These were the statistics that fueled the policymaking focus on combating the opioid abuse epidemic in Massachusetts that thrust itself to the top of the 2015, and now 2016, agenda. While more money was poured into treatment programs and recovery beds, broader legislation to help fight addiction is still pending in the Legislature with the Senate, governor and, most recently, the House all on record with ideas to limit the quantity of prescription painkillers on the street and improve doctor training and prescribing practices. In December, Baker invited lawmakers to an early screening of a new HBO documentary titled "Heroin: Cape Cod, USA," and for lawmakers like Rep. Paul Donato, who said he had never seen anyone use hard drugs before, it left an impression that won't be going away soon.
2) OLYMPIC HURDLES
Unlike Kobe Bryant's triumphant swan song Dec. 30 against the Celtics, this was one sporting contest that many Bostonians were happy to let Los Angeles win. Knocking Gov. Baker's' inauguration off the front pages, the United States Olympic Committee surprised many when it chose Boston in January to compete as the country's bid city to host the 2024 Olympic summer games. The ensuing months of assembling a bid to submit to the International Olympic Committee, however, was not cause for celebration. From nearly the start, Boston 2024 struggled to win over the public. Its roster of who's who in the business and political world - John Fish, Rich Davey, Deval Patrick - couldn't convince the public (and those officials currently controlling the purse strings) that hosting the games was a good financial gambit for the state. Baker, DeLeo and Rosenberg flashed some of their good sportsmanship when they came together to hire the Brattle Group to analyze the financial risk, but as spring turned into summer and leaders waited on that report, the USOC grew impatient and pulled the plug on their own.
1) LET IT SNOW, AND SNOW AND SNOW
Over 100 inches of snow, much of it falling in the span of a month, would be enough to test any new administration. Pile all that snow on top of the nation's oldest public transit system, and a poorly maintained one at that, and you had a recipe for disaster. Needless to say, Baker will never again dismiss questions about the size of the snow and ice removal budget. Starting with a blizzard in late January, storm after storm rolled through Massachusetts dropping the white stuff by the foot. It was too much for cleanup crews. The MBTA's trains and buses were crippled, leaving businesses and workers to improvise. Baker used the snow to cajole the Legislature into taking a series of steps to improve the MBTA, including the placement of the agency under the authority of a new control board and the suspension of the "Pacheco Law" for the MBTA to make it easier to privatize services. The MBTA, however, will not be fixed overnight. And no one will soon forget the runaway Red Line train.
PRESS SECRETARY OF THE YEAR: Whether it was dealing with the opening of the Plainridge Park Casino, calibrating the Gaming Commission's response to the federal recognition of the Mashpee Wampanoag's tribal land in southeastern Massachusetts or navigating the feud between Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Everett casino developer Steve Wynn, she was in the middle. This year's press secretary of the year honors go to Gaming Commission communications director ELAINE DRISCOLL. May the detailed agendas and live-streams keep coming.
[Editor's Note: Top 10 story replaces this week's Weekly Roundup]
Promo codes were everywhere in 2015. Spilling over from baseball season into Sunday football, daily online fantasy sports sites like Boston-based Draft Kings exploded into the marketplace and caught policy leaders on their heels. Is it gambling? Should it be taxed? As states like Nevada and New York moved to block companies like Draft Kings and Fan Duel from accepting wagers in their states, Attorney General Maura Healey said she could find nothing in state law outlawing online daily fantasy sports betting. Healey, instead, proposed a new set of regulations that would require players be at least 21 years old and ban professional athletes in Massachusetts from using the sites. Gov. Charlie Baker disagreed with Healey over whether the activity amounted to a form of gambling (he said it isn't) but applauded her approach to the industry. Those regulations are currently under review, but it might not be the end of the debate on Beacon Hill. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, among others, has suggested that daily fantasy sports should be taxed, and Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is actively exploring whether the Lottery could get a piece of the daily fantasy sports betting action. The thinking at the Lottery is when it comes to the long view, scratch tickets and Keno will only go so far.
4) DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Finishing in the top five for the second year in a row, high profile child deaths in families known to the Department of Children and Families once again exposed management and process failures at the state's child welfare agency. The story of Bella Bond, a toddler whose body was found in a trash bag on Deer Island and whose identity was unknown for months, captured the attention of the state, but there were other cases in Auburn and Hardwick that cast fresh doubts on the state's ability to keep children safe. With multiple reports showcasing how social workers missed warning signs and cut corners in their interactions with families, Baker rolled out reforms intended to streamline and standardize procedures for tracking children and to make sure DCF does not miss any signs of possible abuse, including an updated in-take policy that had not been revisited in 12 years.
3) OPIOID EPIDEMIC
Nearly four deaths a day from opioid abuse in 2014. A total of 4.6 million prescriptions for opioids written in Massachusetts that year totaling more than 255 million pills. These were the statistics that fueled the policymaking focus on combating the opioid abuse epidemic in Massachusetts that thrust itself to the top of the 2015, and now 2016, agenda. While more money was poured into treatment programs and recovery beds, broader legislation to help fight addiction is still pending in the Legislature with the Senate, governor and, most recently, the House all on record with ideas to limit the quantity of prescription painkillers on the street and improve doctor training and prescribing practices. In December, Baker invited lawmakers to an early screening of a new HBO documentary titled "Heroin: Cape Cod, USA," and for lawmakers like Rep. Paul Donato, who said he had never seen anyone use hard drugs before, it left an impression that won't be going away soon.
2) OLYMPIC HURDLES
Unlike Kobe Bryant's triumphant swan song Dec. 30 against the Celtics, this was one sporting contest that many Bostonians were happy to let Los Angeles win. Knocking Gov. Baker's' inauguration off the front pages, the United States Olympic Committee surprised many when it chose Boston in January to compete as the country's bid city to host the 2024 Olympic summer games. The ensuing months of assembling a bid to submit to the International Olympic Committee, however, was not cause for celebration. From nearly the start, Boston 2024 struggled to win over the public. Its roster of who's who in the business and political world - John Fish, Rich Davey, Deval Patrick - couldn't convince the public (and those officials currently controlling the purse strings) that hosting the games was a good financial gambit for the state. Baker, DeLeo and Rosenberg flashed some of their good sportsmanship when they came together to hire the Brattle Group to analyze the financial risk, but as spring turned into summer and leaders waited on that report, the USOC grew impatient and pulled the plug on their own.
1) LET IT SNOW, AND SNOW AND SNOW
Over 100 inches of snow, much of it falling in the span of a month, would be enough to test any new administration. Pile all that snow on top of the nation's oldest public transit system, and a poorly maintained one at that, and you had a recipe for disaster. Needless to say, Baker will never again dismiss questions about the size of the snow and ice removal budget. Starting with a blizzard in late January, storm after storm rolled through Massachusetts dropping the white stuff by the foot. It was too much for cleanup crews. The MBTA's trains and buses were crippled, leaving businesses and workers to improvise. Baker used the snow to cajole the Legislature into taking a series of steps to improve the MBTA, including the placement of the agency under the authority of a new control board and the suspension of the "Pacheco Law" for the MBTA to make it easier to privatize services. The MBTA, however, will not be fixed overnight. And no one will soon forget the runaway Red Line train.
PRESS SECRETARY OF THE YEAR: Whether it was dealing with the opening of the Plainridge Park Casino, calibrating the Gaming Commission's response to the federal recognition of the Mashpee Wampanoag's tribal land in southeastern Massachusetts or navigating the feud between Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Everett casino developer Steve Wynn, she was in the middle. This year's press secretary of the year honors go to Gaming Commission communications director ELAINE DRISCOLL. May the detailed agendas and live-streams keep coming.
[Editor's Note: Top 10 story replaces this week's Weekly Roundup]
About the Author »
Matt Murphy covers major media, lobbying firms, government agencies, political junkies as well as towns Statewide. He likes to cover politics and campaigns.
No comments:
Post a Comment