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By Jay Fitzgerald and Keith Regan

09/20/2017

Election results | Massachusetts gluttons

Happening Today

Aid-in-dying bills, Governor's Council, Time-zone meeting

-- The National Association of State Treasurers will wrap up its annual conference with a farewell breakfast and a portfolio managers workshop, with Treasurer Deborah Goldberg planning to attend, Boston Marriott Long Wharf, 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

-- Gov. Charlie Baker joins Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders and House Speaker Robert DeLeo to participate in the Annual Recovery Month and Celebration Day, Faneuil Hall, 9:15 a.m.

-- Governor’s Council meets to interview Fall River attorney James Harrington, a nominee for Bristol County Juvenile Court judge, Governor's Council Chamber, 10 a.m.

-- Families for Justice as Healing and Human Impact Partners hold a press conference to release a report assessing potential impacts of the ‘Primary Caretakers Bill,’ Brookview House, 2 Brookview St., Dorchester, 10 a.m.

-- Attorney General Maura Healey provides remarks at the recovery month celebration for the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery, Faneuil Hall, 10:30 a.m.

-- Sen. Joseph Boncore and Rep. Adrian Madaro, sponsors of the Airport Emergency Training Bill, participate in a press conference along with airport workers and supporters of the bill, Room 222, 10:30 a.m.

-- State Rep. Denise Provost and Second Thoughts MA host a briefing on the medical ‘aid-in-dying’ bills expected to receive a public hearing later this month, House Member's Lounge, 10:30 a.m.

-- Auditor Suzanne Bump chairs a meeting of the Municipal Finance Oversight Board to reviews financial requests from Fall River, Haverhill and Pittsfield, Room 230, 11 a.m.

-- Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Board of Directors meets to makes appointments for various positions within the organization and to review other matters, Charlestown Navy Yard, 100 First Ave., 2nd floor, Boston, 1 p.m.

-- World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab speaks at the Boston College Chief Executives Club luncheon, Boston Harbor Hotel, 70 Rowes Wharf, with his speech at 1 p.m.

-- The special commission tasked with studying Massachusetts' time zone meets to review and discuss a draft commission report, Room 222, 2 p.m.

-- Former Harvard president Derek Bok is a guest on ‘Radio Boston,’ WBUR-FM 90.9, 3 p.m.

-- Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns talks with Jim Braude on ‘Greater Boston’ about President Trump's first speech before the United Nations General Assembly, WGBH-TV Ch. 2, 7 p.m.

-- New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is an in-studio guest on ‘NightSide with Dan Rea,’ WBZ NewsRadio 1030, 8 p.m.

Today's News

It’s Feeney vs Ventura vs Shortsleeve for Timilty Senate seat

This should be interesting: Foxboro Democrat and former Bernie Sanders state campaign chief Paul Feeney will face Attleboro Republican Jacob Ventura, a vocal critic of sanctuary cities and supporter of gun rights, in the Oct. 17 special election to fill the state senate seat vacated by James Timilty. Both candidates were big beneficiaries of campaign funds raised outside the district as they took their primaries handily on Tuesday, Jim Hand of the Sun-Chronicle notes. The final election campaign—which will also feature the ultimate wildcard in the form of high-profile independent candidate Joe Shortsleeve—should be one to watch.

Sun Chronicle

Other races come into focus after yesterday's preliminaries

Voters in more than 20 communities cast ballots in elections on Tuesday, whittling fields to set up a slew of head-to-head mayoral contests in the process;

-- In Brockton, incumbent Mayor Bill Carpenter took home more votes than all five of his challengers, setting up a November face-off with second-place finisher and first-time candidate Jimmy Perreira, Marc Larocque reports at the Enterprise.

-- The lucky voters in Attleboro who received two ballots—one for the senate primary—set up a mayoral head-to-head between incumbent Kevin Dumas and state Rep. Paul Heroux, who received the most votes, according to a report at the Sun Chronicle.

-- In Gloucester, Mayor Romeo Theken finished comfortably in first in the preliminary—by a 10 to 1 margin—and will take on six-time candidate Francisco Sclafani, who narrowly outpaced fellow challenger Daniel Ruberti by a count of 100 votes to 79, Ray Lamont of the Gloucester Times reports.

-- Newburyport voters advanced Robert Cronin and incumbent Donna Holladay to the Nov. 7 final mayoral election, according a report at the Newburyport News.

-- And in North Adams, where the incumbent mayor is not seeking re-election, the race for mayor is between City Councilor Robert Moulton and political newcomer Thomas Bernard, who won the preliminary by a two-to-one margin, Adam Shanks reports in the Berkshire Eagle.

After saying yes to legalized pot, Milford says no to pot shops

The town of Milford may be a retail destination for many of the bedroom communities surrounding it but visitors won’t be buying any legal marijuana there after voters approved a referendum Tuesday to ban retail marijuana businesses from the community, Christopher Gavin of the MetroWest Daily News reports. Fifty-six percent of voters supported the pot-shop ban. Last November, 52 percent of voters favored legalizing marijuana. The same thing is happening in other suburbs, albeit usually at the selectmen-board level: Voting yes to legalized pot, voting no to pot shops.

MetroWest Daily News

SJC ruling in driving-high case highlights gray area

Speaking of pot: In a decision with potentially wide-reaching implications now that adult marijuana use has been legalized in the state, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that police field sobriety tests cannot be treated as scientific proof that a driver was illegally operating a motor vehicle under the influence of pot, Gintautus Dumcius of MassLive reports. Officers can offer testimony about what they observe as they conduct the tests, but cannot offer their opinion on whether what they saw proved a driver was “high.”

MassLive

Better safe than sorry: MEMA actives emergency center for tropical storm Jose … Hurricane Maria is next up

Even though Hurricane Jose has been downgraded to tropical-storm status, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency last night was poised to activate its emergency operations center to Level II, or partial activation, to be on the alert for trouble along coastal areas of Massachusetts as Jose slams into the region, reports SHNS’s Colin Young at the Herald News. Much of New England will mostly see showers, some downpours and strong winds today, but it will tougher on the Cape and islands.

Meanwhile, most people are now nervously eyeing the path of powerful Hurricane Maria, now slamming Puerto Rico, as the NYT reports. The Boston Herald reports the local Puerto Rican community is concerned about loved ones on the island.

Herald News

HUH?

When CLOWNS write summaries, they would be wise to consider that Republican Prostitutes and their generous patrons are so threatened by the prospect of MEDICARE FOR ALL, that a provision has been included in the most recent version of REPEAL OBAMACARE labeled Graham-Cassidy, that a provision has been included preventing states from doing the same...except it's already being done by enlightened states.

In fact, polls indicate that most Americans support SINGLE PAYER by a large margin.

Better late than never: State Dems mobilize against GOP health care plan

After spending most of last week paying homage to a politically fanciful and far-fetched single-payer health care bill, the state’s political establishment is finally mobilizing to confront the immediate threat posed by Senate Republicans determined to gut the Affordable Care Act. Among others, Shannon Young at MassIve has a good round-up of the political scramble. The vote in the Senate is expected, once again, to be mighty close, reports the NYT. The stakes are high for Massachusetts, which stands to take a multibillion-dollar hit to Medicaid if the GOP plans passes, the Globe’s Astead Herndon reports.

Finally, we’ll leave the last word on the subject to the Globe’s Scot Lehigh, who has a great lead to his column this morning: “The winter, spring, and summer of their governing act having flopped in spectacular fashion, Washington Republicans are desperate to pull something — anything — out of their hat this fall. A cute, crowd-pleasing rabbit would certainly be wonderful, but at this point, a star-nose mole, or a sculpin, or even a mangy public-policy polecat would suffice. Speaking of the latter, the Senate is mounting yet another effort to replace the Affordable Care Act.”

Graham portrays Massachusetts as gluttonous devourer of Medicaid funds

In pushing the GOP’s Graham-Cassidy health care bill, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, is using Massachusetts – yes, little innocent us – as leverage in convincing senators to back his bill, saying the Bay State and three other blue states get a disproportionate amount of federal Medicaid funding, something he claims his GOP package will change. The nerve of him! SHNS’s Michael Norton has the details (scroll down for Graham quotes).

SHNS (pay wall)

Breaking news: Republican governors’ “news” site praises Baker as the greatest and most glorious leader in the history of governors

Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday returned home from a Republican Governors Association meeting in Chicago only to find, lo and behold, that his favorite news site, the “Free Telegraph,” is actually a front for the Republican Governors Association touting, among other things, Baker’s “indisputable accomplishments,” reports the Herald’s Matt Stout. Actually, a spokesman says Baker was unaware of the stealth RGA website and, after presumably consulting with the governor, the spokesman said the governor doesn’t consult with its staff on “communications strategies.”

Boston Herald

Markey blasts Trump’s ‘totally destroy’ threat against North Korea

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey’s weeks-long campaign to get the president to cool it on the North Korea rhetoric isn’t exactly working. Yesterday, President Trump, appearing before the UN General Assembly, vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if provoked, and Markey once again bemoaned the president’s rhetoric as dangerous and counter-productive, reports Shannon Young at MassLive. Maybe Markey should try reverse psychology, i.e. complain the president’s rhetoric isn’t belligerent enough?

MassLive

TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES TO horse racing

Crosby to lawmakers: Give me the power to save horse racing

Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby really doesn’t want to give up that multimillion-dollar state horse-racing fund. From SHNS’s Colin Young: “The chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission pressed lawmakers Tuesday to give the commission the ability to restructure oversight of the horse racing industry in hopes of a sparking a revitalization. While standardbred racing has seen a resurgence tied to the slots parlor in Plainville, Thoroughbred racing is near its all-time low in Massachusetts.”

SHNS (pay wall)

Mayor Walsh: Debate? What debate?

With a 31-point lead in the polls, Mayor Marty Walsh is suddenly too busy to participate in a preliminary-election debate that he not-so-long-ago favored. The Globe’s Meghan Irons has the details.

Boston Globe

But Walsh isn’t too busy for …

Right on election-season time, via Jon Chesto at the Globe: “Mayor Martin J. Walsh plans to throw his support behind a campaign by a well-known Boston tech entrepreneur to commission a monument to Martin Luther King Jr. that would be placed on Boston Common or another prominent location.”

Boston Globe

Feds accuse former PR exec of stealing $3.6M from firm

One assumes the state’s largest public relations firm, Racepoint Global, won’t be issuing a press release touting this one. From the BBJ’s David Harris: “The former chief financial officer of a Boston-based marketing and public relations firm (Racepoint Global) was charged on Tuesday with embezzling over $3 million from the company. Edward J. Abell III, 44, of Gloucester, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering and is scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy (today).”

BBJ

Connecticut governor bats down chances of MGM’s building a casino in Bridgeport

A MGM Resort plan to build a new Bridgeport, Conn. casino to drain away customers from tribal casinos that could drain away customers from MGM’s new Springfield casino – yes, that’s ultimately MGM’s strategy – is being downplayed by Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, reports Dan Glaun at MassLive. It seems that, unless the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes agree to the deal, MGM Bridgeport would violate the state's revenue-sharing agreement with Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, costing Connecticut nearly $500 million over the next two years. And Connecticut lawmakers would never, ever, agree to that, as we all know. We’re sure we haven’t heard the end of this. Maybe MGM Bridgeport can add a sweetener for Connecticut? It seems it’s all about money, after all.

MassLive

Pat Payaso’s wife is also clowning around?

And we thought intrepid reporters at the Herald uncovered the fact that city council candidate and city clown Pat Payaso was none other than local developer and former mayoral candidate Kevin McCrea, who legally changed his name to Payaso (which is Spanish for ‘clown’). A couple of ML readers alerted us that BNN’s Seth McCoy, Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin and WGBH’s David Bernstein were earlier deploying their own investigative skills on the matter. And what’s this about Payaso, “depending on the day,” either being “former mayoral candidate Kevin McCrea or his wife”?

Fyi: The Herald’s Howie Carr can’t resist: “You do understand, don’t you, that this ‘Pat Payaso’ is not the first clown to run for the City Council?”

Healey expands probe of opioid manufacturers

From Boston Magazine’s Jamie Ducharme: “Attorney General Maura Healey is expanding an investigation into dubious practices at major opioid manufacturers and distributors, in hopes of uncovering the truth about their possible role in creating or perpetuating the opioid crisis. The investigation builds upon work that was first announced in June and involves a bipartisan group of attorneys general across the country.”

Boston Magazine

Meanwhile, Healey pushes to elect more Dem female AGs

From Shira Schoenberg at MassLive: “Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is co-chairing an effort to elect more Democratic women as attorneys general. Healey and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum are leading the effort, organized by the Democratic Attorneys General Association, to set a goal of electing women to 50 percent of the democratically elected attorney general seats by the end of 2022.”

MassLive

Max Kennedy fined for loud Cape party

From the Herald’s Matt Stout: “Matthew ‘Max’ Kennedy’s headline-grabbing arrest last month at a loud Hyannisport party was quietly settled in a Cape Cod court today with a $150 fine. Kennedy, 52, appeared today in Barnstable District Court before Judge Kathryn E. Hand, nearly two months ahead of his original Nov. 22 court date. A charge of disorderly conduct was dismissed, though he was found responsible on a noise violation and paid a $150 fine, according to the court clerk’s office.”

No, he’s not being treated differently because he’s a Kennedy. Such incidents rarely warrant more than a fine. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline, who was also arrested at the bash, will be arraigned in November.

Boston Herald

Looking sharp: Worcester to get new $35.5 state transportation building

Definitely check out the accompanying design sketches. From Melissa Hanson at MassLive: “Construction is expected to begin this month on a $35.5 million project that will bring a new (District 3) Massachusetts Department of Transportation administration building to Worcester, officials said. CTA Construction has announced that it will manage the construction of the new MassDOT building on a 10.5 acre parcel on Plantation Parkway.”

MassLive

‘Tabloid TV Wars’

We now know where we’ll be getting our MassterList news items about Ben Affleck. Hollywood Reporter reports that the New York Post is launching a new ‘Page Six’ television tabloid show while others are churning out a new ‘Daily Mail TV’ show, both taking aim at TMZ, the broadcast king of salacious celebrity gossip and paparazzi footage. Competition. You gotta love it.

Hollywood Reporter

Today's Headlines

Metro

Mayor backs new plan to build MLK memorial in Boston - Boston Globe

Give us a break, Amazon - CommonWealth Magazine

Massachusetts

Brockton city councilor says developer put up street sign to mock him - Brockton Enterprise

Fall River making a pitch for Amazon HQ - Standard-Times

In Worcester, Gaffney withdraws from mayor’s race - Worcester Magazine

Four Mass. communities ranked among the top places to live in US - Boston.com

Plan scrapped to bring Iraq, Syria refugees to Pittsfield area - Berkshire Eagle

Nation