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SCOOP: MASS DEMS SHUN SARNO IN SPRINGFIELD — The Massachusetts Democratic Party will host its next convention in Springfield this fall, but Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno won't be among the invited speakers.
The party voted not to invite Sarno, a Democrat, to speak at the Sept. 14 convention during a meeting in Worcester last night. Party members cited his support for Gov. Charlie Baker in the 2018 midterm, two state committee members told me.
Sarno was among the nearly two dozen Democratic mayors who endorsed Baker for a second term on Beacon Hill, and even appeared in a television ad for the governor. In September, Sarno said he appreciated Baker's emphasis on bipartisanship and wasn't worried the endorsement would lead to problems with members of his own party.
But that appears to have been the case in Worcester last night. At the meeting, some members wanted a floor vote on whether Sarno should address the convention, and after some back-and-forth brought a motion forward, according to two committee members.
In December, Sarno came under fire from some Democrats for vetoing a "welcoming community" ordinance that aims to make the city more welcoming to immigrants regardless of documentation. Sarno said the ordinance would designate Springfield as a sanctuary city and threaten federal funding, while supporters disagreed and said it would make immigrants feel safer interacting with police and other city officials, according to MassLive.com. The Springfield City Council overrode his veto last month.
A Massachusetts Democratic Party spokesman confirmed the convention will be held in Springfield and that the party voted not to invite Sarno due to his support for Baker and opposition to the welcoming community ordinance. Sarno's office did not respond to a request for comment late last night.
"Massachusetts Democrats are excited to return to Springfield and experience all the city has to offer," Massachusetts Democrats chair Gus Bickford said in a statement. Former gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez was at the meeting and addressed the group at a different point, two committee members said.
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TODAY - Gov. Charlie Baker meets with Treasurer Deborah Goldberg. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito participates in a deployment ceremony in Cambridge. The New England Patriots are in Boston for the Super Bowl Parade. Senate President Karen Spilka speaks at an education forum in Franklin.
Homes for Families holds a lobby day at the State House. The Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School hosts a State of the Union preview with its spring 2019 fellows. The Acton chapter of Indivisible protests Howard Schultz's book signing in Cambridge.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "The Fight Against A Gas Line Project In Weymouth Is Fought Every Day In Charlie Baker's Lobby," by Mike Deehan, WGBH News: "There is a 47-year-old mother of two who spends her lunch breaks sitting in the elegant reception area outside the governor's office, waiting. Waiting for Gov. Charlie Baker. 'I'm waiting for him to follow the law. I'm waiting for him to do his sworn duty to protect the people of Massachusetts,' said Andrea Honore, a Weymouth resident dead set against the building of a gas compressor by the new Fore River Bridge."
- "DRAFT RULE WOULD CUT UNION CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES," by Matt Murphy, State House News Service: "State campaign finance regulators are proposing to close what critics have derided as a 'union loophole' by reducing the amount of money a union can contribute to a candidate for public office from $15,000 to $1,000. The Office of Campaign and Political Finance proposed the change in a draft regulation released Monday that will now become the subject of public hearings."
- "'Bill Weld can do anything he wants': Massachusetts LG Karyn Polito weighs in on mentor's 2020 presidential aspirations," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "Should Republican-turned-Libertarian former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld run for president in 2020? One of his former political mentees — now the number two official in Massachusetts — isn't giving her opinion."
- "MBTA commits to linking Red and Blue lines — eventually," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "The MBTA's next subway expansion project will link the only two branches that don't connect today by extending the Blue Line tunnel 1,500 feet under Cambridge Street to Charles/MGH Station on the Red Line. After months of lobbying by activists and elected officials, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority on Monday made a fresh commitment to building the so-called Red-Blue connector, a project that had been shelved for years ."
- "ML Strategies lobbying fees hit record level in 2018," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: " ML STRATEGIES REPORTED nearly $5.2 million in lobbying fees last year, breaking the previous record of just over $4 million that the company set in 2016. The company, the lobbying arm of the Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo law firm, listed nearly 70 clients in its 2018 report. The four biggest clients in terms of revenue were the New England Aquarium ($420,000), which is locked in a battle with developer Don Chiofaro over his proposed waterfront tower; Wynn Resorts ($242,382), which is seeking to retain its Massachusetts casino license in the wake of Steve Wynn's sexual misconduct; NextEra Energy ($240,000); and the Trustees of Reservations ($210,000)."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "President Trump's election set off a birth control boom," by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "Brigham and Women's Hospital researchers have documented a trend in women's health that had previously been reported mostly anecdotally: President Trump's election set off a birth control boom. In the immediate aftermath of the Nov. 8, 2016, upset election, women rushed to secure long-acting, reversible contraception — the kind that could feasibly last through the duration of a Trump presidency."
- "Mass. State Police Body Camera Pilot Begins," WBUR: "The Massachusetts State Police announced Monday it has started a six-month body camera pilot program. About 100 troopers will wear body cameras provided by several different vendors. Superintendent Col. Kerry Gilpin said in the statement the department will later pick 'the best solution' after trying out various cameras."
- "With CEO's exit, Partners HealthCare faces crucial decisions," by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey and Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe:"Dr. David Torchiana, as chief executive of Partners, grappled with this complex dynamic while leading an effort to better integrate the hospital system. Now, with Torchiana's abrupt announcement last week that he soon plans to retire, Partners and its flagship hospitals find themselves at another crossroads as they consider how aggressively to push further integration."
- "Harvard's top astronomer says an alien ship may be among us — and he doesn't care what his colleagues think," by Avi Selk, Washington Post: "What you can't call Loeb is a crank. When astronomers in Hawaii stumbled across the first known interstellar object in late 2017 — a blip of light moving so fast past the sun that it could only have come from another star — Loeb had three decades of Ivy League professorship and hundreds of astronomical publications on his résumé, mostly to do with the nature of black holes and early galaxies and other subjects far from any tabloid shelf."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Harris and Warren Gain Early 2020 Edge With Nomination Calendar," by Sahil Kapur, Bloomberg: "The first contests to pick the Democrat who'll challenge President Donald Trump in 2020 play to the strengths of Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, giving each a significant edge when voters begin winnowing the field of contenders. Both are talented fundraisers who set down markers by jumping in early to what's already shaping up to be a crowded field. Most polls of voter preference currently show California's Harris and Warren, of Massachusetts, trailing former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, who have made previous presidential runs and are better known."
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| IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN |
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- "Green New Deal won't call for end to fossil fuels," by Zack Colman, POLITICO: The first effort by congressional climate advocates to define their 'Green New Deal' will omit one of the most ambitious goals its supporters have demanded, sources told POLITICO on Monday: a firm date for ending oil, gas and coal development in the U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) are expected to introduce a resolution outlining elements of the plan within days, which will include a goal for eliminating the U.S. carbon footprint by 2030, according to multiple sources."
- "New Massachusetts energy efficiency plan to push storage, heat pumps and 'demand response,'" by Mary C. Serreze, Springfield Republican: "Massachusetts utilities have won approval for a 'nation-leading' plan to cut electricity and natural gas sales over the next three years. The 2019-2021 energy efficiency plan, approved by the Department of Public Utilities on Jan. 29, would cut aggregate retail electricity sales by 2.7 percent and cut natural gas sales by 1.25 percent within the three-year period.
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| THE CLARK CAUCUS |
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- "Impressive application lands Malden student an invitation to SOTU address," by Crystal Haynes, Boston 25: "A nomination to West Point would have been enough for one Malden High School student, but Representative Katherine Clark went one step further. 'By the way, spoiler alert she will be nominated for the United States Military Academy at West Point.' Malden High School senior Angela Tejada-Soliz has her heart set on West Point next year and with a nomination from Rep. Katherine Clark, she's one step closer."
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| KENNEDY COMPOUND |
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- "Joe Kennedy preaches 'moral capitalism' at Harvard Law," by Jon Chesto, Boston Globe: "Joe Kennedy started his push for 'moral capitalism' by urging local business leaders to help address the country's worsening income inequality. Now, the congressman is spelling out his ideas for how the federal government should tackle the problem. The Massachusetts Democrat spoke to a packed room at Harvard Law School on Monday, making his plea for a government unafraid to set new rules for a fair and just economy."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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- "Moulton to bring Coast Guardsman from Gloucester to State of the Union," WickedLocal Boxford: "Congressman Seth Moulton (MA-06) announced he will bring U.S. Coast Guard Seaman Sarai Childs as his guest to the State of the Union. Seaman Childs was one of the 42,000 members of the U.S. Coast Guard who went without pay for more than a month in the longest government shutdown in the nation's history."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Proposal would rewrite Boston's marijuana licensing process, give preference to local residents," by Dan Adams, Boston Globe: "Boston officials this week will consider sweeping changes to how the city licenses marijuana businesses, debating a plan by City Councilor Kim Janey to wrest unilateral control of the process from the mayor's office and give strong preference to companies whose owners were affected by the War on Drugs."
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| 2020 WATCH |
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- "Weld rejoins Republican ranks," by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: "IT'S BEEN THE latest political parlor game to hit the presidential sweepstakes: Will former Massachusetts governor William Weld jump into the race and, if so, will it be as a candidate of the Libertarian Party he recently swore lifelong fealty to or as an insurgent Republican looking to dislodge an incumbent president? We now know the answer at least to the party question: If Weld runs, he'll do so as Republican."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "SUPERMEN," — Globe: "In name, Partners; in practice, still unclear," "A rapturous reception." |
| THE LOWELL CONNECTOR |
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- "Lawrence police officer who lost home in Merrimack Valley gas explosions to be U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan's guest at State of the Union address," by Melissa Hanson, MassLive.com: "The Lawrence police officer who worked through the evening in September during the Merrimack Valley gas explosions despite his own house burning to the ground will be the guest of U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan for the State of the Union address. Trahan announced Monday that Officer Ivan Soto would be her guest for the address, which is scheduled for 9 p.m. Tuesday."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "At meeting prompted by brutality lawsuit judgment, Springfield police commissioner pushes for body cameras, improvements in internal investigation system," by Peter Goonan, Springfield Republican: "Police Commissioner John Barbieri told city councilors Monday that he looks forward to a consultant's recommendations for improving the internal investigation system for citizen complaints and continues to push for body cameras for all officers. Barbieri's comments followed a $250,000 award in a police brutality lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Boston in which the jury found that the city 'was deliberately indifferent to the civil rights of its citizens through a policy or custom of inadequately supervising or disciplining its police officers.'"
- REMEMBERING GARY LAPIERRE, from WBZ: "WBZ NewsRadio is deeply saddened to report the passing of our legendary morning news anchor and member of the WBZ Hall of Fame, Gary LaPierre at the age of 76. He passed away peacefully on Monday at home on the north shore, surrounded by his loving family. He was recently diagnosed with leukemia. For almost 44 years LaPierre's calm and steady voice prepared New Englanders for the day ahead." Link.
- REMEMBERING ALLAN R. MCKINNON, per his obit: "Mr. McKinnon, who was 88 when he died Jan. 26, [in 1982 criticized] lawmakers for approving with little or no debate a bunch of amendments, some of which benefitted the politically connected. It's not uncommon for lawmakers everywhere to do the same thing late at night, late in the year, or just before the holidays. Standing up to take to task colleagues on your own side of the aisle is far less common. And though Mr. McKinnon would ascend to a powerful post five years later when he became Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman, his brief speech that December day in 1982 derailed the aspirations he had for rising as a Weymouth senator in a chamber then led by William Bulger." Link.
TRANSITIONS - Morrison & Foerster launched a new Boston office with more than 30 lawyers. The eight partners are David Ephraim, Chuck Stavros, Beth Tunstall, David Givner, Joseph O'Donnell, Jonathan Jacobs, Alexander Rheaume and Gregory Bilton.
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY - to Ted Carr, the pride of Cohasset, who celebrated yesterday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Patrick Bruce, deputy political director at the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, Trevor Kincaid, and former state rep and North-South Rail Link advocate John Businger.
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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