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Presented by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts
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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
SHOW ME THE MONEY — Sen. Ed Markey packed close to a million dollars into his war chest this quarter, with contributions from A-list donors like Barbra Streisand and Pierce Brosnan, according to first-quarter FEC reports. With $3.5 million in the bank, Markey's got the most cash on hand of any Senate Democrat up for reelection in 2020, according to his office. And that could come in handy if he faces a primary challenger. Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan is already considering running against him.
Rep. Stephen Lynch reports $1.4 million in his campaign account this quarter, which spanned from Jan. 1 to the end of March. He faces a challenge from Democrat Brianna Wu, who raised $23,000 this quarter and has close to $52,000 in cash on hand. Wu ran against Lynch in the primary last cycle, too.
Seth Moulton ended the quarter with $722,800 in cash on hand, after he raised nearly $207,000 and spent $290,000. Moulton is considering running for president, and his campaign finance report shows substantial spending on consultants. Overall, Moulton spent around $67,000 on consultants, including $8,000 to the Conrad Group and $15,000 to Schimanski for financial consulting. He also spent $25,000 on professional development consultant Alexandria Hilton Advisory.
Regarding the state's first-year lawmakers , Rep. Ayanna Pressley raised $188,000 this quarter, and ended with $127,335 in cash on hand. Pressley's donors included former Sen. Mo Cowan and former Gov. Deval Patrick. Fellow first-year lawmaker Rep. Lori Trahan raised $394,000 and ended the quarter with $364,000 in cash on hand.
And on the presidential front, Boston-area zip codes donated more than $135,000 to Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor who has caught fire in the presidential race. And New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand raked in more than $18,000 from donors who listed Cambridge zip code 02138.
Bay State donors to California Sen. Kamala Harris include former state Attorney General Martha Coakley, now a member of the government affairs team at Juul. Democratic fundraiser Sean Curran, who worked with former Gov. Deval Patrick, and Stacy Cowan, wife of the former Massachusetts senator, also donated to Harris.
DON'T RULE HIM OUT — Keep John Kerry on the corner of your radar screen. The former senator and secretary of state didn't exactly rule out a run for the White House on Tuesday.
Kerry and Joe Biden, the former vice president and likely 2020 candidate, attended the funeral of former South Carolina Sen. Ernest F. Hollings yesterday, where Biden delivered a eulogy.
"Mr. Kerry acknowledged that he had given some consideration to making a 2020 presidential bid of his own, but he said: 'I want to see what Joe is going to do,'" according to the New York Times . It was Biden's first visit to an early voting state this year, the paper noted.
In the fall, Kerry said he hadn't taken anything off the table in regards to a 2020 run, then weeks later emphasized that he was not actively pursuing the presidency. But this comment in South Carolina yesterday wasn't a hard no, either.
Kerry's ramped up his profile a bit in the last few weeks. His performance in a congressional hearing on climate change grabbed headlines, and Kerry spoke publicly for the first time about meeting with Vietnamese government officials to discuss a plan to ditch coal in favor of renewable energy.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — American Ancestors hosts the opening ceremony for the Mayflower 400th Anniversary. Former Gov. Bill Weld campaigns in Londonderry and Windham, N.H. Rep. Ayanna Pressley attends a tax day rally in Dorchester. Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigns in Utah.
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A message from NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts:
Abortion is key to equality. All people deserve care without shame, stigma, or unjust barriers. The ROE Act affirms the fundamental belief that living a safe and healthy life is a basic right. Abortion opponents are misrepresenting efforts to protect abortion access, using inflammatory, insulating language to score political points. Learn more |
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "CALLS MOUNT FOR DRUG MAKERS TO PAY FOR ADDICTION CRISIS," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "As state lawmakers prepare to debate a state budget that again calls for spending tens of millions of dollars to address addiction and substance use, one representative is offering up a plan that would have drug companies pick up the tab. Rep. James O'Day, a West Boylston Democrat, last week urged the Health Care Financing Committee to advance his bill (H 3654) to impose a new assessment on makers of opioids and benzodiazepines dispensed in Massachusetts. The proceeds would be dedicated to substance use disorder education, prevention, intervention, recovery and treatment."
- "State Releases More Heating Aid; Advocates Want Full Amount," Associated Press: "Gov. Charlie Baker's administration is increasing the amount of funding available to help low-income residents pay their heating bills. The announcement comes after several lawmakers and advocates for the poor objected to the administration's initial decision to release only $11 million of the $30 million in heating assistance authorized by the Legislature last month. The Department of Housing and Community Development said in a Tuesday email that it had agreed to release $19 million, with the remaining $11 million to be saved for use during next year's heating season."
- "Supporters decry move to ban youth tackle football," by Mary Markos, Boston Herald: "Youth football parents, coaches and kids are sending a message to Beacon Hill lawmakers: "Our children, our choice." Legislators are considering a bill that would ban youth tackle football until the eighth grade, and they're sounding the alarm on government overreach. "I'm really concerned about Massachusetts taking away the rights of parents to make a decision on behalf of our children," Littleton mother Jackie Sagl told the Herald. Former NFL pros, coaches, parents and players gathered in front of the State House on Tuesday for a "Save Youth Football Rally," in opposition of bill H.2007, titled an act for No Organized Head Impacts to Schoolchildren."
- "'I have been doing my taxes every year,' Lynn immigrant in US on TPS says as he lobbies for path to citizenship," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "As the tax deadline rolls around in Massachusetts, immigrants with temporary protections lobbying for a path to citizenship argued that their deportation could cost the country billions in the long term. "We are not asking for charity. Temporary Protected Status families have already contributed to this country," said Jose Palma, coordinator for the National TPS Committee and a TPS recipient from El Salvador."
- "DPU gives $168m offshore wind bonus to utilities," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES approved multibillion dollar offshore wind contracts with Vineyard Wind on Friday and, over the objections of Attorney General Maura Healey, authorized the state's three utilities to collect an additional $168 million from ratepayers just for carrying the contracts on their books. The contract approvals had been expected, both for environmental and economic reasons. But Healey and other groups fought hard against the bid by Eversource Energy, National Grid, and Unitil to collect 2.75 percent of the total contract value as compensation for overseeing the contracts."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "'There's no way for us to learn how to live': Foster children who age out of care suffer later in life," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "Children who age out of foster care without family have increased rates of incarceration, unwanted pregnancy and homelessness. According to the National Foster Youth Institute, 23,000 young people age out of foster care alone each year in the U.S. "They're the next generation of poor and homeless Americans," said Judy Cockerton, founder and executive director of Treehouse Foundation in Easthampton, an intergenerational community where families adopting children from the state's Department of Children and Families live alongside older adults."
- "Uber and Lyft may be forced from the curb at Logan Airport. But not taxis," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "The Massachusetts Port Authority's proposal to ban Uber and Lyft from the front of terminals at Logan International Airport is aimed at cutting down on congestion both at the airport and the busy roads around it — a worthwhile reason to mildly inconvenience passengers, officials say. The same rules, however, would not apply to the taxi industry, whose beleaguered drivers see it as an opportunity to regain some of the business they lost to their upstart competitors."
- "As strike goes on, impact on Stop & Shop is increasing," by Katie Johnston, Boston Globe: "The Stop & Shop on Newport Avenue in Quincy was eerily quiet Tuesday morning, the hum of refrigeration and chattering of product ads over the intercom among the only signs of life in the largely empty store. The deli and meat departments were dark, their counters mostly bare, and the produce display for bananas was barren. At the Roslindale store, bakery cases and the hot food bar were empty, kale and mustard greens were nowhere to be found, and the only open lanes were the self-checkout ones. The Hyde Park store was locked, as it has been since the strike began Thursday, according to picketing workers, while one of two Stop & Shops on Nantucket is also closed."
- "City Council President Andrea Campbell On Housing: 'We Have An Affordability Problem,'" by Tori Bedford, WGBH News: "Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell said the "increasingly hard" challenge of finding affordable housing in the city needs to be addressed. "We have an affordability problem, or crisis, from some perspectives in the city of Boston," Campbell said on Boston Public Radio Tuesday. "The question is, if you are a young person, a veteran, a senior or a family and you're working two or three jobs, can you afford to live in the city of Boston?" A home rule petition offered last week by City Councilor Althea Garrison would place a 7 percent cap on annual rent increases. Campbell said the proposal brings up a needed conversation with "varied perspectives" about the implementation of rent control in Boston."
- "Boston to name 3 finalists for school superintendent," by James Vaznis, Boston Globe: "Boston school officials are expected on Wednesday to announce three finalists for the superintendent's job, a diverse group that includes a former Minnesota education commissioner, a high-ranking Miami-Dade County school district leader, and a principal at a local Catholic high school who once served as Randolph schools superintendent. The finalists are Brenda Cassellius, the former state education commissioner in Minnesota; Marie Izquierdo, chief academic officer for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida; and Oscar Santos, head of school at the Cathedral High School in the South End and a former Randolph superintendent who worked in the Boston school system for 14 years and is a graduate of Boston Latin School."
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| ON THE STUMP |
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- LIKE A FISHERCAT: "Bill Weld says his primary challenge to Trump will be 'ferocious,'" by James Pindell, Boston Globe: "As soon as former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld walked into his first New Hampshire diner as an official Republican presidential candidate Tuesday, he spread his arms and proclaimed, "I am back." Two people clapped in a nearby booth. The rest of the diners appeared oblivious to the tall redhead in a leather jacket adorned with a Weld 2020 button."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren bets big on mega-campaign," by Christopher Cadelago and Alex Thompson, POLITICO: "As Elizabeth Warren's campaign developed its organizing strategy this winter, it spent big to bring on a whopping 161 staffers — nearly twice as many as her closest rival in the Democratic presidential primary. The early hiring spree, which cost Warren's campaign nearly $1.2 million in salary plus more on related expenses, amounts to a big bet on what it will take to win the 2020 presidential race. The buildup had Warren spending money almost as fast as she raised it at a time of year when presidential campaigns traditionally hoard their cash, according to new campaign finance filings. But the decision sheds new light on the priorities and strategy behind Warren's campaign, which believes organization in the early-voting states could make the difference next year."
- "Elizabeth Warren's policy proposals trigger fund-raising spikes," by Liz Goodwin, Jess Bidgood and Todd Wallack, Boston Globe: "As her fund-raising slowed to a trickle in mid-January, Senator Elizabeth Warren needed attention and campaign money, and she needed both fast. She traveled to Puerto Rico and then announced the first big policy proposal of her campaign: a new tax on the ultrawealthy. The idea generated days of headlines and a spat with billionaire Howard Schultz — and coincided with a bump in larger donations to close out the month. She's repeated the move frequently since then: a splashy policy rollout that helps her grab headlines and appears to generate a small fund-raising spike, according to a Globe analysis of the itemized contributions to Warren from January to March."
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| IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN |
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- "Sen. Ed Markey: 'We are now in the era of the Green New Deal,'" by David Roberts, Vox: "When it comes to the Green New Deal, most media attention has focused on first-term New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who's leading a leftist insurgency in the Democratic Party. But when she introduced the resolution to Congress last month — a resolution calling for a total, rapid, and equitable decarbonization of the US economy — it was with a co-sponsor by her side: Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "'Huge case of bitter grapes': Marijuana community divided over proposed crackdown on pot dealers," by Naomi Martin, Boston Globe: "Every day, the cars would cruise up the leafy Milton driveway to the $1.9 million mansion. The drivers would retrieve plastic cases full of brown paper bags, authorities said, returning hours later with cash. The scene described in a federal agent's affidavit led to the arrest this month of the home's owner, Deana Martin, 51. She was accused of conspiring to sell 220 pounds of marijuana through her unlicensed online delivery service, Northern Herb, which employed 25 people and allegedly paid no taxes. With sales of $14 million, Northern Herb was one of the biggest Massachusetts marijuana operations shut down in recent memory. But even now with recreational pot legal in the state, the size of Northern Herb and its many competitors shows that the illegal market continues to thrive — undercutting the legal trade, and filling a need for many consumers."
- P.S. If you use medical marijuana or CBD (or if you're a health professional who has worked with it), we want to hear from you. Tell us your story and a reporter might reach out.
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| 2020 WATCH |
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- "Democrats Who Really Like More Than One Presidential Candidate Have Found A Temporary Solution: Give Them All Money," by Tarini Parti and Jeremy Singer-Vine, BuzzFeed News:"About 1,600 donors have given more than $200 to multiple Democratic presidential candidates this year, with the largest overlap existing among donors who gave to both Kamala Harris and at least one other campaign. The data, along with interviews with some of the donors, reflects an engaged Democratic base that is keeping an early and close eye on the 2020 race, and suggests that voters are not too concerned about a drawn-out primary. There was also significant overlap between donors who gave to both Beto O'Rourke and Buttigieg and those who gave to both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, according to the analysis."
- "Moulton tapes 2020 launch video," Axios. Link.
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "SAVE OUR FOOTBALL," — Globe: "Strike taking big toll on stores," "The smoke clears, but damage runs deep." |
| FROM THE 413 |
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- "MGM Springfield Posts Its Second-Highest Monthly Revenue Figure," by Adam Frenier, NEPR: "The MGM Springfield casino had its second-best month of business in March. This comes after the casino operator acknowledged its first six months of business were slower than it had hoped. The resort took in $25.6 million last month, up nearly 20 percent from February. A state gaming commission report shows MGM Springfield had its best month of slot machine play, which helped lead to the overall increase."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "'Racism is real;' Worcester Public Schools students rally outside City Hall, call for superintendent's contract to not be extended," by Melissa Hanson, MassLive.com: "Addressing what they call issues of systemic racism in the Worcester Public Schools, students from the district on Tuesday called for a series of measures and asked that the superintendent's contract not be renewed. Four youth organizations -- the Youth Civics Union, the HOPE Coalition, the Worcester Youth Movement and the Worcester Youth Cooperative -- organized the Tuesday press conference outside City Hall on the heels of weeks of discussion about race and the public school system."
- "State orders more sampling at proposed compressor site," by Jessica Trufant, Patriot Ledger: "State regulators are requiring more environmental sampling at the proposed site of a 7,700-horsepower natural-gas compressor station on the banks of the Fore River after determining hazardous waste cleanup there may not be adequate. The state Department of Environmental Protection completed its own audit of the cleanup of the site and determined that the steps taken by Algonquin Gas Transmission, a subsidiary of Spectra Energy-Enbridge, did not fully comply with the state's hazardous waste cleanup regulations."
TRANSITIONS - Sharon Durkan was elected Chair of the Boston Ward 5 Democrats.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Dean Lieberman, founder and principal at DKL Strategies; Tom Hunt and Uber's Susan Effler
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? No! The Yankees beat the Red Sox 8-0.
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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A message from NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts:
We all deserve the freedom to control our bodies, our families, and our futures. Abortion is fundamental to our equality. But even in Massachusetts, people seeking abortion care face unjust barriers every day. The ROE Act affirms the fundamental belief that living a safe and healthy life is a basic right - as is the freedom to define our own path. Abortion opponents have been misrepresenting efforts to protect access to abortion care, using inflammatory and insulating language to score political points. With Roe v. Wade under threat like never before, our state has a duty to lead the way in protecting access to abortion care. Together, we can ensure that all people have access to abortion care without shame, stigma, or barriers. Massachusetts must lead by passing the ROE Act! Learn more |
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