| | |  | BY LISA KASHINSKY | With help from Anne Brandes ATTENDANCE RECORDS — A mayor, two state senators, a state representative and a businessman are running for a job with few official duties besides overseeing the Governor’s Council. Playbook asked the candidates for lieutenant governor: Have you ever been to a Governor’s Council meeting? Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll went to one meeting to support a local judicial nominee during the Patrick administration, per her campaign. She’s also been endorsed by Governor’s Councilor Eileen Duff. State Sen. Adam Hinds and businessman Bret Bero have watched meetings virtually (Bero noted he can’t attend a meeting in person because the State House remains closed to the public). Hinds has also spoken with councilors. State Sen. Eric Lesser’s campaign said he hasn’t attended a meeting but is in “close contact” with Mary Hurley, the governor’s councilor for western Massachusetts, and “follows the work of the Council.” State Rep. Tami Gouveia hasn’t attended a meeting, but has “discussed the role with several governor’s councilors,” according to her campaign. Playbook also asked each campaign for the dates of any meetings each candidate (they're all Democrats) attended and to provide proof of their attendance. None did. What is the Governor’s Council, exactly? It’s an eight-member board elected every two years that primarily vets and votes on judicial nominees and other governor appointees. The board also weighs in on pardons and commutations and certifies election results. Meetings are available on YouTube, and they sometimes get testy. GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Tanisha Sullivan is running for secretary of state. Sullivan, a Brockton-raised attorney and president of the NAACP Boston Branch, said in a launch video that she would strive to protect and expand voting rights, improve state government transparency by ensuring access to public records, and protect Bay Staters from fraud. Playbook reported last week that Sullivan, who’s been active on voting-rights issues, was considering a bid for the seat. “In light of obstructionism that continues to stand in the way of federal action on voting rights, it falls to state leaders to protect and expand the right of every Massachusetts resident to participate in our government, and to show what a truly inclusive, representative democracy looks like,” Sullivan said. "We cannot accept incrementalism.” Secretary of State Bill Galvin still hasn't said whether he'll seek reelection. Republican Rayla Campbell is running for the seat. Of the state's six constitutional officers, three — Galvin, state Treasurer Deb Goldberg and state Attorney General Maura Healey — haven't announced their 2022 intentions. TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and education officials make a testing announcement at 10 a.m. at the State House. Polito makes a grant announcement in Framingham at 8:45 a.m. Rep. Richard Neal makes a bridge funding announcement at 10:45 a.m. in Springfield. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu hosts a media availability at a new Covid testing clinic at 11 a.m. in Roxbury and is on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” at noon. Tips? Scoops? Still sad about the Pats? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com. | |
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|  | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
| — “Charlie Baker files $5 billion bond bill for workforce development, cybersecurity, public safety,” by Amy Sokolow, Boston Herald: “Gov. Charlie Baker filed legislation seeking almost $5 billion for investments in long-term priorities including public safety equipment upgrades, local infrastructure grants and IT modernization.” — From the opinion pages: “Mass. seeks to claw back at least $2.7 billion in jobless benefits it says were incorrectly paid,” by Larry Edelman, Boston Globe: “The Department of Unemployment Assistance made overpayments on about 719,000 claims in 2020-2021. It’s going after recipients even if they weren’t at fault.” | | VAX-ACHUSETTS |
| — “Boston-area coronavirus wastewater data keeps dropping: ‘I’m cautiously optimistic,’” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: “The Boston-area coronavirus wastewater data continues to plunge, sparking a bit of continued optimism from local infectious disease experts that the region could be in store for a rapid decline in COVID-19 cases.” — “As Massachusetts hospitals flounder with COVID surge, Gov. Charlie Baker announces emergency actions,” by Alison Kuznitz, MassLive: “Hours after Massachusetts hospitals executives sounded a dire alarm to the public about strained capacity amid the omicron-fueled COVID-19 surge, the Baker administration unveiled a slate of emergency actions to bolster staffing capacity.” — “Physicians call for hospital bed tracking system,” by Christian M. Wade, CNHI/Eagle-Tribune: “As hospitals battle a record surge of COVID-19 infections, physicians are urging the state to create a system to track empty beds in emergency rooms to ease capacity issues.” — “In less vaccinated Western Mass., overwhelmed hospitals, but progress on vaccinations,” by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Boston Globe: “The combination of a less protected population and the extremely transmissible Omicron variant means this part of the state is being battered especially hard by the current surge of infections.” — "'The struggle is real': Educators work to keep classrooms open despite COVID surge," by Carrie Jung, WBUR: "Potter Road Elementary School principal Larry Wolpe says the last two weeks have been like one giant game of Tetris. For a brief moment, he thought he had every classroom covered. But that didn't last long." — “Mean customers, panic attacks, and thousands of COVID vaccines: Retail pharmacists struggle with pandemic burden,” by Amy Sokolow, Boston Herald: “One retail pharmacist in a grocery store on the South Shore who’d been in his role for almost 25 years has been on leave since September, too scarred by his experience to go back after a mental breakdown.” — “State attorney general's office reviewing complaints against recently shut-down COVID testing sites,” by Sam Turken, GBH News: “The Massachusetts state attorney general’s office says it’s reviewing complaints against testing sites statewide that were recently forced to shut down after operating without a license. The state Department of Public Health on Thursday issued cease and desist letters to three testing sites in Worcester, Needham and Dartmouth — all run by the nationwide Center for COVID Control.” — “For marginalized groups, COVID testing shortages a bigger burden,” by Tiana Woodard, Boston Globe: “A lack of reliable transportation, jobs with little flexibility, and language barriers make the search for tests more grueling in low-income, immigrant, and BIPOC communities, advocates and public health specialists say.” — “Evergrande reneges on multimillion-dollar pledge to Harvard-led COVID project, another stumble in its ties to school,” by Rebecca Ostriker and Deirdre Fernandes, Boston Globe: “A financially troubled Chinese real-estate developer has reneged on a major pledge to Harvard University, leaving a shortfall of millions of dollars for a COVID-19 research effort involving hundreds of experts from academia and industry across Massachusetts.” | | WU TRAIN |
| — “For new Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, it’s trial by fire,” by Emma Platoff, Boston Globe: “Sworn in two months ago, Wu enjoyed a whiplash two-week transition period followed by a seemingly incessant barrage of new challenges — not least of which has been a resurgent pandemic driving record levels of infections, filling hospital beds, and sending the city’s school system to the brink.” — “‘Cards on the table’: Michelle Wu faces potentially tone-setting few weeks,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “At long-troubled Mass and Cass in the South End, whether an encampment will begin to regrow and how the city will deal with the crowds of people using and dealing drugs still on the streets remain open questions … the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to surge. … [And the] struggle between Wu and first-responder unions [over vaccine policies] will serve as a precursor to what is expected to be a broader fight over the next round of police labor contracts.” | | WHAT CITY HALL IS READING |
| — “COVID-19 vaccine mandate begins in Boston amid demonstrations by opponents,” by Laura Crimaldi and Andrew Brinker, Boston Globe: “As the city’s new COVID-19 vaccine mandate took effect Saturday, some 500 protesters marched through the Fenway to show their opposition to the policy, and Mayor Michelle Wu spoke out about how early morning demonstrations at her Roslindale home have impacted her neighbors and family. … The protests, [Wu] said, are a byproduct of widespread misinformation that the city seeks to neutralize with its vaccine mandates.” — More: “Boston won’t immediately start enforcement of worker vaccine mandate,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald. — “Embattled Boston Police sergeant, founder of anti-vax mandate group spars with police over vaccine passport,” by Erin Tiernan, Boston Herald: “Embattled Boston Police sergeant and founder of an anti-vaccine mandate group, Shana Cottone, sparred with officers over her refusal to show proof of her vaccination status in a restaurant Saturday as the city’s new vaccination requirements took effect.” | |
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| | FROM THE HUB |
| — From the opinion pages: “Sheriff Tompkins still ‘ready to assist’ on Mass. and Cass,” by Shirley Leung, Boston Globe: “[Suffolk County Sheriff Steve] Tompkins outfitted an entire floor of his South Bay campus for what he calls dorm-style living with flat-TV screens, armchairs, a gym, and beds, enough to accommodate 100 people. He has plenty of room … [but since] Tompkins made his offer, the Mass. and Cass unit ― controversial from conception ― has sat empty.” — U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins told WCVB's "On the Record" that there "may be" a role for the feds in addressing Mass and Cass: "We've seen situations where certainly there's human trafficking, there's drug trafficking there, we know that. It’s important for us to see whether we can bring the full weight and resources of the federal government into the conversation. … Those pharmaceutical companies that are pumping opioids into communities or doctors that are prescribing them, we can be helpful in assisting with things like that.” — “New Suffolk County DA says he'll focus on equity and fairness, no decision yet on seeking election,” by Deborah Becker, WBUR: “[Interim Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden says] there will be some differences between him and his high-profile predecessor Rachael Rollins, who is now the Massachusetts U.S. attorney. For example, the well-known ‘list’ of lower-level crimes that Rollins said the Suffolk DA would not immediately move to prosecute under her leadership. Hayden doesn't plan to have a formal list necessarily, but said reducing the rate of incarceration is important to him.” | | FEELING '22 |
| — MAYBE GETTING IN: Investor Chris Doughty has been calling around to Republican activists and party officials about a potential run for governor, three people who’ve spoken to him told Playbook on Friday. WBUR’s Anthony Brooks first reported Doughty’s name was floating around GOP circles. The Boston Globe’s Matt Stout has more on the Wrentham businessman. Doughty would be running against former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, who sent out a fundraising email over the weekend reminding supporters that he’s been campaigning since last July and that he “didn’t base my decision on who else might be in the race.” — “Labor unions top PAC fundraising,” by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: “Organized Labor, always a powerful force in Democratic-dominated Massachusetts, continues to hold sway heading into the 2022 election season — and nowhere is that clearer than in fundraising. The Office of Campaign and Political Finance put out a newsletter Thursday listing the 10 political action committees with the largest bank accounts at the end of 2021, and eight of them were union affiliates.” | | PARTY POLITICS |
| — “Baker spent $100,000 of campaign cash on MassGOP legal fight,” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “Weeks after announcing he won’t seek reelection, [Gov. Charlie] Baker’s campaign paid $100,000 to help fund [Republican activist Nicaela Chinnaswamy’s] sinuous legal fight to secure a seat on the Republican State Committee, the state GOP’s obscure governing body, which Baker has tried for years to seed with like-minded, moderate allies.” | | DATELINE D.C. |
| — “After a rough first year, CDC director Rochelle Walensky tries to correct course,” by Jess Bidgood and Felice J. Freyer, Boston Globe: “A star physician and scientist from Massachusetts General Hospital, Walensky was chosen by President Biden to take the helm of an agency that had been sidelined in the pandemic fight by the previous administration, with promises to restore its credibility. With an ever-evolving virus still raging, and the country still deeply polarized over the best tools for fighting it, it would not be easy. But Walensky has made a series of stumbles that exacerbated an already difficult task, according to multiple experts.” — More: “Walensky faces CDC burnout as pandemic enters third year,” by Erin Banco, POLITICO. | | FROM THE 413 |
| — "DA Harrington backs indicted Baltimore prosecutor; likely challenger questions commitment to Berkshire County," by Amanda Burke, Berkshire Eagle: "The top law enforcement official in the Berkshires took to Twitter over the weekend to defend the state’s attorney in Baltimore city, who was recently indicted on federal charges." — “Western Massachusetts needs District Court judges: Governor’s Councilor Mary Hurley signals glut of openings,” by Stephanie Barry, Springfield Republican: “Aspiring judges: polish up your resumes. Governor’s Council member Mary Hurley says this is your moment, particularly if attorneys are interested in District Court positions. Recent retirements and moves to higher courts have cleared a wide runway for judicial opportunities in the four western counties, according to Hurley.” — “UMass Amherst will require high-grade masks, such as N95s or KN95s, or double masks for students, staff during spring semester,” by Will Katcher, MassLive. | | THE LOCAL ANGLE |
| — MLK DAY: Bay State pols and activists marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day with calls to pass voting rights legislation ahead of a planned Senate effort that's predicted to fail. Sen. Ed Markey , Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark and Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Jake Auchincloss and Jim McGovern were among those who urged in speeches and tweets to abolish the filibuster to do it. Sen. Elizabeth Warren added her voice to the chorus on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on Monday night, where she acknowledged "we may not be able to carry this vote," but said if it fails "we get back in the fight." — “Aafia Siddiqui, the jailed terrorist at the center of synagogue hostage crisis, has Massachusetts ties; local Jewish community ‘on high alert’,” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: “The jailed terrorist at the center of the Texas synagogue hostage horror on Saturday has ties to Massachusetts, where she studied at prestigious institutions before becoming an al-Qaeda operative.” — “Families in Alabama have free, full-day prekindergarten while many Mass. families can only dream of it,” by Naomi Martin and Jenna Russell, Boston Globe: “[W]hile Alabama ranks much lower than Massachusetts on most education metrics, experts say it is serving its children and families far better in at least one important area: prekindergarten.” — “First woman to command USS Constitution takes over on Friday,” by The Associated Press: “Cmdr. Billie J. Farrell is scheduled to become the first woman to lead the crew of the 224-year-old warship known as Old Ironsides during a change-of-command ceremony on Friday.” — “Cambridge appoints Christine Elow as permanent police commissioner,” by William J. Dowd, Wicked Local: “Cambridge has elevated Christine Elow from acting to the permanent police commissioner, appointing the first woman to lead the city’s police department in its 163 years of existence.” — “Gloucester Mayor Greg Verga promises reset of City Hall,” by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: “Verga has long experience in municipal politics, serving for eight years on the Gloucester School Committee and six on the City Council. He takes office at a challenging time, with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 ravaging the state. Already, Verga said, he is getting vitriolic emails containing Nazi imagery and threats from residents who oppose new city mask regulations.” — “In Brookline, questions abound for the future of its police department,” by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: “The instability at the top of the department is unfurling amid a push by some in town to reimagine its approach to policing, efforts that have badly frayed the relationship between Brookline police and authorities running this town of roughly 63,000 people.” — “Five Lynn officers resign, another fired, following investigation into ‘racially offensive’ texts, drug use,” by John Hilliard, Boston Globe: “Five Lynn police officers have resigned, one was fired, and two suspended following a monthslong investigation into a text exchange that included ‘racially offensive language’ and evidence of drug use by officers, the city’s police department said in a statement.” TRANSITIONS — Samuel Gebru, former director of policy and public affairs at the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, is now a nonresident senior fellow at Tufts University's Center for State Policy Analysis at Tisch College. — Brittany Buford is Danielle Allen’s gubernatorial campaign manager. — Interim Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden has named Padraic Lydon as his chief of staff and Erika Reis as general counsel. His office said current general counsel Donna Patalano and chief of staff Amanda Teo will leave at the end of the month to pursue other opportunities. HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former Sen. Paul Kirk and David Jacobs, publisher of the Boston Guardian. Happy belated to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who turned 37 on Friday. 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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