News: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: WALSH keeps OPTIONS OPEN — STATE HOUSE staffers test POSITIVE

Monday, November 16, 2020

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: WALSH keeps OPTIONS OPEN — STATE HOUSE staffers test POSITIVE — GOP family flips to BIDEN

Nov 16, 2020

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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Happy Monday!

CABINET WATCH — Would Boston Mayor Marty Walsh join President-elect Joe Biden's administration? The mayor left his options open during an interview on WCVB's "On the Record," which aired on Sunday.

"There's a lot of talk and speculation. What I'm looking forward to, over the course of the next three or four years here, is working as a mayor with this president and with the White House," Walsh said.

A Walsh appointment would reshape the 2021 mayoral race. Walsh isn't officially running yet, but he'll have two challengers if he does seek another term. The odds are in Walsh's favor — an incumbent mayor hasn't lost in Boston in seven decades. But if he leaves, the city could be on track to elect its first mayor who is a woman of color, after electing its most diverse city council ever last year.

And if the mayor does plan to seek another term, it doesn't sound like he'll make an announcement in the immediate future. Asked what would make him a better mayor than candidates and Boston City Councilors Michelle Wu and Andrea Campbell, Walsh said: "When the time comes, I will state my case."

"I love my job. Those questions and all those decisions I'll be able to talk about a little more in the new year," Walsh said. "We're dealing in the midst of a pandemic … There's a lot of issues right here in Boston."

Speculation is also swirling around whether Attorney General Maura Healey, who has sued President Donald Trump countless times over the last several years, may be tapped for a role in the Department of Justice.

"I am hearing that our very own attorney general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is on a shortlist," said Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins, herself seen as a potential attorney general candidate if Healey moves on, during a GBH interview on Friday.

Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.

TODAY — Attorney General Maura Healey hosts a discussion on health equity priorities and a new report from her office on racial justice and equity in health. Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu hosts a press conference in Dorchester to call for climate action in light of Boston's King Tide.

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THE LATEST NUMBERS

– "Massachusetts reports 2,076 new COVID cases, 33 more deaths Sunday as number of active cases surpasses 30,000," by Benjamin Kail, MassLive.com: "Massachusetts public health officials on Sunday reported 2,076 new positive COVID-19 tests, bringing the number of active cases to about 30,374 statewide. Since the beginning of the pandemic, at least 182,544 people in Massachusetts have contracted the virus, which has infected nearly 11 million people across the nation. On Sunday, state Department of Public Health officials also announced another 33 deaths; at least 10,098 have died due to COVID-19-linked illness over the course of the crisis."

DATELINE BEACON HILL

– "More Massachusetts House staffers test positive for COVID-19 days after budget negotiations," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "Three more Massachusetts House employees who were in the State House recently reported testing positive for COVID-19, according to an email obtained by MassLive. Two House employees reported Sunday that they tested positive, according to the email to House staff. One was last in the building Monday, Nov. 9. The other was last in the building Thursday, the same day some lawmakers showed up for the final day of debating the House budget proposal."

– "Baker skips 'emergency' coronavirus meeting of Northeast governors," by Erin Tiernan, Boston Herald: "Gov. Charlie Baker skipped an emergency meeting with governors from the Northeast this weekend as states clamp down in an effort to get a lid on the uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus and health experts predicted more stringent pandemic regulations would soon be necessary."

– "Baker hits the way the House passed abortion measure," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday declined to say whether he supports or opposes the abortion access measure passed by the House on Thursday, but he indicated he did not like the fact that it was approved as an amendment to the state budget. Baker said he typically does not comment on bills making their way through the Legislature because they tend to change before they reach his desk."

– "Beacon Hill's shrinking GOP minority gets smaller," by Christian M. Wade, Gloucester Daily Times: "The state Republican Party ceded more ground on Beacon Hill in the Nov. 3 election, which has some activists calling for a change in leadership. Gov. Charlie Baker, the party's de facto leader, is riding a wave of popularity that is fueling speculation the Swampscott Republican will seek an unprecedented third term when his current one expires in two years. Elsewhere in the state, Republicans have seen their ranks dwindle."

– "Worcester Field Hospital To Reopen To Handle Covid Spike, Baker Says," by Mike Deehan, GBH News: "The state will reopen the field hospital at Worcester's DCU Center next month to handle any overflow of COVID-19 patients. Governor Charlie Baker made the announcement at his regular Covid-19 press briefing, saying the recent surge in cases warranted reactivating the field hospital, which was one of several opened across the state last Spring."

– "Suffolk D.A. Rollins on Kamala Harris' Record As a Prosecutor: 'These Are Hard Jobs,'" by Aidan Connelly, GBH News: "Suffolk County D.A. Rachael Rollins on Friday returned to Boston Public Radio, where she weighed in on last week's election victory for former Vice President Biden and Vice President-elect Harris – who herself used to be D.A. in San Francisco. 'I am very happy to be in this situation,' Rollins said of the Democrats' victory."

– "With cases rising, is Massachusetts avoiding a lockdown because it doesn't have to, or can't afford to?" by Tim Logan and Shirley Leung, Boston Globe: "Just a few weeks ago, much of Europe was where Massachusetts is now in responding to a resurgent virus, restricting some but not all business activity in the hopes that those regulations would be enough to contain infections. They were not, and now countries from Ireland to Italy, England to Germany, have closed up much of their economies, a hard but effective step that is starting to slow the spread in Europe. It could prove even harder in the United States."

FROM THE HUB

– "City councilor to mayor? In Boston, it's typically an uphill climb for challengers," by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: "More than a decade later, the stories are still fresh for Michael F. Flaherty: in his bid to unseat the city's definitive powerhouse incumbent, then-mayor Thomas M. Menino, the city councilor pulled out the stops, buying advertising atop every taxi in the city and even paying for a plane promoting his candidacy to fly over Fenway Park on Opening Day while his campaign handed out leaflets to Red Sox fans below. It was not enough."

– "Determining who gets the first COVID-19 vaccines, while swaying minds of those who decline," by Kay Lazar, Boston Globe: "With a potential COVID-19 vaccine suddenly closer on the horizon, planning is intensifying over which Massachusetts residents will be first in line to receive the shots and how to persuade communities that are deeply mistrustful of vaccines and the health care system to step forward."

– "Survey Of Mass. Residents Ties Viral Surge To Increased Indoor Gatherings," by Adrian Ma, WBUR: "As the rate of new confirmed COIVD-19 cases surges in Massachusetts, a recent survey of state residents suggests that an increasing number of Bay Staters have been engaging in activities that public health experts say are feeding the viral outbreak. For the past several months, a team of researchers from Northeastern University, Harvard, Rutgers and Northwestern University have been conducting a 50-state survey aimed at gauging how people's behaviors have changed during the pandemic."

– "Boston coronavirus numbers continue to rise with workplaces, gatherings and carpools adding cases," by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "Coronavirus case counts continue to climb all across Boston and spike in several hard-hit neighborhoods, the city says, warning people that new data points to carpools, workplaces and small gathering as drivers of the pandemic's spread."

– "'We are stronger now than we were then': Mass. hospitals better prepared for a second virus surge," by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Boston Globe: "Massachusetts hospitals are bracing for another surge in coronavirus cases, preparing to quickly add beds and ramp up treatment should the number of seriously ill patients soar again as it did last spring. Doctors and hospital officials are concerned about the growing numbers — hospitalizations in the state have nearly quadrupled since Labor Day — but so far, they don't expect a sudden crush of patients who require life-saving treatment like last March and April."

– "Boston Offers Rent Relief To Businesses Reeling From COVID," The Associated Press: "The city of Boston is offering more help to local small businesses struggling to stay viable amid the pandemic. Mayor Marty Walsh on Friday announced three new relief funds totaling $6.3 million. One will provide up to $15,000 to small businesses that are struggling to pay their rent. Another will make $15,000 grants available to businesses owned by minorities, women or veterans. The third will offer grants to restaurants to enable them to retain or rehire employees."

– "'I am left with nothing': Marriott Copley terminates half its staff, adding to the thousands of hotel workers unemployed around Boston," by Katie Johnston, Boston Globe: "The Marriott Copley Place, the second-largest hotel in Boston, reopened in August and is the latest local property to permanently lay off a substantial portion of its workforce with reduced severance packages. The Four Seasons on Boylston Street did the same thing in May, but after an outcry from workers and guests, the luxury hotel reversed course and offered full separation pay."

– "As Massachusetts coronavirus cases surge, contact tracing woes rise along with them," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: "Kim Hanton really needs you to pick up the phone. As the coronavirus surges once more across Massachusetts, contact tracing teams from local health boards to the state's Community Tracing Collaborative are staffing up and hunkering down to make thousands of phone calls a week to newly infected people and their close contacts."

– "As COVID Deaths Rise, An Attempt To Honor The Lives Lost," by Marilyn Schairer, GBH News: "Alex Goldstein of Waltham is founder and curator of the FacesOfCOVID Twitter account, which tells the stories of those who died in the U.S. from COVID-19. He archives the stories through news reports, obituaries and family submissions. As the number of deaths due to coronavirus in Massachusetts exceeds 10,000, Goldstein said he wants people to understand that represents more than just a number."

AS SEEN ON TV

– Gov. Charlie Baker weighs in on keeping schools open amid the coronavirus pandemic during an interview on WBZ's "Keller @ Large" which aired Sunday: "The problem here — and by the way, all over the world and in the rest of the United States — has been the informal, casual, no mask, no distance, no rules behavior that people have engaged in because of something that's now a coined phrase called Covid Fatigue. … We should all do everything we can to keep our kids, our economy and our schools safe. And the evidence at this point is that means the more time spent in rule-based, supervised, inspected, organized environments, the more likely it is that kids who tend for the most part, especially when you get into the teen years, to not really be great rule followers, the more likely we are to be successful in helping them stay safe by putting them in those kinds of supervised environments like school. Link.

DAY IN COURT

– "Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe chairman, an Attleboro resident, indicted in bribery scheme to build casino," by David Linton, Sun Chronicle: "The chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, an Attleboro resident, was arrested Friday and charged in an alleged bribery scheme that involved plans to build a resort and casino in Taunton."

WARREN REPORT

– "Elizabeth Warren slams Justice Alito over 'nakedly partisan' speech," by Celine Castronuovo, The Hill: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday condemned Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito over a speech he gave Thursday at the Federalist Society's annual meeting, which Warren called a 'nakedly partisan' address. 'Supreme Court Justices aren't supposed to be political hacks,' the former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate wrote on Twitter."

THE PRESSLEY PARTY

– "Rep. Ayanna Pressley: 'Trump is hellbent on squatting in the Oval Office,'" MSNBC: "Rep. Ayanna Pressley discusses Pres. Trump's refusal to concede and says Congress must act with 'urgency and boldness' to bring a second round of relief to those who need it most. "We have failed the American people," she says, citing the example of one of her constituents: an 11-year-old child who had to care for her infant brother while their only parent was put on a ventilator."

TRUMPACHUSETTS

– "Trump supporters rally in Ludlow; refuse to accept loss," by Dave Canton, Springfield Republican: "Just when you thought the 2020 presidential election was over, up pops the Million MAGA March in Washington and locally up to 40 Trump supporters rallying at the Mass Pike Exit 7, waving flags and cheering beeping motorists. Despite President-elect Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris picking up 306 electoral votes and easily winning the popular vote, the election isn't over yet — or at least shouldn't be according to many of the demonstrators."

– "Trump Lost In Massachusetts, But Built Latino Support In Gateway Cities," by Tibisay Zea and Simón Rios, WBUR: "For decades, Democrats have pinned their electoral hopes on the growing Latino population, but the 2020 election showed that the Latino vote is deeply divided on factors like nationality, geopolitics and religion. While Trump lost overwhelmingly in Massachusetts, this election showed a shift toward him in Gateway Cities across the state — places like Lawrence, Holyoke and Springfield. These are all cities with high concentrations of Latinos."

ABOVE THE FOLD

— Herald: "TRUMP DIGS IN: 'I CONCEDE NOTHING,'" "ENOUGH ALREADY!" — Globe: "A country splintered, a party divided," "Virus surge accelerates, cases pass 11m."

FROM THE 413

– "Retirements bring more new faces to Statehouse from Western Mass.," by Danny Jin, The Berkshire Eagle: "Western Massachusetts will bring some more new faces to the Statehouse next year, continuing a trend from the past few election cycles. Incumbents often have run unopposed — it's a tendency that, lawmakers believe, shows that residents approve of their performance — but retirements have opened spots in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties. That has meant less seniority and fewer leadership positions, but more new ideas and perspectives."

– "COVID-19 hospitalizations double at Baystate Health in past week," by Jeanette DeForge, Springfield Republican: "The number of patients hospitalized with coronavirus at Baystate Health facilities has more than doubled in a week. Currently, Baystate Health staff is caring for 72 admitted patients with confirmed COVID-19 infections, eight of whom are in the critical care unit, officials said."

THE LOCAL ANGLE

– "On Cape, consumer confidence key to curbing unemployment," by Gwyneth Burns, Cape Cod Times: "Unemployment has increased on Cape Cod since the COVID-19 pandemic collided with the region's seasonal economy. Now, legislators, community leaders and residents are trying to predict an uncertain future. Many businesses on the Cape were shut down for months after Gov. Charlie Baker's state of emergency declaration and mandated closures. They slowly began reopening in early June, and although the region's economy has not yet been able to run at full capacity, visitors are being welcomed back."

– "The Eslers of Sutton, with GOP part of family history, turn to Joe Biden," by Bill Doyle, Telegram & Gazette: "John Esler, a lifelong Republican, voted for Joe Biden this time around, the lone vote that brought Biden over the edge to win Sutton by one vote. A few years ago, John Esler never would have believed that one day he would help Democrat Joe Biden win the town of Sutton by one vote in the U.S. presidential election."

– "Cohasset middle and high school temporarily go remote after students attend house party," by Breanne Kovatch, Boston Globe: "Cohasset middle and high schools will be remote for the next two weeks following an underage student party Friday night at a private residence where the homeowners have been fined for violating the state's COVID-19 safety standards for social gatherings, officials said Saturday."

MEDIA MATTERS

– Vernal Coleman is joining ProPublica as an investigative reporter, after working as a reporter at the Boston Globe. Tweet.

TRANSITIONS – Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was named chair of Climate Mayors, a coalition of 468 U.S. mayors committed to "bold environmental action" and upholding the Paris Climate Agreement.

REMEMBERING CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 2 MARWAN S. GHABOUR, via MassLive: "Arlington school officials on Sunday remembered Chief Warrant Officer 2 Marwan S. Ghabour, one of five U.S. soldiers recently killed in a helicopter crash in Egypt, as a dedicated student, volunteer and teammate who was proud to serve his community and country." Link.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY – to Valentino Capobianco , chief of staff to state Sen. Paul Feeney; Brad Wyatt, Stephanie Harris and Minda Conroe, managing director for J Strategies, Inc.

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