News : POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: DELEO’S domino effect – VELIS opens up about ALCOHOLISM

Monday, December 21, 2020

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: DELEO’S domino effect – VELIS opens up about ALCOHOLISM – BROOKLINE rocked by SCHOOL REOPENING

Dec 21, 2020

Presented by Transportation for Massachusetts

GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Happy Monday!

DELEO'S DOMINO EFFECT — House Speaker Robert DeLeo hasn't left office, but the gears are already turning on Beacon Hill to choose his successor.

After rumors flew about his political future, DeLeo filed an official disclosure on Friday that he is discussing a new job with Northeastern University, his alma mater. DeLeo is the longest-serving speaker in Massachusetts history.

From there, things moved quickly . Majority Leader Ron Mariano, of Quincy, announced he would be a candidate for speaker if DeLeo leaves office on Friday. Mariano has long been considered the favorite to replace DeLeo, but the statement made his intentions official.

Also in the race for speaker: State Rep. Russell Holmes. The Boston lawmaker announced he'd run for speaker on Friday. If Holmes won, he would be the first-ever Black speaker of the House. And if DeLeo does move on, the shakeup would extend through the House, which begins a new session in January. The speaker selects powerful positions like the leadership team and committee chairs.

And back in DeLeo's hometown, the race to fill his House seat quickly took shape over the weekend. DeLeo has represented Winthrop and Revere for 30 years. Revere's Juan Jaramillo, the political coordinator for 32BJ SEIU, threw his hat into the ring on Friday. Also running is attorney Jeff Turco of Winthrop. Tino Capobianco and Alicia DelVento, both State House aides who live in Winthrop, say they are looking at running for the seat if DeLeo steps down. Marc Silvestri, the director of veterans services in Revere, is also eyeing a run.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: HALBERT RAISES $25K — David Halbert, a candidate for Boston City Council, raised more than $25,000 in the days after he launched his campaign.

Halbert, who is running for an at-large seat on the council, announced his campaign on Wednesday. This is the second election cycle in a row that Halbert is seeking a seat on the council, and he is pledging not to take campaign contributions from corporate PACs or police unions.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Massachusetts Playbook will not publish Dec. 23 to Jan. 1. I'll be back in your inbox on Jan. 4.

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

TODAY — Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is a guest on WBUR.

A message from Transportation for Massachusetts:

Transportation is the largest source of air pollution and carbon emissions in Massachusetts. The Transportation & Climate Initiative is a bipartisan, multi-state approach to limiting pollution based on a proven model from the electricity sector that has reduced costs for consumers and businesses while growing the economy. It's a smart approach to a big problem, and will improve quality of life for residents across the Commonwealth. Learn more at: www.t4ma.org/tci

THE LATEST NUMBERS

– "Massachusetts reports 4,162 new COVID cases, 60 more deaths Sunday as second vaccine rolls out," by Benjamin Kail, MassLive.com: "Massachusetts public health officials on Sunday announced another 4,162 residents have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the estimated number of active cases to 82,617 just as the second vaccine approved for emergency use in the U.S. began to ship to hospitals."

DATELINE BEACON HILL

– "Mass. Senate votes to expand abortion access, rejects governor's amendments," by Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "The Massachusetts Senate voted overwhelmingly Friday to reject Governor Charlie Baker's changes to their measure expanding abortion access. With only eight of 40 members voting to adopt the governor's amendments, the Senate returned the measure in its original form to the governor's desk."

– "'The bottom fell out': Rodrigues proud of Senate's work amid dire straits created by COVID," by Sam Drysdale, SouthCoast Today: "Walking through the Boston Common, beneath the shadow of the golden dome that houses some of Massachusetts' most important decision makers, a somber rendition of the usually-bustling park reflects the atmosphere inside the Statehouse. A ticket inside these days requires verbal confirmation of your good health, a personal escort in and out of the building and of course, a mask."

– "Citing A 'Culture of Corruption' In The Mass. House, Mattapan's Russell Holmes To Oppose Mariano," by Mike Deehan, GBH News: "Mattapan Rep. Russell Holmes doesn't want "backroom deals" to decide the next leader of the Massachusetts House of Representative, so he's challenging Majority Leader Ron Mariano's bid to become speaker assuming Robert DeLeo departs."

– "Sen. John Velis faces alcoholism one day at a time," by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: "If John Velis has a drink, he can't stop. Not at one drink, or two, or three. The end doesn't come until he is blacking out, crazy drunk, the kind of drunk where you wake up the next morning needing another drink. Yet it took two decades of drinking before Velis was ready to confront the truth about who he is. Velis is a Democratic state senator from Westfield, a US Army Reserve major, and the nephew of a retired judge. Velis is also, he now will say, an alcoholic."

– "Senate investigation finds Bristol sheriff's office broke law in denying state senator access to jail," by Jeremy C. Fox, Boston Globe: "Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson's office broke a Massachusetts law when it refused in May to allow a state senator inside its North Dartmouth jail, one day after staff violently subdued immigration detainees in a confrontation over COVID-19 testing, according to a state Senate investigation released Friday."

– "Mass. COVID-19 numbers continue to climb as Moderna vaccine added to state pandemic arsenal," by John Hilliard, Boston Globe: "Due to arrive just days before Christmas, the Moderna vaccine comes as Governor Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh renew calls for residents to avoid large, holiday gatherings to avoid opportunities for the often-deadly virus to spread."

– "Feds cut Massachusetts' Pfizer vaccine allocation by 20%" by Allison DeAngelis, Boston Business Journal: "The federal government has cut the number of Pfizer vaccine doses that Massachusetts will receive by 20%, Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday. The state is now expecting to receive 145,000 doses of the vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX) for the month of December. That's down from initial estimates of 180,000 doses."

– "Baker wants freeze on unemployment insurance rate," by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: "Gov. Charlie Baker is pushing to freeze unemployment insurance rates to help businesses facing massive increases next year as a result of record claims. On Friday, Baker filed legislation to halt planned increases in the contributions paid by employers to the state's unemployment trust fund."

– "Faith groups rally for racial justice at state leaders' homes," by Breanne Kovatch and Jeremy C. Fox, Boston Globe: "Members of faith groups gathered Saturday evening at the homes of top state legislative leaders and Governor Charlie Baker to urge passage of a police reform bill that protects people of color from racial profiling and sets standards for police accountability."

EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT TRANSITION PLAYBOOK, SUBSCRIBE TODAY: A new year is quickly approaching. Inauguration Day is right around the corner. President-elect Joe Biden's staffing decisions are sending clear-cut signals about his priorities. What do these signals foretell? Transition Playbook is the definitive guide to the new administration and one of the most consequential transfers of power in American history. Written for political insiders, this scoop-filled newsletter breaks big news daily and analyzes the appointments, people and emerging power centers of the new administration. Track the transition and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden administration. Subscribe today.

FROM THE HUB

– "Bodycam Video Shows 'mob Mentality' Of Boston Police Who Responded To George Floyd Protests, Lawyer Says," by Eoin Higgins, The Appeal: "Hours of video given exclusively to The Appeal show police officers bragging about attacking protesters and multiple instances of excessive force and the liberal use of pepper spray. As demonstrations against police brutality and abuse of Black Americans spread across Boston on the night of May 31 and early morning of June 1, the city's police department was out in force."

– "An off-duty officer crashed into a disabled grandmother. A year later, she's still fighting City Hall," by Andrew Ryan and Evan Allen, Boston Globe: "The blue line that protects problem cops ― even when they break the rules, even when they leave an elderly woman thanking God she is still alive ― is a powerful force. And City Hall's maddening bureaucracy can make it worse. Often, the meek and unconnected pay the price. In Castor's case, neither the off-duty officer who ran the light and T-boned her car nor the city has offered a penny to help her ― or even apologized."

– "Democrats lining up to replace Andrew Lelling as Massachusetts U.S. attorney," by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "Democrats in Massachusetts have their eyes set on an important local part of the Biden administration: the U.S. Attorney's Office, for which applications are now open to replace Andrew Lelling, one of the few conservative forces in the state — and at least five serious candidates are taking aim at it."

– "Boston city councilors, education advocates push for voting rights for student School Committee representative," by Alexi Cohan and Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "Boston city councilors and education advocates are pushing for voting rights for the only member of the city's School Committee not appointed by the mayor — the student representative, a change that could only come via home-rule petition."

– "One Block, One World," by Janelle Nanos and Shirley Leung, Boston Globe: "On Water Street in downtown Boston, the sound of silence is deafening these days — no office workers chirping into iPhones as they pursue their Starbucks fix, no unkempt men heading to the upscale barber, nobody chatting in what used to be the daily lunch line that stretched outside of Casa Razdora for its handmade pasta."

– "Encore Boston Harbor not for sale, casino President Brian Gullbrants writes to employees," by Melissa Hanson, MassLive.com: "The president of Encore Boston Harbor has assured employees that the Everett casino is not for sale. 'It has been falsely reported that Encore Boston Harbor is for sale. I want to assure you that our company has not engaged in any conversations about the sale of the property,' Brian Gullbrants wrote in a message dated Saturday, which was obtained by MassLive."

– "Some Mass. Charities Struggle, Others See Surge In Giving, As Need Increases," by Jack Lepiarz and Lynn Jolicoeur, WBUR: "The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on nonprofit organizations that serve people in need. Many have had to change the way they operate or the services they offer. Some are struggling to manage increased need with a drop in fundraising."

– "With sale of Legal Sea Foods, another Boston institution changes hands," by Larry Edelman, Boston Globe: "If it's not Roger, is it Legal? That's the question as Roger Berkowitz, the chief executive and public face of Legal Sea Foods, is poised to sign off as soon as Monday on the the sale of the restaurant business his family started in 1968 to PPX Hospitality Group, owner of Smith & Wollensky steakhouses and three Boston-area Strega restaurants."

THE RACE FOR CITY HALL

– "What Makes Michelle Wu Run?" GBH News: "If you pay attention to Boston politics, four-term city councilor Michelle Wu is a familiar figure, known for her electoral prowess and her determinedly progressive politics. But there are some aspects of Wu's political identity that even her fans might not be familiar with."

AS SEEN ON TV

– Rep. Ayanna Pressley on $600 payments included in an emerging federal stimulus deal, during an interview on CNN's "Inside Politics" which aired Sunday: "We have to get urgent relief to our families. Again, at this point, these are not stimulus checks. They're stimulating nothing. These are survival checks. This is about basic needs, about families needing to remain safely housed, about purchasing diapers and formula, inhalers, insulin. And the truth of the matter is $600 will not even cover a month's rent." The clip.

THE OPINION PAGES

– "States need stimulus — and we need it now," by House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka, The Hill: "State budgets, like spending plans everywhere, tend to be dry documents devoid of tantalizing headlines. But they are, fundamentally, where values meet action — a blueprint of how our representative democracy is going to support the people, ideas and initiatives that need us most."

WARREN REPORT

– "Warren re-ups bill to ban stock trading by lawmakers," by Maggie Severns, POLITICO: "While Georgia's two Republican senators fend off campaign attacks on their stock trading, their Democratic colleague Elizabeth Warren is re-launching her bill to prevent lawmakers from making individual stock trades."

THE PRESSLEY PARTY

– "Rep. Pressley Gets COVID Vaccine, Urges Constituents To Do The Same," by Saraya Wintersmith, GBH News: "Rep. Ayanna Pressley received the first of two vaccine shots Saturday and urged constituents to similarly guard themselves against the coronavirus. In a statement to GBH News, Pressley said she was in good health after her first dose."

FROM THE DELEGATION

– "Warren, Markey, Pressley, Clark, McGovern get first doses of coronavirus vaccine," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: "Members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation are getting their first doses of a coronavirus vaccine. U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Katherine Clark and James McGovern all said Saturday they had received their first shots of the two-dose Pfizer vaccines authorized for emergency use this month."

ABOVE THE FOLD

— Herald: "IT'S A DEAL!" "HOLIDAY MISSION," "UP NEXT," — Globe: "State seeks to ban lobstering for months," "Congress agrees on stimulus package"

FROM THE 413

– "Evictions return, and a sheriff in Massachusetts hunts for a humane approach," by Ellen Barry, The New York Times: "With a federal moratorium set to lapse on Dec. 31, America's vast eviction machine is gradually coming back online, allowing landlords to get rid of nonpaying tenants. The coronavirus struck in a country already chronically short of affordable housing. In September, the Trump administration announced a four-month halt in eviction proceedings, put forward by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

– "Contact tracers still busy in Berkshires, say household spread is main COVID source," by Heather Bellow, The Berkshire Eagle: "Contact tracing is considered a key to understanding the spread of coronavirus infections, and epidemiologists say precision is needed to control a pandemic. Leslie Drager, a registered nurse, said there have been some surprises: She hadn't seen as many infections from Thanksgiving 'as we expected.'"

TUNE IN TO NEW EPISODE OF GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS: Our Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, and these issues have exploded over the past year amid a global pandemic. This podcast helps to identify and understand the impediments to smart policymaking. Subscribe for Season Two, available now.

THE LOCAL ANGLE

– "How the School Reopening Debate Is Tearing One of America's Most Elite Suburbs Apart," by Noreen Malone, Slate: "If there was any place that could do in-person learning safely, surely it was Brookline. The town was well resourced and civic-minded, and the state of Massachusetts had kept counts relatively low and hired a giant corps of contact tracers. The parents—at least a significant chunk of them—wanted it."

– "Where do Worcester Red Sox fit into MLB picture?" by Bill Ballou, Telegram & Gazette: "It has been 400 years since the Pilgrims accidentally bumped into Cape Cod on their way to Virginia and the Worcester Red Sox are getting a sense of what that landing must have been like. The team moved from its longtime home in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and built a brand-new ballpark in the process, just as the coronavirus descended upon the world and just as minor league baseball underwent a cataclysmic transformation."

– "Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt tests positive for COVID-19," The Salem News: "Mayor Ted Bettencourt has tested positive for COVID-19. In a Facebook post Saturday night, Bettencourt said he contracted the virus through a household transmission. He said he learned of his diagnosis on Friday ."

– "Attleboro schools to go remote for at least two weeks in January," by George W. Rhodes, Sun Chronicle: "Attleboro schools will go to remote learning for at least two weeks after the Christmas holiday. The school committee vote 9-0 to make the change from the current hybrid model on Thursday. Remote learning is scheduled to last at least two weeks, but could go into February if the committee deems it necessary."

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — TRANSITIONS: Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell announces new hires to her mayoral campaign: Adam Webster will serve as general consultant, Juanita Tolliver will serve as senior adviser for communications, Nicole Serrano will serve as deputy campaign manager, Caroline Kimball-Katz will serve as communications director and Blanca Andrei will serve as finance director.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY – to Kalen O'Hare, Richard Purcell, Jakhari Watson and Judith Souweine.

A message from Transportation for Massachusetts:

Pollution from vehicle tailpipes causes lung disease and asthma. Recent research has shown that air pollution increases morbidity rates of COVID-19. We need smart approaches to solving this problem. At a time of uncertainty and gridlock in the federal government, states like Massachusetts must lead. The Transportation & Climate Initiative puts a cap on transportation emissions, requires polluters to contribute to the solution, and gives us all better and cleaner options for getting around. By participating in TCI, Massachusetts can create good-paying jobs fixing our region's crumbling roads, bridges, and rails -- and getting our economy back on track. Learn more at www.t4ma.org/tci.

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