News: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Boston mayoral POLL PENDING — ROLLINS vs WALSH

Monday, June 28, 2021

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Boston mayoral POLL PENDING — ROLLINS vs WALSH — More HOLYOKE SOLDIERS' HOME questions

Jun 28, 2021

SCOOPLET: POLLING TIME — The first major public poll of the Boston mayor's race in two months is expected to drop this week, sources say. With less than 80 days until the preliminary election, the Suffolk University/Boston Globe survey could shake up a field from which no clear frontrunner has emerged.

After remaining in flux through early spring, the race has seemingly stratified, with City Councilor Michelle Wu and acting Mayor Kim Janey at the top, state Rep. Jon Santiago and former city economic development chief John Barros at the bottom, and City Councilors Annissa Essaibi George and Andrea Campbell floating somewhere in between.

It's a through line that traces back to the last major public polls in April. Multiple internal polls have shown similar candidate breakdowns since, according to campaign sources. Even an unaffiliated survey in May that put Essaibi George ahead otherwise showed similar tiers.

Wu and Essaibi George have benefited up until this point from their name recognition as at-large councilors who've run citywide before. Janey, a district councilor, now has the power of the city's bully pulpit as acting mayor, giving her an advantage that the other district councilor in the race, Campbell, doesn't have. The four councilors have also all been in elected office longer than Santiago, who voters sent to Beacon Hill in 2018. Barros, who held a high-profile gig under Walsh's administration, hasn't run for office since his failed mayoral bid in 2013.

The Suffolk/Globe poll will serve as a key barometer for where the race stands just before the summer doldrums.

The sizable number of undecided voters in surveys thus far has left campaigns generally feeling that support is "movable." If the poll results show that undecided group is shrinking — or if they establish a true frontrunner, or shake up the field in any significant way — it could cause some strategic rethinking at a time when several are still trying to introduce their candidates. It could also set off a scramble to the airwaves (Santiago was first, followed by a super PAC backing Campbell) or turn what's been a relatively tame contest into more of a fracas.

The Suffolk/Globe poll isn't the only survey coming out soon. Essaibi George's team is back in the field, a source says.

GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. There's bad blood brewing between former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who's angling for a job as the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.

It's the latest fallout from the Boston police commissioner scandal. Rollins on WCVB's "On the Record" last week slammed Walsh for either "lying" about not knowing of the domestic abuse allegations against Dennis White when he appointed him police commissioner, or being a "terrible manager" for not knowing. Yesterday, OTR co-host Janet Wu said on the show that Walsh's supporters are "working overtime to stop her from being appointed U.S. attorney" — an appointment that would need to come from Walsh's pal and now-boss, President Joe Biden.

A source close to Walsh told me the Labor secretary has no knowledge of anyone trying to interfere with Rollins' candidacy, nor would he direct anyone to do so. U.S. attorney recommendations typically run through a state's senators, so Walsh shouldn't have much, if anything, to do with the process.

Rollins isn't concerned that speaking out against Biden's Labor secretary might affect her chances for the federal job, a source close to her told me. The top county law enforcement official — who works closely with BPD — stands by what she's said, including a tweet last week saying the imbroglio over White was distracting from police work at hand.

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

TODAY — Rep. Richard Neal joins Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle to tour River Valley Co-Op ahead of its grand opening on July 1. Neal then makes a "major funding announcement" to the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority at 1 p.m. Raise Up Massachusetts hosts a local launch of its campaign to pass the Fair Share Amendment at 5:30 p.m. in Union Square in Somerville. Boston mayoral candidate John Barros attends the Louis Casagrande Memorial at the Boston Children's Museum at 4 p.m. Boston mayoral candidate state Rep. Jon Santiago holds a virtual town hall on housing affordability at 5:30 p.m.

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THE LATEST NUMBERS

– "Massachusetts reports lowest single-day coronavirus case count since last March," by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: "Massachusetts health officials on Sunday reported the lowest single-day count of new coronavirus cases since last March… The Bay State reported 31 new virus cases on Sunday, breaking the previous low of 33 cases, which had happened twice in the last two weeks. The state also reported one new virus death on Sunday."

DATELINE BEACON HILL

– "Questions raised about independence of probe into Holyoke Soldiers' Home COVID-19 tragedy," by Andrea Estes and Rebecca Ostriker, Boston Globe: "... a Boston Globe Spotlight Team review of Baker's arrangement with former prosecutor Mark Pearlstein — including communications between the governor's office and Pearlstein — raises troubling new questions about whether the investigation was truly independent. The legal contract between the Office of the Governor and Pearlstein's law firm created an explicit attorney-client relationship, which could be used to keep their communications and other materials private and suggested Pearlstein was working for Baker, not the public. Such a contract is unusual for someone portraying himself as an independent investigator in such a highly public matter..."

– "'It's All In The Dark': Activists Call For Legislative Transparency On Beacon Hill," by Tori Bedford, GBH News: "[Ben] Cohen and other activists are urging legislators to change House rules to make records of committee votes public, ensure that bills are public 72 hours before they are voted on, and reinstate term limits for Speaker of the House — a proposal that current House Speaker Ron Mariano has opposed."

– "Senate President Spilka: Baker's Two-Month Tax Holiday 'Probably' Not Happening," by Zoe Mathews, GBH News/Boston Public Radio: "Senate President Karen Spilka told Boston Public Radio Friday the she expects the legislature to reject Gov. Charlie Baker's proposal for a two-month tax free holiday this summer."

– "OTR: Bill Galvin weighs in on redistricting debate in Massachusetts," by Ed Harding and Janet Wu, WCVB: "The Secretary of Commonwealth says his office has already been working with communities to prepare them to reprecinct, as he expect[s] to have Census numbers in mid-August."

– "An enormous racial wealth gap exists in Mass., and the state is responding by pushing home ownership," by Zoe Greenberg and Andy Rosen, Boston Globe: "The efforts, led by a new program to build homes for below-market sale in Boston and other cities, are an explicit recognition of the enormous racial wealth gap in Massachusetts, which has been fueled by a similar chasm in who owns homes here. Yet the program's limits also illustrate just how hard that gap will be to close. … even under the rosiest of projections, the program would finance about 2,000 new homes — far fewer than what would be needed to close the vast homeownership gap in a state where 70 percent of white households own their homes while just 36 percent of Black households do. Nonetheless, backers of the plan say it is a meaningful step forward."

– "House introduces bill to compel Harvard to divest of fossil fuels," by Kate Lusignan, Boston Globe: "Progressive Massachusetts lawmakers aligned with climate activists are trying something new to combat climate change: using their legislative power to force one of the country's most famous institutions to divest its sizable investments in the fossil fuel industry."

VAX-ACHUSETTS

– "Here are the eligibility deadlines for each of the Massachusetts vaccine lottery drawings," by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com: "Registration for the vaccine lottery opens next Thursday, July 1, but the five weekly $1 million drawings do not begin until July 26."

– "Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker offers tickets to The Weeknd, Enrique Iglesias as incentives for getting vaccinated against COVID-19," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "Massachusetts plans to launch another mobile vaccination clinic, this one traveling to 23 cities and towns to inoculate children alongside adults. Those who get vaccinated through the tour get a chance to win concert tickets to one of the three artists at TD Garden, as well as to the Kiss 108′s Jingle Ball."

– "Mass COVID-19 vaccination site at Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury closes," by WCVB: "The final vaccine doses at the Reggie Lewis Center were administered Sunday afternoon and it became the fourth of the state's seven mass COVID-19 vaccination site to recently shut up shop."

FROM THE HUB

– "Boston special police officers warn of increase in crime with upcoming police reform," by Alexi Cohan and Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "The head of the Boston Special Police Officers Association is predicting an increase in crime starting July 1 when changes from the state's police reform law will strip the city's special officers of their right to make arrests and write reports."

– "Winthrop shootings investigated as hate crime; shooter 'executed' people of color, according to the district attorney," by John Hilliard, Alexandra Chaidez and Camille Caldera, Boston Globe: "The shooting deaths of an Air Force veteran and a retired State Police trooper in Winthrop Saturday are being investigated as hate crimes, after officials found troubling antisemitic and racist statements written by their accused killer, according to Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins. Ramona Cooper, 60, a staff sergeant in the Air Force, and David L. Green, 68, the retired trooper, were each shot multiple times Saturday afternoon by 28-year-old Nathan Allen, after he crashed a stolen truck into a home on Shirley Street, Rollins said."

THE RACE FOR CITY HALL

– FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: State Senate Assistant Majority Leader Sal DiDomenico has endorsed City Councilor Michelle Wu in the Boston mayoral race. "Having served alongside her for nearly a decade, I know Michelle always shows up in community and stands up for working families with a bold vision and a track record of getting things done. She'll be the leader we need to support our public schools, make Boston more affordable, and create opportunity in every neighborhood," DiDomenico said in a statement through Wu's campaign.

– "Mayoral candidates divided on extending Boston superintendent's contract," by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: "The Boston School Committee gave Superintendent Brenda Cassellius a positive job review for her work during a difficult year and seems poised to grant her a two-year contract extension at its next meeting this week. But candidates for mayor are divided on whether her rocky tenure should be extended on the brink of an election for a new city leader and amid the turmoil and turnover on the School Committee, which is charged with hiring and oversight of the superintendent."

– "Hotel workers form super PAC to back Janey in mayor's race," by Gintautas Dumcius, Dorchester Reporter: "Hotel and food workers have formed a super PAC to bolster Acting Mayor Kim Janey, who was endorsed by their union, UNITE HERE Local 26."

DAY IN COURT

– "Nearly 110 drug convictions vacated in connection with Annie Dookhan scandal," by Jeremy C. Fox, Boston Globe: "A single justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court on Friday vacated nearly 110 drug convictions in Suffolk County in which disgraced former state chemist Annie Dookhan had tested evidence, as the fallout from the 2012 scandal at the state drug lab continues to grow. The cases were tossed at the request of Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins…"

– "'That boys' club mindset needs to be dismantled'; Former Wormtown Brewery employees seek legal action after reporting harassment," by Melissa Hanson, MassLive.com: "For more than a year, Kate Mastro felt uncomfortable working at Wormtown Brewery in Worcester. Mastro told MassLive she was subject to racist and sexual comments at work. Then the internet exploded with stories of harassment in the craft beer industry. … Mastro left Wormtown in May, as did Sarah Gibbons. The two former co-workers, who became close friends working at the brewery, are now pursuing legal action against Wormtown."

DATELINE D.C.

– "Sen. Mitt Romney: Donald Trump's election fraud claims are as 'unreal' as pro wrestling, but they undermine 'the cause of democracy and freedom'," by Benjamin Kail, MassLive.com: "Sen. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and 2012 Republican presidential nominee, downplayed former President Donald Trump's repeated false election claims as mere 'entertainment' akin to professional wrestling on Sunday."

MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS

– "Republicans And Democrats Are Divided Over Marijuana. Businesses Are Caught In The Middle," by Callum Borchers, WBUR: "Democrats and Republicans in Washington increasingly agree it is time to legalize marijuana at the federal level; the trouble is lawmakers don't see eye to eye on how to do it. Entrepreneurs caught in the middle of this debate often have to get creative."

– "Orleans pot shop negotiations halted after B/well files injunction," by Rich Eldred, The Cape Codder: "Retail cannabis outlet B/well Holdings has filed an injunction to stop the town from negotiating with its competitors after the select board earlier this month chose Ember Gardens and Seaside Joint Ventures to move forward in discussions about host community agreements. A third outlet, Dune Wellness, was chosen June 2 as the alternate despite B\well placing second out of five applicants in the town's scoring system."

FROM THE 413

– "'Where did these bylaws come from?': Brimfield Flea Market field owners, vendors want transparency as allegations of open meeting law violations arise," by Heather Morrison, MassLive.com: "A year after COVID shut down large gatherings and events across the state, the small town of Brimfield is buzzing over the reopening of its iconic Brimfield Antique Flea Market. But not for the reasons you might expect. There are concerns over ethics and potential open meeting law violations, a controversial new town bylaw regulating the market and issues between organizers and at least one of the town's police officers."

– "Springfield Diocese appoints new leaders to task force on sexual abuse," by Dusty Christensen, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "The diocese announced that Bishop William Byrne had appointed independent clinical social worker Irene Woods and the social worker and community activist Orlando Isaza as co-chairpersons to the task force. That task force is set to release a report at the end of the summer based on input from focus groups of survivors, community surveys and information collected from interviews with diocesan clergy."

THE LOCAL ANGLE

– "Massachusetts nurses strike: St. Vincent Hospital makes new offer, Worcester nurses call it 'not a serious proposal'," by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: "The hospital over the weekend sent over a third proposal to the Massachusetts Nurses Association, saying this third offer 'maintains generous wage increases, health insurance premium improvements for some nurses, and security enhancements.' This offer would also boost resource nurse staffing, limiting how many patients these nurses can take. But after Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare sent over the proposal to the nurses through the federal mediator, the Massachusetts Nurses Association said it 'provides no meaningful steps in response to the nurses staffing concerns.'"

– SHOT: "Medway group rallies against teaching critical race theory in schools," by Lauren Young, Milford Daily News: "In Medway, [critical race theory] has sparked distress in some parents who say the concept is designed to create an 'Us vs. Them' scenario, and will create further division in an already divided country. Medway For All, a newly formed community group, held a rally Saturday morning at Choate Park to speak out against critical race theory being taught in schools."

– CHASER: "Forum set for Charlton-Dudley school parents about critical race theory," by Kim Ring, Worcester Telegram & Gazette: "School Committee members said they'll hold a public forum next month to hear from parents concerned about recent professional development programs in which they believe teachers learned about critical race theory."

– Amid a lifeguard shortage: "At least 47 drownings in Massachusetts so far this year, up significantly from years prior," by Alexi Cohan, Boston Herald: "There have been at least 47 drownings in Massachusetts so far this year — 18 of which happened just last month — which is up significantly from years prior, prompting public officials to increase lifeguard pay and urge residents to exercise caution."

IN MEMORIUM – "Ian Menzies, former Globe columnist and managing editor, dies at 101," by Bryan Marquard, Boston Globe: "Mr. Menzies, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, died June 1 in his Linden Ponds home in Hingham. He was 101 and his health had declined since a joyous 100th birthday celebration that included Scottish bagpipes."

WATCH – GBH News' Adam Reilly, UMass Boston associate political science professor Erin O'Brien and I break down the current state of the 2022 gubernatorial race on Greater Boston.

MAZEL! – to Sarah Anders, communications for Michelle Wu's mayoral campaign, who got engaged to Anthony Scattaglia, a nonprofit fundraiser and bird and antiques enthusiast. Pic.

TRANSITIONS – Ayah Roda joins thinkjet strategies as a senior account executive. Link. Ron Cahill is now IP litigation partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

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