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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Stephanie Murray is in New Hampshire this week to help with POLITICO's 2020 primary coverage, so I'm jumping back across the New York border to report on all things Massachusetts. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch with me at syoung@politico.com. Reach Stephanie at smurray@politico.com.
MASS. SENATORS (AND ROMNEY) VOTE TO CONVICT, REMOVE POTUS — U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey voted Wednesday to convict and remove President Donald Trump from office as the Senate wrapped up its impeachment trial with a mostly party-line vote acquitting the Republican leader.
Warren said she "voted to convict and to remove the president from office in order to stand up to the corruption that has permeated this administration and that was on full display with President Trump's abuse of power and obstruction of Congress." The Massachusetts senator, who is among several Democrats running to unseat Trump in 2020, added that she will "continue to call out this corruption and fight to make this government work not just for the wealthy and well-connected, but to make it work for everyone."
Markey called Senate Republicans' handling of the trial "a national disgrace that history will remember as a cynical and cowardly cover-up." "It is a dark day for the truth and for American democracy," he tweeted after the vote.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who now represents Utah in the U.S. Senate, was the only Republican to break with his party by voting to convict Trump on the first article of impeachment. Romney, in a floor speech explaining his vote, said he felt his "oath before God demanded it" of him. "My vote will likely be in the minority in the Senate, but irrespective of these things, with my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability believing that my country expected it of me," he said.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: 2020 ENDORSEMENT RACE — State Senate President Emerita Harriette L. Chandler today announced that she's endorsing U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy's 2020 U.S. Senate bid against incumbent Democratic Sen. Ed Markey. Chandler, in a statement released by Kennedy's campaign, said she was proud to back the congressman "because he fights for issues that are important to [her]." She added: "I trust Joe to continue the legacy that Massachusetts has set leading the nation on women's health care. ... I also trust Joe because he understands that Massachusetts is a tapestry of communities, each with their own needs and desires, and each integral to one another's success."
Becky Grossman, a Democrat running to succeed Kennedy in Massachusetts' Fourth Congressional District, meanwhile, announced that Democratic activist Ruth Shapiro has endorsed her campaign. "In 1940, I cast my first ballot to re-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Eighty years later, I am proud to cast my ballot to elect Becky Grossman as my representative in Congress," Shapiro said in a statement. "I know Becky is a fighter for future generations to come. I am glad to endorse her."
TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker joins Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack and MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak to announce 2020 MBTA infrastructure acceleration work. Lt. Go. Karyn Polito announces the launch of Phase II of RESPECTfully at Brockton High School. Polito then joins Lowell Mayor John Leahy, Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation President & CEO Larry Andrews and others for a Community Development Capital and Microlending grant announcement in Lowell. Polito later joins Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner John Lebeaux, Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty and Worcester City Manager Edward M. Augustus at the ribbon cutting for Worcester Public Market. State Senate President Karen Spilka meets with students with the Youth Advisory Council in the Senate President's Suite. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh speaks at the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America 30th Annual National Leadership Forum in National Harbor, Maryland.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Lawmakers punt on bill to ban nondisclosure agreements," by Mary Markos, The Boston Herald: "Lawmakers are using 'bogus excuses' to put off passing a bill that would ban legally binding agreements for silence, which critics argue perpetuate sexual misconduct with taxpayer dollars, instead sending it to study. 'I am incredibly disappointed that instead of working on this bill during the ample time we've had this session, bogus excuses were made, as it was tossed into a study,' Sen. Diana DiZoglio, who filed the bill, told the Herald. 'We don't need a study to tell us that it's unconscionable to empower sexual predators to be able to keep their abuse secret — so they can keep preying on new victims.' The joint Judiciary Committee sent the bill, which would ban nondisclosure agreements entirely in the public sector and in the private sector for issues of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct, to study this week."
- "Immigrant driver's license bill moves forward," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "A controversial bill that would create a way for undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts to get driver's licenses made it out of committee on Wednesday, the first step on a long path to becoming law. The House Transportation Committee approved the Work and Family Mobility Act on the deadline day for joint legislative committees to vote on bills. A second immigration-related bill, the Safe Communities Act, which limits communication between federal immigration authorities and local law enforcement, got an extension for consideration until May. The Work and Family Mobility Act, dubbed the 'Driver's License Bill,' would give an estimated 185,000 undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts a form of government-issued identification. It removes language from current law that says people who are not authorized to be in the country cannot get licenses."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "'Endless Need': Boston Seeks More Regional Cooperation To Help Adults Who Are Homeless," by Lynn Jolicoeur, WBUR: "Leanna Ramos had no ties to Boston before she ended up on the streets here in her late 30s, using heroin and fentanyl. She had lived her whole life in New Bedford. 'I had a traumatic experience, a trauma. My mother called the ambulance. They came, took me and dropped me off out here in the psych ward,' she explains. 'And then the psych ward said I'm OK, they don't need me there no more. I can't stay there no longer, and they dropped me off at the shelter.' Ramos says she had no options in Boston other than that shelter or the streets. ... Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's administration is revamping its plan to end chronic homelessness in the city."
- "City Councilor Andrea Campbell: Boston needs more diversity in police, fire ranks," by Sean Philip Cotter, The Boston Herald: "City Councilor Andrea Campbell is calling on Mayor Martin Walsh's administration to make Boston's emergency management systems more diverse — though the city's top diversity officer says Boston is actually on the right track. 'Our public-safety departments are overwhelmingly white, male and English-speaking,' Campbell said during Wednesday's city council meeting, when she introduced a hearing order on diversity in the city's emergency services. 'All of these departments are obviously drastically different than the city of Boston.'"
- "Massachusetts State Police overtime scandal: As troopers are sentenced, here is the status of their pensions and benefits," by Scott J. Croteau, MassLive.com: "As the Massachusetts State Police work to fire 22 troopers identified by authorities as being part of a sweeping overtime scandal, officials at the state's Retirement Board are still handling the cases of the troopers sentenced and charged in the case. A total of 10 troopers were charged in either state or federal court in connection with the overtime scandal with many of them already sentenced. Some of those troopers were not eligible for retirement benefits, but others were receiving pensions from the state. Two of them are still receiving benefits because they have not been convicted or sentenced while others had their pensions suspended."
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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- "PAC with Baker ties backs Dem primary winner," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "Kate Lipper-Garabedian, a lifelong Democrat from Melrose, said she was stunned when she looked inside her mailbox recently and found a piece of campaign literature she hadn't paid for promoting her candidacy for state rep. 'It caught me off guard,' said Lipper-Garabedian. The mailing cost $4,879 and was paid for by Massachusetts Majority, a super PAC with ties to Gov. Charlie Baker that launched last year. The PAC has raised $955,201 since May 13 and spent $272,308 on Republican and Democratic candidates. Last fall, the PAC supported 15 mayoral and city council candidates, 11 of whom won. Lipper-Garabedian, a Melrose city councilor, is heavily favored to be the 12th winner backed by the PAC."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "'It's not if, but when'; Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman says tribe still committed to Taunton casino," by Tanner Stening, MassLive.com: "'It's not if, but when.' That's what Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell told reporters Wednesday when asked about the fate of the long-promised, full-scale casino-resort planned for Taunton. 'The tribe is still an active player in Region C,' Cromwell, who oversees the Mashpee Wampanoag's government and finances, said. 'We're going to move forward. Our goal is progress, move forward and keep it going.' Cromwell's statements come the day tribal attorneys presented arguments before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which will decide whether the tribe qualifies to have land taken into trust — a special status that promotes tribal self-governance by exempting the reservation from state and local regulations."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren says she is being 'careful' with money as Iowa caucus results show her in third," by Jess Bidgood, The Boston Globe: "After appearing to come in third place in Iowa, according to partially-reported caucus results, Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday said she was 'fighting for every vote' in New Hampshire, touting a campaign operation she said was 'built for the long haul." But she acknowledged making one change in recent days: Canceling a flight of ads that had been scheduled to air in South Carolina and Nevada later this month. Speaking with reporters after a town-hall style event, Warren said the cancellation did not reflect a major strategic change."
- "Elizabeth Warren Bets on Hustle, Grit and Persuasion in New Hampshire and Beyond," by Charlotte Alter, TIME: "The morning after Monday's chaotic and unsatisfying caucuses in Iowa, a sleepless Senator Elizabeth Warren scarfed down a Sausage Egg McMuffin in the car as she raced to her first post-Iowa event in Keene, New Hampshire. But by Wednesday, she was back to her normal morning routine: oatmeal—followed by a packed schedule, executed at breakneck speed. 'No one can wear Elizabeth down,' her husband, Bruce Mann, said in an interview. While only 85 percent of the Iowa results have been reported so far, Warren appears solidly in third place. Despite her campaign's investment in a massive Iowa-based organizing effort, she's trailing Pete Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders in both delegate counts and popular vote totals. On the New Hampshire campaign trail, Warren spins the Iowa results as a stalemate."
- "Warren Tries To Reassure New Hampshire Voters After Iowa Performance," by Fred Thys, WBUR: "After an apparent third-place finish in Iowa, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is facing questions as she continues presidential campaign turns its focus to New Hampshire. Final results from Monday's Iowa caucuses are still not in, but with 83% of precincts reporting, Warren trails former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders. 'I see Iowa as showing that our team can work, that we were out there all over the state and bringing in volunteers, and the Iowa team is now leaving Iowa and going to other parts of the country,' Warren said in Nashua Wednesday as reporters peppered her with questions about her Iowa performance. 'We built an inclusive campaign and we're going to continue to do that. For me, this is about winning in the primaries, winning in the general, and strengthening our democracy.'"
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "Senate votes to acquit President Trump on impeachment charges," by Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press: "President Trump won impeachment acquittal Wednesday in the US Senate, bringing to a close only the third presidential trial in American history with votes that split the country, tested civic norms, and fed the tumultuous 2020 race for the White House. With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, senators sworn to do 'impartial justice' stood at their desks to state their votes for the roll call — 'guilty' or 'not guilty' — in a swift tally almost exclusively along party lines. Visitors, including the president's allies, watched from the crowded gallery. Roberts read the declaration that Trump 'be, and is hereby, acquitted of the charges.'"
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Mass. House passes bill to increase oversight of host community agreements between marijuana businesses and municipalities," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "The state's Cannabis Control Commission is one step closer to being able to review and enforce contracts between marijuana businesses and the towns and cities in which they seek to open up shop. The House passed a bill that would empower the CCC to oversee the contracts, known as host community agreements, after hours of debate Wednesday afternoon. About 121 voted for and 33 voted against the proposal. 'The major piece that we were trying to do today was to try to get a clarification,' said House Speaker Robert DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat. 'We heard from some of the folks that there was no clarification as to enforcement or where they could go if they felt they were wrong and some felt that the legislation as is right now wasn't clear enough.'"
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "'We're not Iowa' Gov. Sununu vows N.H. will get it right Tuesday," "Show's Over Dems' quixotic impeachment fails miserably" — Globe: "Divided Senate acquits Trump," "Firm says Boston misuses test for exam school admission," "Biden rips into his Democratic rivals after disappointing Iowa performance"
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| EYE ON 2020 |
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- "Globe punts on NH endorsement," by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: "The vote-counting isn't the only thing broken about the Iowa caucuses, says the Boston Globe editorial page. Of much more concern, the paper says in an editorial today, is the outsize role played in the presidential nominating process by a state whose demographics are far from reflecting those of the country as a whole. The same, it says, is true for New Hampshire, with its first-in-the-nation primary that comes right after Iowa's caucuses. With that, the Globe calls for an end to the tradition of the two small, overwhelmingly white states being the first to vote, a tradition that has allowed them to significantly influence the prospects for candidates. What's more, the paper declares that it is holding off on an endorsement until after next week's New Hampshire primary, forfeiting the regional influence it has traditionally wielded to 'play kingmaker.'"
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| FROM THE 413 |
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- "Springfield activists urge Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey to address human rights in Bolivia, Venezuela," by Damaris Pérez-Pizarro, The Republican: "Activists rallied Wednesday in front of the Western Massachusetts office of U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, urging them to advocate for human rights and democracy in Bolivia and Venezuela. The rally was organized by the Bolivia Solidarity Committee of Western Mass, Western Mass Latin America Solidarity Coalition and other community leaders. They asked the senators to issue public statements condemning the ouster last year of Bolivian President Evo Morales and U.S. interventions there."
- "Adams & Mohawk Trail woodlands Partnership gets $1.5 million grant for climate resiliency projects," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "The Adams & Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership received a $1.5 million grant for site improvements and a forest management study, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs announced Wednesday. The partnership received the largest grant of the 52 entities that got funding under the state's Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program. The grant would cover a feasibility study on forestry management, dam repairs, storm infrastructure upgrades and other improvements in the northwestern corner of the state."
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Webster state Rep. Joseph McKenna and Pamela Esler.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes and Yes! The Celtics defeated the Orlando Magic 116-100. The Bruins defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1.
FOR YOUR COMMUTE: NET ZERO TO HERO - On this week's Horse Race podcast, hosts Steve Koczela and Jennifer Smith talk with Senate President Karen Spilka and Sen. Mike Barrett about climate bills passed by the state Senate last week. Spilka also offers a look ahead at her chamber's next big priority: mental health. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud.
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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