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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. If you need a laugh, I've watched this video about 100 times.
CANDIDATE'S FATHER HAS CORONAVIRUS — State lawmakers are facing increased pressure to adjust election laws and signature-gathering requirements as the coronavirus pandemic hits Massachusetts.
Kevin O'Connor, who is running for Senate, said on Wednesday that his 86-year-old father has contracted COVID-19. Now O'Connor is renewing his call for the legislature to change signature-gathering requirements that candidates must meet to get on the ballot because of the disease.
And according to state Rep. Paul Donato, a decision on how to handle signature-gathering and elections during the pandemic is coming in the next 10 days.
O'Connor's father is being treated at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and his mother is in self-quarantine. O'Connor didn't say how his father contracted the infection, but added that he has a history of respiratory and coronary issues, and is legally blind.
"He did not feel well last Thursday morning. He went in to see the doctor late Thursday afternoon and he was tested. He received test results on Sunday," O'Connor told me over the phone. "I have a lot of faith in him as a tough former Marine, and he's a fighter."
Now O'Connor is also worried about his mother, who had been gathering signatures for his campaign. Senate candidates need 10,000 signatures to get on the ballot, a practice that involves sharing paper and pens, which O'Connor says is unsafe during a global pandemic. He wrote lawmakers a letter on Sunday. In a separate letter, more than a dozen Democratic candidates urged the legislature to push back the signature-gathering and nomination paper deadlines, which are in May and June.
Joining the chorus this morning is the Voter Protection Corps, a group of election law experts founded by Boston lawyer and former candidate for lieutenant governor Quentin Palfrey. The group says its demands, first reported here, will help the state address the "important balance between social distancing and protecting the right to vote."
The group is calling on Massachusetts lawmakers to expand early voting for the March 31 special elections and allow no-fault absentee voting in all elections during the state of emergency. The group also wants the state to grant a 30-day extension for campaigns to gather needed signatures, and be open to further extensions, or even lowering the signature requirements if the crisis continues.
The state's elections chief Secretary of State Bill Galvin is seeking expanded election powers to address the coronavirus. Donato, the Medford lawmaker, filed an election powers bill on Galvin's behalf and said his colleagues are working on it.
A solution will come "within the next week or 10 days at the latest," Donato said over the phone last night. That would involve a hearing by the Joint Committee on Election Laws and a floor vote, he said.
"The secretary, in my conversation late this afternoon, he feels comfortable that the Speaker and the Senate President are looking at this in earnest and trying to come up with a solution. What that solution is going to be, we'll have to wait to see what comes out of that," Donato told me.
In the meantime, Donato said candidates should continue gathering their signatures.
"If I was a candidate or an incumbent I would certainly be doing that, and trying to get to the city and town to present those papers," Donato said. Campaigns may want to use plastic gloves, have extra pens on hand and use sanitation wipes to clean pens between uses, he added.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — Rep. Richard Neal visits a site where kids are receiving food during school closures in Springfield. Rep. Joe Kennedy III holds a virtual town hall on coronavirus. Newton City Councilor and congressional candidate Jake Auchincloss hosts a virtual coronavirus town hall with Harvard Global Health Institute Director Ashish Jha. Newton City Councilor and candidate for Congress Becky Grossman holds a virtual town hall. Congressional candidate Alan Khazei hosts a virtual town hall on the coronavirus.
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GO GLOBAL ... FROM HOME: Global Translations, presented by Morgan Stanley, serves as your guide to understanding the global issues that impact us all without having to travel further than your inbox! You'll learn more about the power players and trends shaping our planet in ways you can apply to your own work and life. In the latest edition, author Ryan Heath ties together the global response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and the ways it's affecting 2020 election season in the United States, the health and financial crisis in Italy, and more. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signs unemployment benefits bill, announces tax extensions for some small businesses," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "Massachusetts will offer quicker unemployment benefits for laid off workers and extensions on tax collections for certain small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Wednesday. Baker signed into law legislation that waives the one-week waiting period for unemployment insurance to workers affected by the coronavirus outbreak or by the closures of restaurants and bars following the state of emergency declaration."
- "Mass. residents filed 20,000 unemployment claims Monday. That's more than all of February," by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "Massachusetts residents filed nearly 20,000 new unemployment claims on Monday, topping the total from the entire month of February and providing an early sign of the sharp economic pain wrought by the spread of the novel coronavirus. The 19,884 new initial claims flowed in a day after Governor Charlie Baker announced that all restaurants and bars would be limited to only takeout and delivery as of Tuesday ."
- "Day care centers ordered closed as coronavirus continues to spread," by Brian MacQuarrie and Stephanie Ebbert, Boston Globe: "As the number of coronavirus cases continued to climb sharply in Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker on Wednesday ordered most early education and child care centers in the state to close beginning Monday. Baker's announcement came as the state Department of Public Health reported 256 confirmed cases of the infectious disease, a 17 percent increase since Tuesday. Department officials also said that 1,168 Massachusetts residents remained in quarantine as potential coronavirus carriers."
- "House Employee Tests Positive for COVID-19," by Chris Lisinski and Chris Van Buskirk, State House News Service: "An employee of the Massachusetts House of Representatives has tested positive for the coronavirus-caused COVID-19 illness. House Speaker Robert DeLeo's office confirmed to the News Service that he wrote to all 160 representatives, their office staffs, and other House employees Wednesday morning informing them that someone who works in the branch received a presumptive positive result."
- "Trying to escape the coronavirus, the well-heeled flee to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard," by Dugan Arnett and Matt Rocheleau, Boston Globe: "The Steamship Authority terminals on Cape Cod are normally sleepy this time of year, free of the crowds that jam onto the ferries bound for Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard during the summer season. But in recent days, long lines of vehicles have formed. Passengers have been left behind because boats were unexpectedly full. On the islands, year-round residents who typically live in semi-isolation into May are noticing a sudden increase in traffic, with an abundance of New York and Connecticut plates.'"
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "No shelter in place for Boston, but it's an 'option,' mayor says," by Catherine Carlock, Boston Business Journal: "Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh is not yet ordering the city to shelter in place in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but he left open the possibility of such an order. 'I'm not saying that would never be a potential option. I think it could be very realistic that it's going to be an option. We're seeing what's happening in Italy. We're seeing what's happening in the Bay Area,' Walsh said during a Wednesday press conference. 'We could be standing here in four hours having a different conversation. ... We're monitoring this literally hour by hour.'"
- WATCH: "On any other weekday, Boston is bustling. Drone footage captures how the streets are now nearly bare," Boston Globe. Link.
- "Social discord: Coronavirus distancing ignored with massive line at RMV," by Meghan Ottolini, Boston Herald: "Well over 100 people waited in line shoulder-to-shoulder Wednesday outside the downtown offices of the Registry of Motor Vehicles, which failed to give clients the means to social distance in the state's latest dangerous coronavirus gaffe. Gov. Charlie Baker reopened seven of the state's 30 RMV locations Wednesday, including Boston's Haymarket center. RMV offices only permitted 25 people inside at a time, complying with the governor's social distancing orders inside — but outside was a radically different story."
- "Coronavirus testing locations: Drive-thru testing has begun in Massachusetts, but many require appointments, prescription from doctor," by Michael Bonner, MassLive.com: "As the coronavirus pandemic reaches Massachusetts, some health care providers in the state have started offering 'drive thru testing' for COVID-19. However, the name can be misleading. The testing is far from a made-to-order process available to everyone, which customers normally associate with drive-thru in the fast-food industry."
- "Worker Funds Launched To Help Those Shut Out By Coronavirus," by Andrea Shea, WBUR: "A fund to help Boston area restaurant workers suddenly out of a job because of the coronavirus could get some help from a new fund. The Restaurant Strong Fund launched Wednesday and aims to provide $1,000 grants to full-time restaurant workers who lost their jobs. It was seeded by a $100,000 donation from Sam Adams' founder Jim Koch, who committed to matching up to $100,000 in donations ."
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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| ALL ABOARD |
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- "MBTA ridership continues to plummet," Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "The MBTA estimated 106,000 people rode the subway system on Tuesday, which is about a fifth of the normal passenger level. Bus ridership was also off, with an estimated 198,000 passengers on Monday, down about 50 percent from normal levels. As the coronavirus prompts more and more people to stay in their homes, the T is seeing its trains and buses running with fewer and fewer passengers."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Sen. Warren to ask Trump to deploy Army Corps of Engineers for coronavirus help," by Alex Ward, Vox: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the one-time Democratic presidential hopeful, will ask President Donald Trump to deploy part of the military across the country to turn existing facilities into hospitals as part of the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Warren, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will send a letter to the president with the request on Wednesday."
- "Sanders, Warren push for halt to evictions during coronavirus crisis," by Tim Logan, Boston Globe: "The growing push to stop evictions during the coronavirus crisis gained some big-name allies on Tuesday. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Democratic presidential contender Senator Bernie Sanders sent letters to two major apartment industry trade groups and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development calling for an "immediate moratorium" on rental evictions due to the widespread job loss and potential health risks of the quick spread of COVID-19."
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| THE PRESSLEY PARTY |
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- "Ayanna Pressley calls for 'compassionate leave,' commuting prison sentences due to coronavirus," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: "Rep. Ayanna Pressley, citing concerns about prison conditions that could augment the spread of the novel coronavirus, is calling for compassionate leave for elders and the possible commuting of sentences for non-violent offenders to reduce overcrowding at the facilities. In a tele town hall Wednesday, Pressley called prisons a 'petri dish' for COVID-19."
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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- "Coronavirus economic stimulus should target low-, middle-income Americans, says US Rep. Richard E. Neal during tele-town hall," by Jim Kinney, Springfield Republican: "Stimulus checks from the federal government meant to head off long-term financial fallout from the coronavirus epidemic should go to people who make $50,000 a year or less, U.S. Rep.Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, said Wednesday. The idea, Neal said, is not just to help out the most needy. It's also to put money into the hands of people most likely to spend it quickly on everyday necessities."
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| ALL'S WELD THAT ENDS WELD |
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- "Weld ends long-shot bid for GOP nomination," by Stephanie Murray, POLITICO: "Bill Weld ended his quixotic primary campaign against President Donald Trump on Wednesday after winning only a single delegate in the 2020 contest. "Weld, the former two-term Massachusetts governor, pitched himself as an anti-Trump, pro-choice former prosecutor who supported cutting taxes and combating climate change. He backed Trump's impeachment, and was among a handful of Republicans who ran for the nomination and dropped out over the course of the election cycle."
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| KENNEDY COMPOUND |
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- "Joe Kennedy proposes direct payments of at least $4,000 to most American adults," by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com: "Rep. Joe Kennedy III has seen Sen. Mitt Romney's proposal to send $1,000 checks to every American adult in response to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic — and he wants to quadruple it for nearly 90 percent of the population. The Massachusetts congressman says he is introducing legislation that includes $4,000 in direct cash payments to every adult earning less than $100,000 a year — plus $2,000 for each of their children — to blunt the 'financial devastation' wrought by the global outbreak."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "SOCIAL DISCORD," "SICK PAY," — Globe: "Growing backlog on test results worsens shortage of protective gear," "For doctor on a break, the spread hits home," "We're all way behind the eight ball." |
| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Coronavirus and Worcester budget: 'Some hard decisions to make,'" by Nick Kotsopoulos, Telegram & Gazette: "The impact of the coronavirus outbreak has greatly complicated the city budget process, both in the planning of next year's budget and for the one in place this year. City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. said revenue assumptions that had been made in preparing the fiscal 2021 municipal budget are 'out the window' now because it is highly unlikely the city would be able to achieve certain benchmarks."
- "Coronavirus could claim more victims: Downtown Fall River businesses," by Jo C. Goode, Herald News: "It's 12:30 p.m. at JavaHouse Chew & Brew, a time when it's normally about 20 deep with customers lined up to order sandwiches, salads and coffee. Diners also usually fill the tables at the South Main Street eatery and bar. Not so on Wednesday, the second day of Gov. Charlie Baker's order that restaurants, bars and clubs can only serve food on a takeout or delivery basis for at least the next three weeks as the state grapples with the coronavirus pandemic that has gripped the nation."
- "Hourly workers stretching to make ends meet," by Dustin Luca, The Salem News: "For every business that has cut hours or closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, there are employees concerned about the future. 'None of us were expecting any of this stuff, so we're just taking it as it comes,' said Brittany Gebo, a local resident with two children, a third on the way and two jobs that have closed their doors for the time being."
- "Former Wellfleet residents lay low in Italy," by Cynthia McCormick, Cape Cod Times: "Former Wellfleet residents Jay Lesselbaum and Pietra Bono are living apart for now, albeit in the same house they share in Sciacca, Sicily. Bono, 55, is in quarantine through Saturday after returning from a visit to see a new grandchild on Long Island, New York. She's staying in the downstairs apartment the couple normally rents out, while Lesselbaum, her 75-year-old husband, roams the upper halls of the house nestled in a 4-acre olive grove. In a Skyped interview, the couple said it's a trying but necessary arrangement in a country felled by the COVID-19 pandemic."
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to congressional candidate Jesse Mermell, Jill Abramson, creative writing professor at Harvard; Abigail Webber, and Seth Rogovoy, who is 6-0.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? The home teams are not playing.
NEW EPISODE: HOME ALONE - On this week's Horse Race podcast, hosts Jennifer Smith and Stephanie Murray speak with state Rep. Jon Santiago and Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu about the coronavirus pandemic. 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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