Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Baker maybe gets his way on taxes

Monday, July 11, 2022

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Baker maybe gets his way on taxes

SOME RELIEF IN SIGHT — After six months of prodding and pleading with lawmakers to adopt his $700 million tax-relief package, and with the state's coffers overflowing, it appears Gov. Charlie Baker could be partly getting his wish.

Democratic legislative leaders are moving ahead with a package of tax code reforms that borrow from the framework Baker proposed back in January: increase the senior circuit breaker tax credit and the child and dependent tax credit, offer assistance to renters and eliminate “the most punitive and archaic elements" of the estate tax "that have made Massachusetts a national outlier,” House Speaker Ron Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka and their chambers' budget writers said in a statement.

It doesn’t include the cut to the short-term capital gains tax rate that Baker wanted; that proposal didn’t advance out of the joint Revenue Committee. Nor did lawmakers mention his plan to raise the income threshold for residents to qualify for "no-tax status." But it does include an increase to the earned income tax credit.

The devil for Baker will likely be in the details of these tax code changes. And right now, those are very unclear. Democrats didn’t attach dollar amounts or percentages to anything in their four-paragraph statement, beyond saying the new relief package would include “at least $500 million worth of proposed changes to the tax code.” House lawmakers are expected to detail their plan later today.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Top Democrats did say their new plan, in conjunction with the $250 rebate they announced last week to help offset rising costs, could result in $1 billion in relief for taxpayers.

But the one-time rebate is being met with skepticism from some Republicans who’ve dismissed it as an election-year gimmick. And legislative leaders have received pushback from other Republicans, some Democrats and the Boston Globe Editorial Board for leaving out lower-income earners from this round of relief.

“Any time the government is giving back a surplus to the taxpayers is good,” GOP lieutenant governor hopeful and former state Rep. Kate Campanale said in a WCVB “On the Record” interview. “I want to see good tax policy put in place, not just a … check being handed out and suspiciously right in the middle of election season.”

Yet some Democrats facing tough reelection fights have been trumpeting the rebates. State Sen. Becca Rausch, who’s being challenged by Republican state Rep. Shawn Dooley, linked the proposal back to her rejected budget amendment that would have sent $200 debit cards to certain motorists. State Rep. David LeBoeuf, who’s made more headlines recently for a drunken driving incident than for his legislative work, touted his “press appearances on the issue.”

TODAY — Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito speaks at a ribbon cutting in Southbridge at 11 a.m. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, state Sen. Lydia Edwards and Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy host a district convening on food insecurity at 10:30 a.m. at Zumix in East Boston. Campanale and Chris Doughty host a press conference on their “Cape Cod Plan” at 2 p.m. in Hyannis. Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian heads to the White House for a “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” event with President Joe Biden at 11 a.m.

Tips? Scoops? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com.

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YAHD SIGNS AND BUMPAH STICKAHS

— FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Rep. Ayanna Pressley is endorsing state Attorney General Maura Healey for governor, saying in a statement that in “a moment when so much is on the line — from abortion access and reproductive freedom to economic opportunity and the accelerating impacts of climate change — we need leadership in the corner office on Beacon Hill committed to making real, positive change for everyone in Massachusetts.” Pressley joins the growing list of politicians, labor and activist groups that have endorsed Healey now that she no longer faces competition for the Democratic nomination.

— IBEW Local 2324 has endorsed state Sen. Eric Lesser for lieutenant governor. The union represents nearly 300 telecommunications workers in western Massachusetts and Connecticut.

— The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus has endorsed Sydney Levin-Epstein for Hampden, Hampshire and Worcester state senator.

— FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Quentin Palfrey has reserved $250,000 in television advertising beginning Aug. 23 in the Boston, Springfield and Providence markets. His campaign billed the buys as the attorney general hopeful's "first fall reservations for the primary."

Right now Palfrey, who trails his rivals in fundraising and cash on hand, is also behind in ad buys. Shannon Liss-Riordan , who's currently airing her first ad, has placed more than $450,000 in reservations, according to ad tracker AdImpact. Andrea Campbell has reserved more than $350,000 in ads beginning Aug. 23.

THE LATEST NUMBERS

— “State officials will scale back the frequency of COVID data reporting to one day a week,” by Travis Andersen and Martin Finucane, Boston Globe: “State officials said Friday they will scale back the number of times each week that they post COVID-19 data to the official dashboard from five days a week to just one, an alteration they say reflects the changing nature of the pandemic. The data will be posted every Thursday and the change takes place next week, the Department of Public Health said in a statement.”

DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “Baker says he would sign Legislature’s no-strings $250 rebate to taxpayers. But he hopes to see way more relief,” by Samantha J. Gross, Boston Globe: “Governor Charlie Baker on Friday said he’d sign a proposal that would send potentially millions of taxpayers a one-time $250 rebate to help offset the rising costs of food, gasoline, and other consumer goods, calling the proposal ‘a welcome piece of relief.’ However, he expressed hope the Legislature will pass more direct aid before lawmakers break for their summer recess on July 31.”

— “Gun owners aim to loosen firearm rules,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “Legislation filed by state Rep. Jeffrey Turco, D-Winthrop — on behalf of the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts — calls for eliminating the ‘suitability’ standard that gives local police chiefs discretion over issuing or denying firearm licenses, and shifting that authority to the state’s licensing system.”

FROM THE HUB

— “Boston paid $2.3M for outside counsel in past year as legal costs jump,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “The city of Boston spent $2.3 million last year on outside legal counsel, an increase over past years fueled by lawsuits, investigations and rising hourly rates, according to city data. … The largest beneficiary of the city’s legal woes is William Sinnott of Hinckley Allen & Snyder, the lawyer who helmed, at a cost of $400,196.54 to the city, the deeply damning investigation into the Mission Hill K-8 School that led to its closure.”

— More: “Boston, library janitor battling in dueling lawsuits after overtime scandal,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “Boston and former Mayor Martin Walsh remain enmeshed in an expensive set of dueling lawsuits with a former library janitorial supervisor as the city is still looking to clean up the mess left by an overtime scandal from a group of janitors in 2018.”

— “After generations of joy and tragedy, a family says goodbye to Boston’s Brighton neighborhood,” by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: “The Magee clan has inhabited this wood-frame 2-story, 4-bedroom house at 40 Waverly St. in Brighton since it was built in 1910. But time, and market forces, march on without regard for family memories or the birthplace of hometown heroes. The death of the Magee matriarch forced the family to sell their 2,500-square-foot homestead; a developer plans to raze it and build — what else? — condominiums in its place.”

— “Vandalism, threats to LGBTQ ‘Pryde’ Boston building spark community outrage,” by Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald: “The Hyde Park community came together Sunday afternoon to physically cover hate with love — putting sentiments of LGBTQ support over graphically violent death threats and slurs left on a community project the night before. The vandalism targeted the Pryde building construction, which will be the first building to offer affordable housing specifically reserved for LGBTQ seniors in the New England area.”

ON THE STUMP

— PICK A LANE: GOP gubernatorial hopeful Chris Doughty has repeatedly pushed back against being called a moderate and cast himself as a conservative at the state party convention in May. He’s eschewed comparisons to moderate Gov. Charlie Baker and said back in April he wasn’t knocking down Baker’s door for an endorsement.

Yet his running mate, former state Rep. Kate Campanale , is now making a pretty Baker-esque pitch for the corner office: “Chris and I are the choice for the middle. We’re the team that can find solutions in the middle,” Campanale said on WCVB’s “On the Record” over the weekend. She also highlighted her time in the Legislature and Doughty’s experience as an executive — another parallel to Baker, a former health care executive, and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, a former state representative.

Her messaging reflects the reality her team is facing: Baker won two terms with the help of independents and Democrats who are comfortable supporting fiscally conservative and more socially liberal Republicans. Now, behind in polls of the Republican primary, Doughty needs to convince independents to pick up a Republican ballot for Sept. 6 and vote for him and Campanale in order to counteract Geoff Diehl’s hold over more conservative and pro- Donald Trump Republican activists.

OTR was back in its usual studio this week because Campanale, unlike her lieutenant governor rival Leah Cole Allen, is vaccinated against Covid-19. But Campanale also said it’s “problematic” for people like Allen to be losing their jobs over not getting the jab.

— "‘I don’t think they’re going to make it.’ In only Mass. gubernatorial primary, Republicans face each other — and long odds," by Matt Stout and Samantha J. Gross, Boston Globe: "It’s a low-profile duel between two candidates with hazy contrasts, anemic fund-raising, and long odds at topping the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, Attorney General Maura Healey. ... Theoretically, the situation could prove a boost for Doughty and Diehl, offering an unexpected platform to energize Republicans and pitch unenrolled voters at a time when consumer prices are soaring and the economy threatens to slip into a recession. But even close, conservative observers have serious doubts."

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ROE FALLOUT

— “Massachusetts abortion protections bill could be on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk in roughly two weeks,” by Alison Kuznitz, MassLive: “A bill shielding abortion care providers and those seeking reproductive health care in Massachusetts could be sent to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk in just under two weeks, Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues told MassLive. The House of Representatives passed a bill … Rodrigues, during an interview Thursday afternoon, told MassLive he expects the Senate will soon tackle a standalone bill on reproductive rights ‘to ensure that we can get it done in time’ before the end of the legislative session.”

— “Biden says he’s mulling health emergency for abortion access,” by Hannah Fingerhut, The Associated Press: “President Joe Biden said Sunday he is considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources to promote abortion access even though the White House has said it doesn’t seem like ‘a great option.’”

— “Abortion after Roe: Democratic Massachusetts AG candidates outline strategies to protect abortion, reproductive health care,” by Alison Kuznitz, MassLive: “Just as Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey became known for relentlessly taking on former President Donald Trump on the national stage, her successor in the wide open race could similarly set the tone for reproductive health care protections across the United States, especially as the commonwealth becomes a critical safe haven for abortion services.”

— "Abortion divides Democrats in key primaries," by Gary Fineout and Lisa Kashinsky, POLITICO: "Democrats running for governor in several states have started publicly chiding their primary opponents for not doing enough to ensure abortion rights in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. ... Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee was criticized by his primary rivals for not going far enough to protect abortion access in the state."

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

— “Climate envoy John Kerry sees peril and opportunity as fuel prices bog down green energy push,” by Jess Bidgood, Boston Globe: “It has been a punishing six months for the effort to decarbonize the economy and stave off the most disastrous effects of climate change. And John Kerry, President Biden’s top climate-focused diplomat, expressed concern in an interview with The Boston Globe that time is running out. … 18 months into a job he had initially planned to stay in for just a year, Kerry also said he worried about too much ‘business as usual,’ and is somewhat evasive about how long he will stay in his post.”

— “Massachusetts doesn’t have a state climatologist. Here’s why that matters,” by Kate Selig, Boston Globe: “Though Massachusetts is still a leader among states when it comes to taking action to mitigate climate change, some experts worry the government’s unwillingness to fill the climatologist spot, which has gone vacant since its creation was proposed in 2014, is a missed opportunity.”

FROM THE 413

— “Five years in the making, Berkshire Flyer's inaugural run from New York City to Pittsfield a 'sold out' success,” by Meg Britton-Mehlisch, Berkshire Eagle: “As Train 1235 pulled away from Gate 6 at the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, an announcer welcomed passengers to the new Berkshire Flyer line with a phrase not heard in New York City in more than 50 years — ‘This train is en route to Pittsfield.’”

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Beside the nation’s first Black woman Supreme Court justice is her husband, a ‘quintessential Boston Brahmin’,” by Emma Platoff, Boston Globe: “He descends from British royalty and New England merchants, some who profited off slave ships or themselves owned people. She can trace her ancestors to plantations in the antebellum South, where they were enslaved. His forefathers led states and industries, accumulating vast wealth; hers were sharecroppers denied the profits of their own harvests. His family signed the US Constitution, a document that defined hers as less than fully human.”

— “Monica Cannon-Grant’s charity, Violence in Boston, shuts down,” by Flint McColgan, Boston Herald: “Violence in Boston, the charity at the center of a federal fraud case against its president and treasurer, Monica Cannon-Grant, and her husband has shut down. ‘I regret to inform you that Violence in Boston Inc will be suspending all programs and shutting down, effective immediately,’ Cannon-Grant wrote on her public Facebook page.”

— “How have Massachusetts school districts spent their $2.5 billion in federal COVID funds? Mostly, they still haven’t,” by Christopher Huffaker, Boston Globe: “Among the 78 Massachusetts districts and independent charter schools that have received over $5 million, the Atlantis Charter School in Fall River stands alone as the one to have spent more than 90 percent. Only five others have spent even half.”

— “A year after racial terror, failure to mark Pride, Juneteenth divides Winthrop over how to be inclusive,” by Alexander Thompson, Boston Globe: “A year after a white supremacist gunman shot and killed two Black residents in a rampage on a quiet residential street, the town is divided over what it means to be inclusive and what the town government’s role in promoting inclusivity should be.”

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

SPOTTED — two blue-state Republicans in the wild, aka Gov. Charlie Baker and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan having a drink together ahead of this week’s National Governors Association summer meetup in Maine.

TRANSITIONS — SHNS alum Katie Lannan starts today as GBH’s new State House reporter.

— Wesley Holmes is now the office managing partner of the Boston office of Latham & Watkins.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Sen. Ed Markey, WBUR’s Jack Lepiarz, Maximos Nikitas and Chris Maloney, partner at the Black Rock Group and a Mitt Romney alum.

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