Middleboro Review 2: 03/09/23

Thursday, March 9, 2023

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Baker's gone but not forgotten

Presented by Save Our Benefits Massachusetts

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: NEW RATINGS ARE IN — Charlie Baker sure has some staying power in the minds of Massachusetts voters.

Baker remains the most popular politician in the state, according to a new survey that shows 55 percent of respondents view the Republican governor favorably two months after he left office. And 27 percent view the new NCAA president unfavorably, according to the Change Research poll for Northwind Strategies.

Marty Walsh and Maura Healey are neck-and-neck behind him. Forty-two percent of respondents have a positive view of Walsh, while 26 percent view the outgoing Labor secretary negatively.

The new governor starts with a 46-percent favorability rating, while 31 percent view her unfavorably. The online poll of 711 likely 2024 voters was conducted Feb. 20-23 and has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

Then-Gov. Charlie Baker looks on as then-Gov.-elect Maura Healey talks to reporters on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. | AP

For Healey, these results are a benchmark. The survey was done before Healey released her first budget proposal — the clearest portrait yet of how the Democrat intends to govern. The next poll in the planned series will help capture whether voters’ attitudes change toward her because of it. And it'll show whether emulating — and in some cases exceeding — Baker's proposed tax breaks can help her close the polling gap with her predecessor.

Healey is "starting from a really solid net favorability rating. And she’s starting with a hardcore group of people who are very favorable to her” when looking at Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, Northwind Strategies’ Doug Rubin told Playbook. “In any political situation, that’s great to have.”

Rubin said the poll also carries a message for anyone thinking of challenging Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2024: "don’t." Warren’s favorability rating among all respondents was 47 percent, while 41 percent viewed her negatively. But she tops the list with a whopping 83 percent when it’s just Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents — aka likely Democratic primary voters — weighing in.

GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Diana DiZoglio is no stranger to standing up to legislative leaders from the inside. Now she’s trying to audit them from the outside.

DiZoglio told Playbook she wants to give taxpayers more access to one of the nation’s least transparent legislatures. And you can imagine what DiZoglio, who spent a decade serving in the House and Senate, might be looking to make public here. She’s well aware of how committee votes are kept private and what happens to lawmakers who buck leadership — things she fought against as a legislator and pledged to shine light on while campaigning for auditor.

DiZoglio wants access to a lot of things for her review: information about hiring and procurements, the committee-assignment process and "the adoption and suspension of House and Senate rules" were all listed in the letters she sent to Democratic leaders yesterday alerting them to the probe.

Then-state Sen. Diana DiZoglio campaigning for auditor on Nov. 2, 2022. | AP

Whether she gets all that is a different story. There’s some disagreement over whether DiZoglio actually has the authority to audit the Legislature. Former Auditor Suzanne Bump told CommonWealth Magazine she didn’t . DiZoglio points to the governing statute of the auditor’s office to say she does. But the Legislature’s exemption from public records law, which didn’t exist when the body was last audited a century ago, could complicate things.

And it seems she’s already meeting some resistance. A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka said her chamber has the power to "set its own rules," is already audited each year by a certified public accounting firm and already makes its journals, calendars and session recordings public.

TODAY — Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll visit Strong Women Strong Girls at 3:30 p.m. in Boston. Driscoll attends a Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce breakfast at 7:30 a.m., visits Beverly Middle School at 10 a.m. and visits Groundwork Lawrence at noon. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu speaks at the Greater Boston International Women's Day Breakfast at 9:50 a.m. at Simmons University.

Tips? Scoops? Thoughts on how the state's top pols stack up? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com .

A message from Save Our Benefits Massachusetts:

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DATELINE BEACON HILL

— OFF TRACK: Gov. Maura Healey blew her self-imposed 60-day deadline for hiring a transportation safety chief on Monday. On Tuesday she told reporters that bringing one on board will be a matter of “days, not weeks.” She’s also in the final stages of hiring her new MBTA general manager.

— “Healey setting new tone with Legislature,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “After eight years working with Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, everyone wondered how the Democrat-dominated Legislature would get along with Gov. Maura Healey. Judging from the governor’s presentation of her budget to a joint hearing of the House and Senate budget committees on Tuesday, it appears the relationship with her fellow Democrats is off to a good start. Healey came across as respectful of the Legislature’s role. She mentioned several times that she doesn’t have all the answers. She signaled a willingness to listen and collaborate with legislators on legislation. There was almost no tension during the lengthy hearing.”

— “Healey is pushing a plan to make calls free in Massachusetts state prisons — with limits,” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “Advocates who have long pushed to make phone calls free for the state’s incarcerated people appeared to have scored something highly unusual so early in Beacon Hill’s new legislative session: a seeming glide path to their priority becoming law. … But in reviving the issue, [Gov. Maura] Healey would also set a monthly 1,000-minute cap for free calls per person, making it one of the most restrictive such programs among those adopted across the country. She is also seeking to limit the change to the Department of Correction.”

— “Galvin seeks more money for early, mail voting,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “Testifying before the Legislature’s Joint Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, Secretary of State Bill Galvin said the $18 million proposed by Gov. Maura Healey for his election division is about $6 million short of what he says is needed to cover the cost of running statewide and local elections in the next fiscal year. … Galvin said cities and towns are still owed $1 million for costs incurred as part of the 2022 elections, which he said isn’t included in the proposed $18 million.”

— BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: Auditor Diana DiZoglio launched her audit of the Legislature hours after asking lawmakers for more money for her office during yesterday’s budget hearing at the State House, CommonWealth Magazine’s Jennifer Smith reports. A cheaper alternative, auditing government agencies every four years instead of three, was a recommendation the governor tacked onto her budget.

— STAYING PUT: State Rep. Jessica Giannino says she won't run for Revere mayor. She was one of several top pols eyeing the seat that's coming open after Mayor Brian Arrigo said he wouldn't seek a third term.

— "Governor Healey to establish a statewide missing persons unit," by Hanna Krueger, Boston Globe: "Governor Maura Healey is pledging to dedicate $300,000 to establish a new statewide unit for missing persons investigations, her office announced Wednesday."

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING : What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today .

VAX-ACHUSETTS

— “HCC, other colleges to drop vax requirement after spring semester,” by Mary Byrne, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “A year and half after the mandate first went into place, all Massachusetts community colleges, including those in Holyoke and Greenfield, will no longer require COVID-19 vaccines for enrollment.”

FROM THE HUB

— DECISION DAY: Two of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu ’s biggest policy priorities come before the City Council today — rent control and restructuring the Boston Planning & Development Agency. Wu’s rent-control plan has majority support from voters , per the Boston Globe’s Emma Platoff . But it’s facing pushback from councilors on both sides of the ideological spectrum and from the real-estate industry, which launched a nearly $400,000 advertising campaign to try and kill it. The council kicks off at noon .

— “Downtown Boston organization bashes BPDA reform mechanism,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “The Alliance of Downtown Civic Organizations is blasting the Wu administration’s approach to BPDA overhaul, particularly hitting it over the fact that only one of the nine members tasked with putting together reforms to the large-project permitting process is from a neighborhood group.”

— “Boston Police Commissioner Cox supports ending dismissal appeals,” by Saraya Wintersmith, GBH News: “Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox expressed support Tuesday for removing arbitration as an option for fired officers to regain employment. Cox, who officially assumed leadership of the department in August, said the police department should also improve the quality of its internal investigations and its disciplinary history records.”

— “Felix D. Arroyo retiring as register of probate,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “Felix D. Arroyo has retired as Suffolk register of probate and family court, opening up another one of the low-profile but high-paying countywide elected seats.”

A message from Save Our Benefits Massachusetts:

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “Ride-hailing drivers rally in support of bill allowing them to unionize,” by Lucia Maffei, Boston Business Journal: “[The bill would] grant drivers access to collective bargaining rights, discrimination protection, unemployment insurance, paid sick time and guaranteed minimum wage.”

— “After 3 ‘troubling’ incidents at Logan Airport, Stephen Lynch ‘demands’ review of FAA flight operations,” by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald.

DAY IN COURT

— “Judge considers requests for triple damages in official's ouster,” by Julie Manganis, Daily News of Newburyport: “A judge is now considering a request to triple the $820,000 awarded by a jury in November to the former chair of the Sex Offender Registry Board over her removal by former Gov. Deval Patrick in 2014.”

— "SJC rules that free speech at public hearings includes right to use ‘rude, personal, and disrespectful’ words," by John R. Ellement, Boston Globe.

WARREN REPORT

FOX NEWS????? NOT THE HEADLINE DIFFERS FROM SENATOR WARREN'S COMMENT!

— “Sen. Warren weighs in on movement to change Massachusetts state flag over 'White supremacy culture',” by Jon Michael Raasch, Fox News: “‘There are people who are reconsidering the flag in Massachusetts, and I support those efforts,’ [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren told Fox News in a brief exchange on Capitol Hill.”

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FROM THE 413

— “Holyoke councilor labeled ‘threat’ in police audit pushes back: ‘I am harmless’,” by Luis Fieldman, MassLive: “A recent audit of the Holyoke Police Department found low morale amongst the rank and file. At the top of the list of ‘threats’ listed under the section for patrol officers and detectives: City Hall. … The audit made note that Israel Rivera, an at-large city councilor, is a convicted felon and is the chair of the public safety committee. Another councilor, Wilmer Puello-Mota, is on bail release from Rhode Island on child sex abuse image charges. A city councilor previously referred to the department as a ‘gang.’”

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “UMass Dartmouth hid sex assault allegations against former police officer, report finds,” by Walter Wuthmann, WBUR: “A scathing investigation found the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth covered up allegations that a former campus police officer, David Laudon, sexually assaulted and harassed a student, allowing the officer to quietly resign and to go on to work for other police departments.”

MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

— “In testimony and rally, crowds oppose Republican-backed bills targeting LGBTQ youth,” by Sarah Gibson and Paul Cuno-Booth, NHPR: “The proposals before New Hampshire lawmakers include bills to restrict access to gender-affirming care and to classify such care as child abuse. Republicans in both the House and the Senate have also brought forward updated versions of a parental rights bill that narrowly failed to pass last year, after Gov. Chris Sununu and others raised concerns that it could violate the rights of LGBTQ students.”

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HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

TRANSITIONS — Former Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito , former Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone , former Boston Acting Mayor Kim Janey , former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis , 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jay Gonzalez , AAWPI's Diana Hwang , Boston economic opportunity and inclusion chief Segun Idowu, Keith Mahoney , Aisha Miller , Devin Quirk , Ellen Semonoff, Melissa Threadgill, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President and CEO Kenneth Turner , Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association President Steve Walsh , Mitch Weiss, Phyllis Rappaport, Elisabeth “Lissy” Medvedow, Elizabeth Graham , Myojung Chung , Celina Barrios-Millner and Christopher Norio Avery have joined the Rappaport Institute’s advisory board .

— Abundant Housing MA has hired Julia Davidovitz and Joyce Mandell as regional organizers.

— Elisabeth Reynolds has joined Unless as partner. She previously was special assistant to the president for manufacturing and economic development.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Emma Brodie and Axios Boston’s Mike Deehan.

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POLITICO NIGHTLY: Marijuana legalization takes a giant step backward

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BY CALDER MCHUGH

With additional reporting from Ari Hawkins

Workers on an Oklahoma cannabis farm trimming harvested buds. | Charlie Neuenschwander for POLITICO

RIP ‘TOKELAHOMA’ — On Tuesday, Oklahoma slowed the roll of marijuana legalization across the country, voting down full legalization in a referendum by over 20 points .

Since 2018, when voters backed medical marijuana legalization by double-digits, the state has earned the nickname “Tokelahoma,” with roughly 12,000 licensed marijuana businesses and nearly 400,000 patients (in a state with less than four million residents).

This latest result, though, proves that a majority of residents are uninterested in the further expansion of an industry that many Oklahomans complain has spun out of control, with police seemingly raiding a new illegal grow operation every week.

To date, 21 states have legalized recreational marijuana use, while 37 have approved some form of medical marijuana statute. But the product remains illegal at the federal level, which has led to contradictory regulations.

To discuss the state of the legalization movement and the growing backlash, Nightly spoke with Paul Demko , POLITICO’s cannabis editor. This conversation has been edited.

Oklahoma passed a medical marijuana legalization referendum in 2018. What has the state’s experience been with weed since then?

Oklahoma has created the world’s wildest weed market. There were initially no limits on business licenses, and licenses cost just $2,500 to obtain. Local municipalities can’t prohibit marijuana businesses from operating, as they can in most states. There are no qualifying conditions required to enroll in the medical program, so pretty much anyone qualifies. The end result is that there are roughly 12,000 licensed weed businesses in the state and nearly 10 percent of the population is enrolled in the medical program, by far the highest rate in the country.

Over the past decade or so, marijuana legalization has spread pretty rapidly across the country. But on Tuesday, voters in Oklahoma voted against going further. Is this a sign of a broader backlash or are there local factors at play here that are unique to Oklahoma’s experience with marijuana so far?

You can make a case for both. There is a broader backlash, as evidenced by Arkansas, South Dakota and North Dakota all voting down referendums in November. However, the rapid spread of legalization continues, with Maryland and Missouri passing adult-use referendums in November, and legislatures in Minnesota, Kansas and North Carolina, among others, taking up legalization bills this year.

But there were definitely unique circumstances in Oklahoma that caused huge problems for legalization advocates. There have been dozens of raids on illegal grows across the state over the last two years, with law enforcement officials saying that many have ties to organized crime. In November, there was a grisly quadruple homicide at a weed farm in rural Kingfisher County. Both the victims and the alleged assailant were Chinese nationals.

This constant stream of negative headlines has really tarnished the medical program in the eyes of many Oklahomans.

Tell us about the coalitions on both sides of Tuesday’s referendum. Which groups and interests lined up in favor of expansion, and which groups were in opposition? And are these battle lines similar to ones you might see in those other states that you referenced?

The alliance of legalization advocates is definitely familiar from campaigns in other states. Yes on 820 [the pro-legalization advocacy group in Oklahoma] was able to garner major financial support from national groups like the ACLU, Drug Policy Alliance and New Approach Advocacy Fund [a pro-legalization PAC]. What was somewhat unusual is that cannabis industry officials and legalization advocates in Oklahoma weren’t united behind the ballot measure. That likely depressed turnout among supporters and really hurt the chances of passage.

The opposition campaign was far more organized than you’ve seen recently in many states. It was chaired by former Republican Gov. Frank Keating and a former state health secretary under a Democratic governor. But perhaps more significantly, law enforcement was extremely galvanized and vocal in their opposition to the ballot measure. Their message was pretty simple and apparently persuasive: Recreational legalization will only make the crime problems associated with the medical program exponentially worse.

Does that speak to why the 2018 referendum passed pretty easily yet it appears that Tuesday’s referendum lost overwhelmingly? Right now, you mentioned North Carolina, Minnesota and Kansas are considering legalization bills. How might pro-legislation groups in those states learn from Oklahoma? How might opponents?

The dynamics were definitely far different from the medical marijuana referendum in 2018. The pitch five years ago was pretty simple: freedom. That’s an argument that resonated with voters of different political stripes and it passed by double digits.

This time around legalization advocates had to contend with the lived reality of the last five years. The proliferation of illegal operations and criminal activity, and just a sense that legalization has dramatically changed the staunchly conservative state, were too much to overcome.

The lesson legalization advocates should take from Oklahoma is that the promise of a safe, taxed, regulated market for a product that millions of Americans already consume better match reality. That’s not what many Oklahomans saw when they looked at the wild proliferation of weed businesses over the last five years. Instead, they saw an industry that operated with few rules and rampant criminal activity.

Legalization opponents will see Oklahoma as a lifeline for stopping the movement. There’s been a sense that something akin to national legalization is inevitable for some time now. In many states, the opposition campaigns have been poorly funded and not very organized in recent years. This could galvanize their efforts.

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on Twitter at @calder_mchugh .

WHAT'D I MISS?

— White House goes after Tucker Carlson by name over Jan. 6 coverage: The White House joined in widespread condemnation of Fox News star Tucker Carlson earlier today singling out the prime-time ratings king for his misleading portrayal of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 . The White House joined Republican Senate leaders and Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger, who a day earlier assailed Carlson’s broadcasts of selected assault footage as being “filled with offensive and misleading conclusions.”

— McCarthy rejects Zelenskyy’s invitation to Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to visit the embattled nation amid his hesitancy to greenlight aid was quickly shut down by the California Republican. When informed about the Ukrainian invitation, the speaker said he would not take the trip and held his position that the U.S. should not be sending a “blank check” to Kyiv, repeating a position he initially made last fall that sparked uproar from members of both parties.

— Louisville Police Department practices violated Constitution, DOJ finds: The Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government and the Louisville Metro Police Department had patterns of unlawful practices, Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a press conference in Louisville this afternoon . The DOJ investigation, the results of which Garland announced today, was launched after Louisville police officers shot and killed Breonna Taylor in 2020. That shooting sparked nationwide protests and calls for police reform.

NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024

NOT SHERMAN-ESQUE — Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who announced that he wouldn’t seek the Republican presidential nomination on Sunday, refused to close the door on a potential third-party bid in 2024. In an interview with ABC News, the moderate Republican said “I haven’t ruled that out [running as an independent]. But it’s not something I’m really working toward or thinking about… [though] the question keeps popping up more and more.”

AROUND THE WORLD

A protester wearing Georgia's national flag walks toward police line outside the parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia. | Zurab Tsertsvadze/AP Photo

TBILISI CLASHES — Riot police clashed with thousands of protestors on the streets of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, overnight after the country’s parliament passed the first reading of a law that would require media organizations that receive funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents.”

Opposition lawmakers and international critics say the measure — which appears to have broad support among Georgian lawmakers — underscore a pattern of unraveling democratic norms, and could threaten the country’s bid to join the European Union, Ari Hawkins reports for Nightly.

Police used tear gas and water houses to disburse the demonstrators, many of whom were spotted waving Georgian, EU and Ukrainian flags and chanting “no to the Russian law.”

Another round of protests took place earlier today, led by lawmakers who oppose the legislation. Nika Melia, a former member of the United National Movement party, vowed that “no matter how many times they disperse us, no matter how much gas they use, we will gather again and again, and there should be more and more of us.”

The bill, which still must be signed by the president, would compel media publications and NGOs that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as agents of a foreign state, or face steep fines. Critics have compared the legislation to laws in Hungary and Russia, which used similar policies to crush democratic norms.

Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili has also slammed the bill, and vowed not to sign the law if it crosses her desk. But the ruling party’s control over parliament means they could override her veto.

“U.S. officials, NATO officials, and EU officials are increasingly wary about dealing with Georgia, because they don’t feel that it can be a reliable partner, compared to countries that are making good faith efforts to push through these kinds of reforms like Ukraine or Moldova,” said Jeffrey Mankoff, senior associate with the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

While the country won its independence from Russia in 1991, Moscow has maintained strong financial links to the ruling party, and tensions between the Georgian public and Russia worsened after the Russo-Georgian War in 2008.

Georgia has applied to the European Union for candidate status, but EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned that the bill was "incompatible with EU values and standards".

Foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also slammed the law and advised the country against “decisions that may undermine aspirations of Georgia’s people to live in a democratic country which is advancing towards the EU and NATO.”

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the law "would strike at some of the very rights that are central to the aspirations of the people of Georgia."

Georgia applied for EU membership in March of last year. Ukraine and Moldova, who also applied at the onset of the Russian invasion, were granted candidate status in June.

NIGHTLY NUMBER

The number of Black women serving in U.S. Congress after the swearing in of Jennifer McClellan, a former Virginia state senator, who became the first Black woman to represent Virginia on Tuesday. Across both the House and Senate chambers, women make up about 28 percent of all members.

RADAR SWEEP

PAY-TO-BREATHE — India’s air pollution problem is rolling towards disaster and shows little sign of slowing down. As attempts to address the problems fail, a new kind of inequality is taking hold of cities in India. Facing potentially deadly air pollution outside, wealthier Indians are paying to breathe, spurring a booming market for air purifiers that is forecast to grow by 35 percent by 2027. But in a country already fractured down caste, gender and religious lines, and where the top 10 percent own nearly 80 percent of the wealth, paying for air isn’t an option for most. Read Akanksha Singh ’s dive into the rise of India’s pay-to-breathe industry for Wired.

PARTING IMAGE

On this date in 1979: U.S. President Jimmy Carter rides in a motorcade with Egypt's President Anwar Sadat in Cairo. Later in March, Sadat traveled to Washington to formally sign the peace treaty known as the Camp David Accords with Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin. | AP Photo