POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Migrant plans in motion

 

BY LISA KASHINSKY With help from Kelly Garrity STAY TUNED — Maura Healey is expected to become the latest Democratic governor to declare some form of emergency over the migrant surge, according to a person familiar with her plans. Healey is holding a 10:30 a.m. press conference at the State House “related to the state’s emergency shelter system,” her office said last night. Healey’s team declined to elaborate further. The Boston Globe first reported Healey was considering an emergency declaration, which could help speed up state services for migrants and open up another avenue for the governor to press the Biden administration for federal aid. The number of families in the state’s emergency shelter system has surged since Healey took office, rising from less than 4,000 in January to more than 5,500 as of Monday, her administration said. Of those families, more than 1,800 are in hotels. Others are in empty dormitories at Eastern Nazarene College and Salem State University, and at a temporary shelter at Joint Base Cape Cod. Venezuelan migrants and volunteers gather in St. Andrew's Parish House in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., Sept. 15, 2022, after being sent to the island on flights organized by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration. | Carlin Stiehl/The Boston Globe via Getty Images Massachusetts is required to provide immediate housing to qualified families under the state’s 1983 “right-to-shelter” law. State data doesn’t differentiate between migrants and others seeking shelter, making it hard to quantify how many of the thousands of families in the emergency system are asylum-seekers. But local shelters can offer some insight there. John Yazwinski of Father Bill’s & MainSpring, which runs shelters south of Boston, told Playbook that upwards of 30 percent of the roughly 145 families the nonprofit houses a night are recent migrants. “In the past year or so, that number has grown so quickly,” Yazwinski said. “In years past, it’s usually been about 5 percent.” Yazwinski is among the providers pressing Healey to declare an emergency as a way of mobilizing more state and federal resources to deal with what he described as a “humanitarian crisis.” New York and Illinois have both declared emergencies as shelter systems in their biggest cities are overwhelmed by busloads of migrants sent from red states. Healey and other blue-state leaders, including Massachusetts’ all-Democratic federal delegation, have also been pressuring the Biden administration to expedite work permits for asylum-seekers. But today will test how far Healey is willing to publicly push the president as she serves as a surrogate for his 2024 reelection bid and calculates her own political future. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has openly criticized the Biden administration for not sending enough federal aid to his city — and was dropped from the Biden campaign’s national advisory board . California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, on the other hand, have been careful not to call out President Joe Biden by name as they call for help handling the influx of migrants to their states. GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Former President Donald Trump returns to New Hampshire for one of his first public events after pleading not guilty to charges that he conspired to cling to power after his 2020 election loss. He speaks at Windham High School at 2:30 p.m. Competing for attention in the Granite State today: a trio of former governors — Chris Christie, Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson. Read more on Trump's overlapping legal troubles from POLITICO's Erica Orden . TODAY — Healey is on GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” at noon. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll joins Healey’s emergency shelter announcement and speaks at the Vineyard Wind Sea Installer Vessel arrival event at 2:30 p.m. in Salem. Tips? Scoops? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com .   A NEW PODCAST FROM POLITICO: Our new POLITICO Tech podcast is your daily download on the disruption that technology is bringing to politics and policy around the world. From AI and the metaverse to disinformation and cybersecurity, POLITICO Tech explores how today’s technology is shaping our world — and driving the policy decisions, innovations and industries that will matter tomorrow. SUBSCRIBE AND START LISTENING TODAY .     VAX-ACHUSETTS — “State Police union celebrates ruling undoing punishment of unvaccinated troopers,” by Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald: “Days after an arbitrator ruled the state was unjust in punishing State Police troopers who refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19, the police union declared the decision a ‘victory for organized labor and our members.’ … The president also noted the union has another outstanding case in arbitration seeking to get 13 troopers who were dishonorably discharged reinstated. This most recent ruling, he added, ‘helps the case significantly.’” FROM THE HUB — MASS AND CASS MOVEMENT : City Council President Ed Flynn said the troubled Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard corridor would be his priority during his 10 days as acting mayor. On Monday, he stopped by the area to meet with officers who police the open-air drug market where homeless people congregate, Kelly Garrity writes in. “What is clear to me is how dangerous this area is and how open people are in using drugs,” Flynn said in a statement to Playbook. “Many are also experiencing significant mental health challenges as well. They desperately need a detox bed and medical care.” Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association that helped organize Flynn’s visit, said the “uptick” in weapons and violence in the area “makes our members nervous.” Still, Calderone told Playbook, the patrolmen’s union supports Mayor Michelle Wu ’s promised “change of direction” at Mass and Cass and doesn’t “have any higher expectation” that Flynn will take action while Wu is away . Also on the acting mayor’s docket: swearing in the newest city councilor. After winning 70 percent of the vote in a special election last month, Sharon Durkan officially became the District 8 councilor , filling the seat left open by new Boston Housing Authority administrator Kenzie Bok , who also started her new gig yesterday. — “Wu names two new BPDA board members, as agency awaits other changes,” by Greg Ryan, Boston Business Journal: “Mayor Michelle Wu on Monday named two new members to the board of the Boston Planning and Development Agency, the entity that she once campaigned to abolish but that she is now working to gradually reshape in alignment with her vision. ... Set to join the five-member board are Raheem Shepard, a regional manager for a carpenters’ union, and Kate Bennett, the outgoing head of the Boston Housing Authority. The City Council must approve the appointments.” THE RACE FOR CITY HALL — “‘It’s a clown show’: Boston city councilors make reelection push after chaotic term,” by Emma Platoff, Boston Globe: “The factions taking shape in this fall’s elections seem to roughly follow the same personal, political, and, in some cases, racial lines that split the council now. Mayor Michelle Wu and other progressives have lined up behind like-minded contenders, while some of the council’s most conservative voices and other traditional city power brokers — including former mayor Martin J. Walsh — are rallying behind the more moderate candidates in their respective races.” — “Flowers, ads, printing, fundraising: How the Quincy mayoral candidates are spending money,” by Peter Blandino, Patriot Ledger: “[Mayor Thomas] Koch, who started the year with more than $357,000, has outspent [Councilor-at-Large Anne] Mahoney by a more than 11-to-1 ratio, spending almost a quarter of a million dollars through June.” PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES — “Officials hope increased T ridership will outlast Sumner Tunnel closure,” by Daniel Kool, Boston Globe: “With the Sumner Tunnel closed, ridership on some key MBTA routes is up, state officials said Monday — and they hope new T riders will stick around even after the road reopens next month. … [MBTA GM Phil] Eng said ridership on the 111 bus has been ‘very robust,’ and the Blue Line has seen a ‘nice ridership increase’ of about 15 to 20 percent, although that figure shifts from day to day.” — “Worcester Regional Airport 2023 passenger numbers ‘stronger’ after pandemic,” by Liesel Nygard, MassLive. — “State shuts down Great Barrington railroad project after a worker is killed, pending a 'safety review' of contractor,” by Heather Bellow, Berkshire Eagle.   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 .     DAY IN COURT — “Feds: Dighton Air National Guardsman should remain in jail pending military secrets trial,” by David Linton, The Sun Chronicle: “Jack Teixeira, 21, of North Dighton, has been held in custody since his arrest April 13 and is asking a federal judge to overturn a magistrate judge’s decision to keep him in jail pending trial. … In court papers filed Friday, federal prosecutors opposed Teixeira’s release.” IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN — “Reviews very positive on Vineyard Wind 1,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: “Every lawmaker on a boat trip last week to see Vineyard Wind 1 is supporting the development of offshore wind, but actually seeing the nation’s first commercial-scale wind farm taking shape still made a big impression.” FROM THE 413 — “Northampton considers its own pregnancy center ordinance, which recently failed in Easthampton,” by Alexander MacDougall, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “The city may soon try its hand at enacting an ordinance strengthening rights to reproductive and gender-affirming care, even though a similar measure in neighboring Easthampton failed to muster enough votes to override a mayoral veto.” THE LOCAL ANGLE — FARM AID: The Massachusetts Farm Resiliency Fund started by the Healey administration and the United Way of Central Massachusetts to help central and western Massachusetts farms damaged by last month's floods has reached $206,000 , the Telegram & Gazette's Toni Caushi reports. The state's agriculture department estimates at least $15 million in crop losses from the storms. — “Maternity units in Mass. keep closing. But is that harming care?” by Jessica Bartlett and Zeina Mohammed, Boston Globe: "Already, dangerous complications from labor and delivery nearly doubled in Massachusetts between 2011 and 2020, according to a recent report. But it is unclear whether and to what extent it is the [maternity unit] closures that have driven these statistics.” — “Three years after Somerville police chief’s retirement, search for replacement continues,” by Sean Cotter, Boston Globe: “Three years and nearly five months ago, the police chief of Somerville announced his retirement. … But the city, now helmed by Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, still does not have a permanent replacement, leaving some residents and politicians wondering what’s taking so long in a progressive city that’s planning major overhauls of its public safety system.” — “North Reading native Rob Flaherty to serve as deputy manager of Biden reelection campaign,” by Nick Stoico, Boston Globe: “Rob Flaherty, 31, is serving as deputy campaign manager for the Biden-Harris ticket, where he will oversee the campaign’s digital, organizing, and paid media teams, a spokesperson said.” MEANWHILE IN RHODE ISLAND — “Sabina Matos can now vote for herself after moving into First Congressional District,” by Steph Machado, Boston Globe: “Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos has moved into the congressional district she hopes to represent. … [Matos] has been under fire lately after her campaign submitted nomination papers with the names of dead people on them, along with people who said they did not sign the papers. … [W]hile Matos is currently qualified for the ballot, the R.I. Board of Elections plans to meet [today] to consider whether to ‘commence further investigatory actions in this matter.’” HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH TRANSITIONS — Amy Helwig is the new chief quality officer for Commonwealth Care Alliance. HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Vinay Mehra , former president and CFO of the Boston Globe. 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 .   Follow us on Twitter Lisa Kashinsky @lisakashinsky   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Ottawa Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters FOLLOW US

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Why Biden isn’t getting more credit for everything that's going right

He will. Just be patient.

ROBERT REICH AUG 8

It seems like every day, a reporter calls, asking me why Biden isn’t getting more credit for an America that’s better off than it’s been in decades.

After all, inflation has plunged from 9 percent last year to 3 percent now. Real wages are up. Consumer confidence is up. Jobs continue to surge. Unemployment is near a record low. Gas prices are down. Manufacturing is making a comeback.

Other aspects of American life have taken a turn for the better, too. Violent crime is down. Covid deaths are down. Illegal immigration has fallen. Roads and bridges are finally getting repaired.

Yet just 39 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s performance, according to the latest survey by The New York Times and Siena College.

An average of recent polls puts his approval at 41.2 percent.

That’s lower than every president at this stage of their term in the last three-quarters of a century, other than Jimmy Carter. And we know what happened to Carter.

Even more disturbing, the Times-Siena survey found Biden deadlocked at 43 percent to 43 percent with Trump.

So, should we be worried about the gap between how well America is doing under Biden and how poorly Biden is polling? No.

It will take time for public perceptions to catch up with how remarkably well America is doing, but they will catch up — almost certainly within the next year.

Americans are still traumatized by a pandemic that between 2020 and 2022 took more than a million lives in the United States and that plunged the nation into a seemingly bottomless recession followed by soaring inflation.

And most of us are still deeply shaken by Donald Trump’s attack on democracy (which continues to this day).

The shocks of calamitous events like these don’t evaporate when they’re over. They linger in the public’s mind, creating ongoing anxieties that generalize to society as a whole. Which is why so many Americans still believe the nation is “off track” today.

There are also deeper and longer-term problems — the decline of the middle class, the stagnation of the working class, homelessness, the climate crisis, and the searing inequalities that characterize this second Gilded Age. All have spread a pall over the era we now live in.

As good a president as he is, Joe Biden cannot be expected to reverse these long-term problems in his first term. He is, however, making some progress on them — more, I’d say, than has any administration over the last four decades.

Biden also has to contend with a Republican Party that’s far more vicious and unprincipled than it’s been in modern memory — a party that has no qualms about spewing endless lies about Biden and America. A third of American voters still believe Trump won the 2020 election.

Hardcore MAGA voters will never come around. But the vast majority of our fellow countrymen aren’t in the MAGA cult. They will.

Don’t get me wrong. The 2024 election is far from a sure thing. All of us — you and I and everyone we know — are going to have to work like hell to inform the skeptics and holdouts and get them to vote for Biden.

I continue to worry about third-party spoilers like Cornel West, “No Labels,” and possibly Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

But at this point I’m not concerned about polls showing Biden isn’t getting credit for all the good news.

Over the next year or so, most Americans will see and experience the positive changes that Biden has wrought. That should help a great deal.

August 7, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

 

August 7, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON AUG 8 Things feel unsettled these days, partly because of chop in the prosecutorial waters surrounding the actions of former president Trump, partly because of changes in the U.S. economy, partly because of turmoil brought by climate change, and partly because of what appears to be the instability of a global realignment. This realignment has been forced by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the global effort to stand against that aggression. Over the weekend, on August 5 and 6, representatives of 40 countries met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to explore the contours of peace between Ukraine and Russia. Russia was not invited to the meeting, but all the other members of BRICS (the economic organization made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) attended, illustrating Russia’s increasing isolation.  In February 2022, just before Russia invaded Ukraine, China and Russia pledged a “friendship without limits.” But that friendship appears to have frayed as what Russia seemed to think would be a quick land grab has stretched on for almost a year and half, straining Russia’s resources and isolating it from the global community. China sent its special envoy for Eurasian affairs and former ambassador to Russia, Li Hui, to the talks in Saudi Arabia. Reporting on the weekend’s meeting, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that China’s “increasing misalignment with Russia on any settlement to end the war in Ukraine was…evident at the talks.” It noted the observation of the Financial Times that Chinese representatives were “keen to show that [China] is not Russia,” and that Russia appears to be more and more isolated from other nations. The ISW assesses that “China is not fully aligned with Russia on the issue of Ukraine and that Russia and China’s relationship is not a ‘no limits partnership’ as the Kremlin desires.” Laurie Chen and Martin Quin Pollard of Reuters reported yesterday that China’s willingness to attend the talks in Saudi Arabia after declining to join earlier talks in Denmark likely indicates a recognition that it should participate in credible peace initiatives. Shen Dingli, an international relations scholar based in Shanghai, said that Russia is “bound to be defeated,” so China must try to cooperate with other nations without speeding Russia’s collapse. Bloomberg noted that increasing tensions between China and Russia do not indicate a rift between the two countries so much as a way to create some space between the two. In a phone call today with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi reaffirmed that the nations are “good partners.” Ukraine’s request for the meeting in Saudi Arabia seemed designed to isolate Russia further, as Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky made the case that the terms on which he is demanding any peace be based on universal principles behind which other nations can unite.  Russia has continued its attack on Ukrainian grain supplies, damaging another 40,000 tons of grain destined for Africa, China, and Israel on August 2. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian counteroffensive continues, although it is advancing more slowly than Ukrainian officials had hoped. China has its own issues with the global community. Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post reported today that since 2020, Chinese operatives have penetrated Japan’s defense networks in one of the most damaging hacks of Japan’s modern history. And Italy, which in 2019 was the only major western economy supporting China’s Belt and Road Initiative to tie together world markets and boost trade between China and Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, is now planning to pull back from the project.  On Sunday, Italian defense minister Guido Crosetto told a newspaper that signing the deal was “an improvised and atrocious act…. We exported a load of oranges to China; they tripled exports to Italy in three years.” An expert on Italian relations with China says Italy wants to demonstrate a close alignment with “the U.S., Western camp” while keeping a stable relationship with China.  World affairs have shifted since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. — Notes: https://www.barrons.com/news/russian-strike-damaged-40-000-tonnes-of-grain-kyiv-26e0ae2d https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-7-2023 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/ukraine-war-saudi-arabia-russia.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/07/middleeast/saudi-arabia-ukraine-talks-china-mime-intl/index.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/07/china-japan-hack-pentagon/ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/belt-road-initiative-china-plans-1-trillion-new-silk-road-n757756 https://www.reuters.cs eeom/world/chinas-ukraine-peace-talks-gambit-shows-shifts-amid-hard-realities-2023-08-06/ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/italy-suggests-exit-chinas-belt-road-shift-us-rcna97230 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-07/china-s-viral-rebuke-of-russia-doesn-t-mean-xi-is-ditching-putin#xj4y7vzkg https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3230315/chinas-wang-yi-and-russias-sergey-lavrov-discuss-ukraine-after-saudi-peace-talks-held-without-moscow