Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Healey takes Chicago

Thursday, August 22, 2024

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Healey takes Chicago

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PROGRAMMING NOTE: Massachusetts Playbook is taking its annual end-of-summer hiatus starting Monday, Aug. 26. We’ll be back Tuesday, Sept. 3.

THE VIEW FROM CHICAGOLAND — To hear Bryan Rafanelli tell it, Maura Healey is playing the political “long game.”

At least that’s what the event planner and prolific Democratic bundler told a room of party activists who had gathered to meet the Massachusetts governor at a winery on the north side of the Chicago River on Tuesday afternoon.

“We are going to elevate Maura — continue to elevate Maura — as much as we can,” he said. “Because she deserves it.”

As Healey navigates her first Democratic National Convention as governor, it’s become clear she and her allies have some work to do on that front — at least if she’s aiming for higher office someday. And, despite the rumor mill, that’s a big if.

Healey is not on delegates’ lists of governors they’d like to see run for president down the line, one that often includes two others from her class — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore — and other fan favorites like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Some told POLITICO they only know her as one of the nation’s first two lesbian governors. Others said they haven’t heard of her at all.

“She’s less visible. I’m just being honest,” said Ken Bohan, a delegate from Houston, after hearing Healey speak at the LGBTQ+ caucus on Monday. “But there’s always that dark horse person you don’t know as much about today.”

At a convention where several of her ambitious counterparts are blitzing swing-state delegate breakfasts (Shapiro, Moore, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker) and sponsoring key states’ receptions (California Rep. Ro Khanna), Healey’s intentions are more murky — or simply not the same. She’s hosted her own reception and joined events focused on climate and featuring LGBTQ+ and women leaders. And she has done interviews with media throughout New England as she works to promote the Democratic ticket. But many of her wheelings and dealings — she’s attended receptions hosted by Whitmer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for instance — at the party’s confab in Chicago have played out behind the scenes.

And she is less recognizable to delegates, to the press and even to convention staffers — one of whom admonished Healey for briefly standing on the edge of the bleachers on Monday night only to have a member of the governor’s team respond: “That’s the governor of Massachusetts.” The staffer walked away red-faced.

But those who do know about Healey believe she has a bright future ahead. After she delivered a fiery pitch for Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the LGBTQ+ caucus, activist Tanya Hackney told POLITICO, “We wish for someone like [Healey]” in her home state of Indiana. And Healey’s comedic timing at a Wednesday panel of Democratic female governors moderated by the actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus endeared her to Abby Clark of Michigan.

“She was so relaxed and funny. It was really fun to see her joking around with a very famous comedian. It’s hard not to be intimidated by that, and she seemed so at ease and was really pithy in her remarks. She was great,” Clark said. “I absolutely think Maura Healey has national chops.”

Delegates across more than a dozen interviews didn’t want to get ahead of Healey by labeling her as a potential presidential hopeful down the line. One person who would like to see Healey run for president someday: New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley — so the first-in-the-nation primary state can once again have a candidate to claim as their own.

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Healey will get a chance to introduce herself on the national stage tonight. Her convention speech will lean on her experience working with Harris when they were both attorneys general, according to a person familiar with her remarks, and will draw the distinction between Harris as a prosecutor and former President Donald Trump as a convicted felon (as Harris herself often does on the trail).

TODAY — Healey, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Sen. Elizabeth Warren are expected to speak on the mainstage at the United Center in Chicago tonight. Warren is also set to speak at the breakfasts hosted by the Wisconsin and Oklahoma delegations. Rep. Ayanna Pressley joins a panel on “The Politics of Student Debt,” attends a DNC Youth Council Meeting and is on a panel with activist and podcast host Brittany Packnett Cunningham.

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CONVENTION ZONE

SPOTTED — House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz taking batting practice at Wrigley Field on Wednesday during a Harris campaign event.

ALSO SPOTTED — at the POLITICO/CNN Grill: Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, BHA Administrator Kenzie Bok, and Joe Caiazzo.

SHOUTOUT — Actress and Massachusetts native Mindy Kaling gave a nod to her home state Wednesday night.

WALZ WATCH — “Watch out, Trump: Walz shows he’s not just Minnesota nice,” by Elena Schneider and Lauren Egan, POLITICO: “Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wants to be America’s coach. In his primetime convention speech Wednesday, Democrats pitched Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick as the straight-talking coach, Midwestern neighbor and ‘the guy who will dig you out of a snowbank,’ as a former student described him. It’s the kind of biography, rare in today’s Democratic Party, that the Harris campaign hopes will help them cut into Donald Trump’s lead with male voters and close the historically large gender gap.”

— “‘Just glad they’re here’: Harris’s 2020 backers celebrate Democrats lining up behind her now,” by Sam Brodey, The Boston Globe.

— “Rising Democrats angle for 2028 and beyond in Chicago,” by Adam Wren, Lisa Kashinsky, Adam Cancryn and Holly Otterbein, POLITICO.

WATCH — “Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Harris-Walz ticket, recent ‘Squad’ primary losses,” by CBS News.

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DATELINE BEACON HILL

*****STEWARD******

— “St. Elizabeth's landlord rejects eminent domain bid; Healey responds 'stop playing games',” by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey and Martha Bebinger, WBUR: “The company that controls Steward Health Care’s hospital properties in Massachusetts has rejected Gov. Maura Healey’s proposal to save St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center by seizing its building and grounds for $4.5 million. The firm, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, said that offer is a mere fraction of the property’s assessed value of more than $200 million. … Still, Healey’s plan is unchanged, her spokesperson, Jillian Fennimore, said Wednesday. ‘Steward and Apollo need to stop playing games with people’s health care,’ she said by email. ‘We are moving forward with plans to take St. Elizabeth’s by eminent domain.’”

FROM THE HUB

— “Defense attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber seek recusal of judge overseeing case,” by Steve LeBlanc, The Associated Press: “Attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are seeking to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over Tsarnaev’s death sentence. Tsarnaev’s lawyers said during a hearing in federal court in Boston on Wednesday that U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole should be recused from the case, pointing to what they said were comments O’Toole made about the case on podcasts and at public events during the appeals process. Prosecutors said they are not opposed to a hearing on the issue, but they said they believe the motion is meritless.”

— “After violence, Boston city councilor urges police leadership to request backup for weekend festival, events,” by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “Citing concerns with violence and low staffing levels, a Boston city councilor formally requested that police department leadership enlist the help of outside law enforcement agencies to 'ensure public safety' at this weekend’s festival and events."

— “Boston mayors have tried to rein in police overtime for decades. Why won’t it stick?,” by Dan Glaun, The Boston Globe.

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MIGRANTS IN MASSACHUSETTS

— “Cape Cod town’s fight over shelter project with Massachusetts housing attorney escalates,” by Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald: “The fight over a proposed homeless shelter on Cape Cod continues to escalate, with a town’s Planning Board denying alleged conflicts of interest that the applicant’s attorney believes have driven ‘vehement opposition.’”

YAHD SIGNS AND BUMPAH STICKAHS

— “As she readies to hit the trail for Kamala Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren brings in $828,000 for her own reelection bid,” by Samantha J. Gross, The Boston Globe: “Senator Elizabeth Warren raised $828,311 in the last six weeks for her reelection bid, her campaign said, marking an 80 percent uptick compared to the same time period last quarter.”

— “Simmering Hampden Senate Race Boils over in August Home Stretch,” by Matt Szafranski, Western Mass Politics & Insight: “From the moment the contest began the subtext—and sometimes outright text—of the Hampden Senate District’s Democratic primary would be who could represent it best. Therefore, it was probably fate that the battle between Senator Adam Gomez and Springfield City Councilor Malo Brown would take a nasty turn. That happened mid-August, weeks before the September 3 primary.”

— “Acting governor talks up early in-person voting in Springfield ahead of Sept. 3 primary,” by James Foster, The Springfield Republican.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Former Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and Teamsters Local 25 have endorsed Dave Reservitz in the race for the currently vacant District 2 Governor's Council seat.

— State Rep. Jerry Parisella is backing Tom Driscoll' s reelection bid for Essex County clerk of courts.

SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW .

BALLOT BATTLES

— “Eliminate the tipped minimum wage? Both sides debate Massachusetts Ballot Question 5,” by Jeremy Siegel and Lisa Wardle, GBH News.

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Somerville grapples with a rise in unsheltered homelessness,” by Tori Bedford, GBH News: “City officials and homeless advocates say there has been a surge over the last few months of unhoused people spending nights in the woods near Alewife Station and in tents in East Somerville in Statue Park and Chuckie Harris Park.”

— “New Bedford schools roll out new cell phone policies,” by Colin Hogan, The New Bedford Light: “Administrators will take a new approach to cell phones when school resumes later this month. Normandin and Roosevelt middle schools and local charter Global Learning will use pouches and lockboxes to enforce cell phone restrictions. Meanwhile, New Bedford High has eased off its plan to lock away students’ phones.”

— “Worcester Housing Authority revokes rent-security policy,” by Marco Cartolano, Telegram & Gazette: “The Worcester Housing Authority Board of Commissioners has rescinded its policy of two upfront prepayments from lease signees, according to the public housing agency.”

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WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD BE READING

— “Sports betting is soaking ‘financially constrained’ households,” by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Beacon: “While political leaders and policymakers voice concerns about the large number of families living on the financial edge, often extolling the value of various government-sponsored savings plans, they have simultaneously legalized sports betting, embracing an industry that is directly undermining the goal of saving for the future. That’s the finding of a massive new study looking at the impact of sports betting on household finances in the first six years since a 2018 US Supreme Court decision cleared the way for states to legalize gambling on sports.”

— “New study links slaveholder ancestry with higher net worth for members of Congress,” by Esmy Jimenez, The Boston Globe.

— “MIT sees sharp drop in diversity in 1st post-affirmative action class,” by Juliet Schulman-Hall, MassLive: “Following the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling against the use of affirmative action in higher education, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released data on Wednesday detailing a less diverse incoming academic class. Stu Schmill, MIT’s dean of admissions and student financial services, said the percentage of Black, Hispanic, Native American or Pacific Islander students at the school has decreased from an average of 25% to 16% for the incoming class.”

— “One Portrait But Two IDs: Is That You, Gov. Greenhalge?” by Sam Doran, State House News Service.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Mark Martinez, Greg Shanahan, Alvin Buyinza and Margie Berkowitz.

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