Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Massachusetts Playbook’s holiday gift guide

Friday, December 20, 2024

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Massachusetts Playbook’s holiday gift guide

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FOR THE POLITICIAN WHO’S IMPOSSIBLE TO BUY FOR — Gift-giving is hard. We want to help make it a little easier this holiday season.

Here are some ideas for what to get the Massachusetts politicians and political figures in your life who made headlines (for better or for worse) this year.

Gov. Maura Healey: a “welcome-ish” mat to greet those thinking about making Massachusetts home .

Couple’s gift for Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano: gift card to Ruth’s Chris Steak House to reconnect over dinner after a bumpy legislative session .

State Auditor Diana DiZoglio : a copy of former Sen. Scott Brown’s book “Against All Odds,” to browse amid opposition to her efforts to audit the Legislature.

Sen. Ed Markey: A gua sha tool, to keep a youthful glow as the 78-year-old preps his bid for a third Senate term .

Sen. Elizabeth Warren : box of Kleenex to offer to the Wall Street CEOs who get called before the Senate Banking committee she’s about to help lead .

Rep. Seth Moulton: Noise-canceling headphones to help drown out the critics .

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu: stroller with extra storage for campaign lit for when she hits the campaign trail after welcoming her third child next year .

New England Patriots Foundation President Josh Kraft and Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn: Copies of Jack Beatty’s “The Rascal King,” for everything they need to know about the last incumbent mayor to fall in Boston.

Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson: Boston-themed Monopoly game , “Get Out of Jail Free” card included.

MBTA General Manager Phil Eng: unrestricted power over everything and everyone. If he can fix the T, he can fix anything. Stocking stuffer: the roughly $700 million the T will need to plug its expected budget shortfall next fiscal year.

Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt: A “Smile! You’re on camera” sign ; you know, in case she — or anyone — needs a reminder that what you say on camera, CommonWealth Beacon will find.

The Cannabis Control Commission : LinkedIn premium, to make the search for a new executive director a little easier next time.

Steward Health CEO Ralph de la Torre: It’s hard buying for the guy with multiple yachts , access to private jets and money to spend on fancy getaways, but we think he could probably use a new phone after the federal authorities seized his .

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS . We made it to the last Playbook of 2024! Thanks to everyone who’s read, emailed or picked up the phone this year — it’s a privilege to be in your inbox. Here’s to more shenanigans in 2025.

We’ll be back on Jan. 2. In the meantime, keep your tips, stories, suggestions, birthdays, anniversaries, new jobs and/or complaints coming: kgarrity@politico.com.

TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey and First Lady Joanna Lydgate join the Wonderfund’s annual Holiday Gift Drive at 1:30 p.m. in Chelsea. State Auditor Diana DiZoglio attends the AFSCME Holiday Party at 7 p.m. in Boston. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jake Auchincloss call in to state Sen. Paul Feeney’ s "Holiday Spectacular" Radio Show which airs starting at 4 p.m.

THIS WEEKEND — Healey is on WBZ’s “Keller @ Large” at 8:30 a.m. Sunday. Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus is on WCVB’s “On the Record” at 11 a.m. Sunday.

A message from Vineyard Offshore:

Offshore wind is revitalizing port communities from New Bedford to Salem, delivering local jobs, and establishing the Commonwealth as a leader in building a clean energy economy that benefits everyone. With Vineyard Wind 2, we can add nearly 3,800 more jobs and $2.3 billion in direct economic benefits – while delivering enough clean electricity to power 650,000 homes. Read all about it at vineyardoffshore.com/vineyardwind2.

DATELINE BEACON HILL

MINORITY REPORT — State Rep. Marc Lombardo’s nascent bid for minority leader is hitting early resistance.

As of Thursday, 14 members of the caucus had publicly said they plan to vote for Minority Leader Brad Jones over Lombardo, per the Boston Herald’s Chris Van Buskirk .

But one of the Billerica Republican’s allies says the race is still too early to call. “We've got two weeks left,” state Rep. Nicholas Boldyga told Playbook. “And politicians make last-minute, split-second decisions.”

“A lot of the members want change. They're scared because they don't know anything else for 22 years,” he added.

Lombardo, meanwhile, announced a new platform he said he plans to roll out over the next several days. Dubbed the “GOP2030 Plan,” the aim is to “bring meaningful debate back to the House floor, seek to end back door deals,” and “champion policies that focus on making Massachusetts a better place to live and do business,” Lombardo said in a post on X .

— “Amid child care crisis, Healey seeks to give more money back to Mass. providers,” by Anjali Huynh, The Boston Globe: “Governor Maura Healey took a step Wednesday aimed at alleviating Massachusetts’ child care crisis, calling to increase the rates at which early education and care providers serving poor children are reimbursed by the state. Healey announced she had proposed to the state Board of Early Education and Care to use $22.5 million of the fiscal year 2025 budget to further increase the rates at which providers get funds back to serve children in need.”

FROM THE HUB

— “Boston schools to roll out new multilingual programming,” by Esteban Bustillos, GBH News: “New multilingual programs for English-language learners will begin next fall in seven Boston Public Schools, as the district experiences an influx of students speaking languages other than English. School officials touted the new programming as the biggest single-year increase in multilingual education in the district’s history, and said the change represents a new era in language instruction.”

— “The state’s largest law firm is staying in the Back Bay,” by Catherine Carlock, The Boston Globe: “Law firm Ropes & Gray is staying put in Boston’s Prudential Tower. Landlord BXP, formerly known as Boston Properties, announced the 413,000-square-foot lease renewal on Thursday. Ropes & Gray will stay at the tower through 2041. The firm moved to the Pru’s topmost office floors in 2010.”

— “Women who are homeless in Boston find safe space and care at 'HER Saturday',” by Lynn Jolicoeur, WBUR.

You read POLITICO for trusted reporting. Now follow every twist of the lame duck session with Inside Congress . We track the committee meetings, hallway conversations, and leadership signals that show where crucial year-end deals are heading. Subscribe now .

DATELINE D.C.

SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN — Here we go again: Members of Congress are running up against a midnight deadline to pass a government spending bill before the federal government shuts down this weekend and sends government operations into disarray.

Conservatives and Democrats came together to vote down a Trump-backed stopgap spending bill last night, the second attempt by House Speaker Mike Johnson to get a bill over the finish line after Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump threw cold water on an earlier compromise the speaker had reached with Democrats that tacked on billions in disaster and farm relief.

One telling sign that a shutdown may be inevitable: “The shutdown blame game has already begun on Capitol Hill, a telltale sign that lawmakers don’t expect they can clear a funding plan before the Friday night deadline,” my colleague Katherine Tully-McManus reports .

MORE FROM CAPITOL HILL — “Johnson on shaky ground with Trump after spending fiasco ,” by Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney, POLITICO.

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “MBTA returns 2.4 million minutes to riders daily after 14 months of slow-zone work,” by Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald: “The MBTA’s year-long effort to eliminate backlogged maintenance and remove speed restrictions across the subway system has returned millions of minutes of travel time to riders, General Manager Phil Eng told the Board of Directors. Eng’s ambitious plan to move away from the transportation system’s past model of performing maintenance mostly at night while continuing train service through the day, and instead close lengths of track to allow concerted repair efforts on a 24-hour schedule, has resulted in a system that will be free of lingering slow zones by this weekend. The impact, he said, is tangible.”

— “The MBTA is plotting a revamp of the commuter rail. How will they do it?,” by Jon Chesto, The Boston Globe: “State officials have been talking about offering far more frequent commuter rail service, powered by electricity, for years. Now, with the MBTA’s current commuter rail contract approaching an end, it’s time to solve this riddle — to go from talk to action.”

A message from Vineyard Offshore:

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

— “California ports launch clean energy efforts that could be a model for Mass.,” by Chris Burrell, GBH News.

excerpt:

SAN PEDRO, Calif. — On a recent afternoon, two massive ships offloaded steel cargo containers at the sprawling Port of Los Angeles.

It’s a normal sight at a shipping port in the United States — with a few key differences.

The ships’ smokestacks emit no visible dirty exhaust.

The huge vessels had switched off their engines and instead were plugged into electric power at the Yusen Terminal docks. This meant they were temporarily stopping the emission of dangerous particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and other air pollutants into the abutting communities.

These “shore power” efforts started more than seven years ago to clean up the air in the San Pedro Bay area, which includes the neighboring Port of Long Beach and makes up the busiest port network in the Western Hemisphere.

The project was propelled largely by a community outcry against the single biggest source of pollution in a region infamous for its smog: the shipping industry. And it’s one step in what environmental activists hope will lead to a cleaner port and set an example to other communities across the country as the shipping industry grows and surpasses pre-COVID volumes.

Tee (Taylor) Thomas, a co-director of the nonprofit East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice in Long Beach, told GBH News in December that changes occurred despite strong resistance from the business community.

“California sets the standard … and shows that what’s possible here in this large state can be enacted in other states,” she said. “The goods movement industry has not collapsed ever. People still make money. And we can have benefits of clean air on top of it.”

Across the country, as oceangoing cargo and cruise traffic grows to meet global demands for goods and tourism, port communities are pushing back, citing terrible health outcomes such as asthma, heart disease and cancer linked to emissions from the ships and trucks and trains moving cargo to and from ports.

The industry is starting to listen. Just last month, Massport announced a $60 million investment to build two electric shore power stations – similar to those in Los Angeles – for its growing cruise ship business by 2029. The agency’s move marks the first time in recent years that policymakers directly addressed growing concerns around this industry’s impact on public health as oceangoing ship traffic in Boston Harbor increased 25 percent in 2023 over the previous year.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, A Democrat representing coastal areas in Boston and the South Shore, echoed those concerns at a Boston press conference in December.

“Rather than having (ships) blowing diesel fumes out over the city, they’ll be able to plug in (to) a power source instead of using diesel oil,’’ he said. “This is going to be a huge upside for the neighborhood of South Boston and the city of Boston generally, and for our environment.”

— “Vineyard Wind gets federal go-ahead to install first blades since July breakdown,” by Heather McCarron, Cape Cod Times: “Work at the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind project area south of Martha's Vineyard advanced on Dec. 14 with installation of three turbine blades, almost five months to the day after the catastrophic collapse of a blade sent debris crashing into the ocean. The blades were the first to be put into place at the shut-down wind farm since the July 13 incident that resulted in thousands of pieces of fiberglass and rigid foam washing ashore around the region.”

FROM THE 413

— “Where Palmer Should Station Its Sweet Spot for Passenger Rail,” by Matt Szafranski, Western Mass Politics & Insight: “Nearly a year ago, it was wine and roses as the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) formally began studying restoration of train service here. Hopes have been growing ever since East-West rail transitioned from Western Mass political shibboleth to inevitability. However, a new obstacle has appeared on the tracks: discord around where Palmer’s station should go.”

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THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Winthrop rejects MBTA Communities zoning plan,” by Bhaamati Borkhetaria, CommonWealth Beacon: “With the December 31 MBTA Communities Act deadline fast approaching, the Winthrop town council has rejected the only viable zoning plan that would allow the community to comply with the law, which was passed to help alleviate the housing shortage plaguing Massachusetts.”

RELATED — “South Shore town reverses MBTA zoning vote as another doubles down on rejection, ” by Hannah Morse, The Patriot Ledger: “Two more South Shore towns have held revotes on proposed zoning rules that are intended to make it easier to build apartments near public transportation. Norwell ultimately reversed course and decided to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. But Marshfield was steadfast in its repudiation, now part of a half-dozen towns in the region that will not pass rules to meet the end-of-year deadline and potentially face legal action from the state.”

ALSO RELATED — “Framingham won't meet deadline to comply with MBTA Communities law. What's next,” Tom Benoit, The MetroWest Daily News.

— “'Culture has to change': DOJ officials hear from residents on Worcester police report,” by Brad Petrishen, Telegram & Gazette: “Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice solicited public feedback and answered several questions Wednesday at a community meeting the agency called regarding its findings of unconstitutional policing in Worcester. The 90-minute meeting at the YWCA Central Massachusetts gym stood in contrast to a tumultuous City Council meeting Tuesday night; no uniformed officers attended and the crowd of well over 100 appeared to mostly be filled with reform-minded community members and activists.”

— “Surillo named new city councilor,” Teddy Tauscher, The Eagle-Tribune: “The City Council chose Frank Surillo Thursday night to fill out the remainder of Mayor D.J. Beauregard’s term on the council, or about a year. Surillo was the runner up in the last election for at-large councilor, but because he didn’t receive 20% of the vote City Solicitor Ken Rossetti ruled he could not automatically be placed in the seat — though councilors weren’t precluded from voting for him.”

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Dion Irish, former state Sen. Harriette Chandler and Emily Williams.

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY — to a lot of Playbookers: Kalen O’Hare, Maureen McInerney, Megan Johnson, Meaghan Callahan, Jakhari Watson, Judith Souweine, Scott Spencer, Koray Rosati, Joe Beebee, Scott Campanella and John Guilfoil.

A message from Vineyard Offshore:

With a track record of working with local communities and building trusted partnerships, Vineyard Offshore is committed to a community-first approach to offshore wind development.

Our next project, Vineyard Wind 2, will continue to grow the economic engine of offshore wind, generating over 3,000 job-years of employment and more than $1.6 billion in direct economic benefits for the Commonwealth. It will also supply enough clean electricity to power 650,000 New England homes and reduce carbon pollution by 2.1 million tons per year – the equivalent to taking 414,000 cars off the road.

With this commitment, Massachusetts is set to lead the nation in harnessing the impact of offshore wind. Learn more at vineyardoffshore.com/vineyardwind2.

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