Friday, August 15, 2025

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Beacon Hill: The documentary

SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE TIMELY REPORTS:

Beacon Hill: The documentary

08/15/2025 07:28 AM EDT

***A DOCUMENTARY BY AN ADOLESCENT?***

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION — Transparency and power on Beacon Hill have been the subject of a flurry of news stories and the target of ballot petitions. Soon, it’ll be the focus of a documentary.

The film, which is still in the works, is covering “the real reason common-sense laws don’t pass” in Massachusetts, “even when they’re backed by voters, policy experts and a supermajority of lawmakers,” according to the description posted online.

Director Aaron Singer, a Massachusetts native and Emerson College grad, doesn’t have a background in politics, though he told Playbook he did volunteer on the effort to help pass the ballot question that created the so-called millionaires tax in the Bay State. He got the idea for the documentary, titled “Shadows on the Hill,” after trying to track the status of a state Sen. John Keenan bill that would make daylight savings time permanent.

“I tried to follow the path of [the bill] on the Legislature’s website, and it was extremely difficult to do,” said Singer, who previously worked making motion graphics for shows like American Idol and TMZ on TV in Los Angeles. “The more people I ended up talking to about the process, the more I realized this is really, really messed up.”

The goal is to wrap up filming in September or October, and have it edited by early next year, Singer said. He’s already interviewed state Auditor Diana DiZoglio and a handful of progressive activists. And he’s planning to talk to more current and former lawmakers, as well as academics and democracy experts.

The release could line up with some ballot campaigns that are also targeting Beacon Hill — if supporters can clear the initial hurdles.

Singer isn’t working directly with the groups behind the ballot petitions, but he has been in touch with organizers from Act on Mass and the Coalition to Reform Our Legislature. Both groups are backing a ballot question that would eliminate or overhaul how legislative stipends are distributed to lawmakers.

“At the end of the day, I'm a supporter of democracy, and I feel like we don't have that here in Massachusetts,” Singer said.

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. TGIF!

TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey has no public events. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll speaks at the Indian Association of Greater Boston's India flag raising ceremony at 11:40 a.m. at the State House. Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Stephen Lynch hold a press conference alongside union leaders outside the West Roxbury VA Medical Center at noon in Boston.

Rep. Richard Neal commemorates the 90th anniversary of Social Security at 1 p.m. in Springfield. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu visits the graduating class of the Boston Police Academy at 11:30 a.m. in Hyde Park and attends Boston After Dark at 7:15 p.m. in East Boston.

THIS WEEKEND — Sen. Elizabeth Warren is on WBZ’s “Keller @ Large” at 8:30 a.m. Sunday. State Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler is on WCVB’s “On the Record” at 11 a.m. Sunday. State Sen. Sal DiDomenico is on NBC10 Boston Weekend Today at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

DATELINE BEACON HILL

BREAKING BREAD — Maybe they aren’t state Rep. Aaron Michlewitz and state Sen. Michael Rodrigues, but House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka seem to have set aside whatever bad blood sent the last year's July 31 session into a tailspin.

Mariano and Spilka recently dined together at Ruth's Chris steakhouse — their "usual spot," Spilka told Playbook.

“[We] had a great discussion, and it was very comfortable,” said Spilka, who charcaterized their current relationship as “great.”'

ANOTHER ONE — It’s good timing, because Gov. Maura Healey just filed another supplemental budget, this packed with some serious policy changes and a surprisingly sizeable bottom line.
The $2.45 billion price tag comes at a net cost of only $947 million after “revenue offsets,” according to Healey’s office.

Much of the money would go toward MassHealth, and despite Democratic handwringing over cuts to health care programs, the administration expects federal reimbursements to cover much of it, State House News Services Ella Adams reports.''

Here’s what else is in the spending bill:

— Grants the public access to driving records, with state lawmakers sealed in 2022. The Boston Herald has more on that.

BOSTON HERALD PROPAGANDA RAG PAYWALL

— Allows the state Department of Public Health be able to set its own vaccine standards, separate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

— Sets the 2026 primary Sept. 1 — the first Tuesday of the month, notably before the long Labor Day weekend.

— Delays the state’s deadline to for offshore wind procurement from 2027 to 2029.

— State auditor finds widespread mismanagement at Cannabis Control Commission by Nick Stoico, Stella Tannenbaum and Yogev Toby, The Boston Globe: “An audit of the state’s troubled Cannabis Control Commission found widespread mismanagement, violations of state regulations, and potential improprieties at the agency charged with regulating the marijuana industry in Massachusetts, Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office said Thursday. The review, which examined operations at the commission from 2022 to 2024, cited a host of regulatory lapses. It determined that the agency failed to enforce regulations in a timely manner or maintain adequate internal controls.”

FROM THE HUB

— Boston city councilor calls for ‘hate crime’ investigation into vandalized Virgin Mary statue at South End church by Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald: “The Boston Police Department is investigating vandalism that occurred at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in the South End, where a statue of the Virgin Mary was defaced with graffiti. Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, who represents the South End and posted a photo of the vandalism on X Thursday, said he has been in contact with the police department and has recommended that the incident be investigated as a hate crime.”'

BOSTON HERALD PROPAGANDA RAG PAYWALL

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ARE A CASH COW THAT BRING REVENUE INTO THE U.S. IN ADDITION TO CONTRIBUTING TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES & RESEARCH!

— International students are signing fewer Boston leases amid uncertain future by Carrie Jung, WBUR: “As anyone familiar with the Boston rental market knows, a Sept. 1 lease usually is secured months in advance, given how the region's housing cycle revolves around the academic calendar. But in student heavy neighborhoods, including Allston and Mission Hill, lease signings have been sluggish, data show. Some Boston realtors who work in neighborhoods near large universities, like Boston University and Northeastern, attribute the slowdown to new student visa processing protocols under the Trump administration, which has imposed additional restrictions on foreign-born students seeking visas to come study in the U.S.”

ON THE STUMP

****LOSER SLOW ZONE SHORTSLEEVE WHO FLUNKED THE MBTA & TRUMPER MIKE KENNEALY WHO PROMOTED THE MBTA COMMUNITIES ACT? HUH? PROMOTING

CLIMATE DESTRUCTION? GAS = METHANE! WE KNOW THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF

GAS IN HOMES! CHINA IS PROMOTING CHEAP CLEAN ENERGY & THEIR ECONOMY IS PROSPERING! WHEN WILL THE MAGA GOP GATHER FACTS? ****

— GOP guv candidates slam Healey admin plan to charge new gas customers for full hook-up costs by John L. Micek, MassLive: “The two Republican candidates for governor say an emerging Healey administration plan to make new gas customers pay the full share of service hook-ups, arguing the move would drive up costs and hurt the state’s economy. The comments from GOP gubernatorial hopefuls Brian Shortsleeve and Mike Kennealy came in response to news Thursday that state utility regulators are considering banning gas utilities from charging existing customers from the cost of adding new ones.”

FROM HARVARD YARD

— Harvard tries to eliminate discrimination protections for campus unions by Diti Kohli and Aidan Ryan, The Boston Globe: “As Harvard battles with the White House, it is tussling with campus unions over how much say they get on antidiscrimination policies for research assistants, postdocs, and professors. Both the Harvard Academic Workers Union and Graduate Students Union said the university has ignored their calls for nondiscrimination provisions in the contracts. Instead, Harvard has said that discrimination complaints — on the basis of race or gender identity, for example — should be settled by university-wide policies, which Harvard can change at will.”

FROM THE DELEGATION

— Markey hears from public safety officials on challenges, needs by Erin-Leigh Hoffman, Greenfield Recorder.

— Warren, Wyden probe Cantor Fitzgerald over tariff conflict of interest concerns by Ari Hawkins, POLITICO.

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— Report clears town official; reveals longstanding rifts, corruption claims by Brad Petrishen, Telegram & Gazette: “A $170,000 investigation commissioned by the town largely clears a Barre selectman who’d been accused of an array of misconduct, including harassing members of the town’s Public Works Department and 'breaking' into their building. Mark Regienus, vice chairman of the small town’s three-member governing board, was accused of harassment but was actually trying to ferret out employee misconduct, a Wellesley lawyer hired by the town found.”

— After 12 years, Judy Sullivan won't seek reelection to the Brockton School Committee by Jacob Posner, The Brockton Enterprise: “After serving on the Brockton School Committee for 12 years, Judy Sullivan has decided to not seek reelection this November. In a statement to The Enterprise, she cited two main reasons: a desire to give someone else the opportunity to serve, and ongoing challenges working with a deeply divided board.”

— Following the money in New Bedford politics by Anastasia E. Lennon and Colin Hogan, The New Bedford Light: “The race is on to oversee New Bedford’s half-a-billion dollar annual budget. But where does the money come from that supports these local campaigns? All 11 seats in New Bedford’s City Council, three School Committee seats (out of six), and one assessor’s seat (out of three) are up for election this year. A recent surge of candidates who pulled nomination papers could indicate renewed interest in running for local office — especially after recent budget fights on highly-visible community landmarks like the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center and the Casa da Saudade library branch.”

— Attleboro mayoral, city council candidate Timothy Barone scratched from ballot after election commission ruling by Rhianwen Watkins, The Sun Chronicle: “Mayoral and councilor-at-large candidate Timothy Barone will no longer be on the Nov. 4 city ballot after the city’s election commission voted Thursday morning to strike his name from the voter registry. The commission, in a 4-0 vote, determined that Barone is not a qualified voter due to lack of evidence that he resides in Attleboro. The decision made him ineligible to run for office, as residency is a requirement to do so. It means Mayor Cathleen DeSimone will not have a challenger on the election ballot.”

— Massachusetts researchers worry as federal environmental data disappears by Vivian La, WBUR.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

IN MEMORIAM — Former Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Juvenile Court Martha Grace died peacefully at her daughter’s home in Shrewsbury Wednesday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Mary Serreze, Mary Elizabeth Taylor and Gabe Mulley.

HAPPY BIRTHWEEKEND — Kristen Elechko and Justin (JP) Griffin, who celebrate Saturday; and to Sunday birthday-ers Bob Massie, Ari Meyerowitz and Lisa Murray.

« View Archives

Follow us on Twitter