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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
WESTERN MASS SHAKE-UP — The way the western part of the state is represented on Beacon Hill has undergone a pretty major transition in the last several years. Now, a couple of House seats are about to open up.
Springfield state Rep. Jose Tosado plans to announce he won't seek reelection this year, according to Western Mass Politics & Insight. The news comes just after Holyoke Rep. Aaron Vega said he's moving on from his post, too.
Altogether, there's been a significant shift in representation — aside from those two, newly-elected Westfield Mayor Don Humason resigned his state Senate seat in December, and Westfield Rep. John Velis is running to replace him.
Plus, the entire Hampshire County delegation turned over in 2018. Northampton state Rep. Peter Kocot was only 61 when he died in February 2018. Senate President Stan Rosenberg resigned in the spring of 2018 amid allegations that his husband had assaulted staffers and abused the power of the office. Worthington Rep. Steve Kulik and South Hadley Rep. John Scibak both decided to retire, and Amherst state Rep. Solomon Goldstein-Rose also moved on after serving one term.
The result has been a group of Western Mass legislators that don't have as much seniority as their predecessors. But it has also opened the door for more women in office. Sen. Jo Comerford and Reps. Natalie Blais, Mindy Domb and Lindsay Sabadosa replaced male lawmakers, and Vega aide Patricia Duffy is preparing a run to replace her boss.
HOUSE TO VOTE ON PRESSLEY'S BORROWERS BILL — Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley's bill to change the way the credit reporting system works is up for a vote in the House today, and her office says it expects the bill to pass. Pressley authored Title III of the CREDIT Act, which is aimed at helping people who have student loans. Pressley introduced the bill, and it includes provisions from several bills introduced by members of the House Financial Services Committee.
Pressley's bill would establish a credit rehabilitation process for borrowers who face economic hardship, and ban credit rating agencies from including information about delinquent or defaulted student loans after the borrower makes nine on-time payments. The bill would also allow for a grace period for borrowers in some extenuating circumstances, and require private lenders to offer affordable monthly payments to people trying to rehabilitate their credit.
"When credit reports determine where you can live, work and how much you will have to pay for everything from a car to a college degree, consumers deserve a system that ensures equity, transparency and accountability," Pressley said in a statement.
More than 855,000 borrowers in Massachusetts owed $33.3 billion in student loan debt in 2019, according to statistics from Pressley's office.
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito chairs a Governor's Council meeting, then chairs a meeting of the Governor's Council to Address Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh leads the city's annual Homeless Census. Rep. Katherine Clark receives the Pledge Award from the National Head Start Association in Washington, D.C.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Is UMass's Marty Meehan Boston's New King of Clubs?" by Thomas Stackpole, Boston Maagazine: "Despite the odds, the UMass Club has risen from out of nowhere to create a new type of club—elite without elitism, a kind of top-of-the-line populist watering hole. It embraces the progressive values of New Boston, such as inclusivity; anyone can join, and it's even relatively affordable, with an initiation fee that tops out at $600. It's not particularly snobby or pretentious, yet is a place where the political elite feel right at home. In the past few years alone, it's become a favorite lunch spot for Governor Charlie Baker and Polito. Joe Biden held a recent presidential fundraiser there. Several weeks before that, John Kerry made news at a book event at the club when he claimed President Trump was at the head of a "continuing conspiracy."
- "State education board urges dramatic action for struggling Boston schools," by Meghan E. Irons, Boston Globe: "Improving Boston's lowest-performing schools will require dramatic steps, members of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education said Tuesday. As a state report on the city's sprawling school system looms, the board urged state Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley to consider state actions to intervene in Boston, even if that might rub some in the city the wrong way. "The only people I would be willing to see embarrassed in any policy decision are the guardians of the status quo," board member Michael Moriarty said in response to remarks by Riley."
- "Voter groups press for same-day registration," by Christian M. Wade, Gloucester Daily Times: "With the clock on the legislative calendar ticking, good government groups are urging lawmakers to act fast to allow people to register to vote on Election Day. Several proposals before the Legislature would allow same-day voter registration, and efforts to change the rules are collectively backed by more than 80 lawmakers. But the bills face a looming Feb. 5 deadline — known as Joint Rule 10 — to report them favorably out of legislative committees to be considered in the current two-year session. Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, one of the groups pushing for the changes, said lawmakers are running out of time."
- "Nursing Home Question Carrying $272 Mil Cost," by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: "Supporter after supporter testified Tuesday in favor of a potential 2020 ballot question updating rates paid by state government to nursing homes, leading Sen. Patricia Jehlen to question where the money to pay the new, higher rates would come from. "Who's going to pay for this? We don't have hundreds of millions of dollars unspent in the commonwealth," Jehlen, the Senate co-chair of the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs, said. "If we reject every tax opportunity before us and we accept all of the responsibility ahead of us, how is that going to balance out?" Jehlen was reacting to the estimate from the Massachusetts Senior Care Association that the proposal it supports to update Medicaid funding for nursing homes."
- "Bill Targets Discrimination Based On Natural Hairstyles," by Chris Van Buskirk, State House News Service: "Boston City Council President Kim Janey said the first time her great aunt straightened her hair was when she was a three-year-old flower girl at a wedding in 1968. Her father was livid, she said, as the new hairdo was a rejection of black pride in his eyes. "This was my first introduction to the debate on black girls and women and how we should wear our hair," Janey said during a Joint Committee on the Judiciary hearing Tuesday. "This tension between natural hair that is free from chemical relaxers versus hairstyles that affirm our blackness." Janey, along with Councilor Lydia Edwards, Rep. Steven Ultrino (D-Malden) and other advocates, attended a committee hearing Tuesday to lobby for a proposal (H 4295) that would prohibit discrimination based on natural hairstyles."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Mass. won't say whether the state has seen suspected coronavirus cases," by Felice J. Freyer, Boston Globe: "The federal government is monitoring more than 100 people for the novel coronavirus that has thrown China into crisis. These are patients from 26 states who suffered respiratory symptoms after traveling to China and whose state health departments sent samples for testing to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Was Massachusetts one of those states? State officials won't say. In New Hampshire, they will. In a press release Monday, the state's Department of Health and Human Services revealed that two residents were being tested for the virus, and a spokesman named the hospitals where the patients are being kept in isolation."
- "UMass Boston search committee names one finalist," by Hilary Burns, Boston Business Journal: "The search committee tasked with finding the next chancellor of UMass Boston endorsed one finalist for the job on Tuesday. The committee recommended Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, Wasserman Dean at the University of California Los Angeles, where he leads one graduate school, 16 research institutes and two academic programs. "He's a world-class scholar and that's very important to us (in order) to be a world-class research institution," Jean Rhodes, UMass Boston professor of psychology who served as vice chair of the search committee, said in an interview Tuesday."
- "Walsh proposes $24 million in CPA funding for affordable housing, open space, community projects," by Erin Tiernan, Boston Herald: "Mayor Martin J. Walsh is asking city councilors to dedicate the bulk of the money raised through the community preservation surcharge this year — about $16 million — to affordable housing. Walsh's recommendations would spread the Community Preservation Act money out across 40 projects that touch every city neighborhood. Of the $24 million in proposed grants, about $16 million would go to 10 different affordable housing projects, $4.2 million would be dedicated to creating and improving open space, $2.4 million would go toward historic preservation projects and $1.6 million would go to support community nonprofits."
- "Pension System Probes Double Dipping By Ex-Boston Official Who Took Bribe," by Callum Borchers, WBUR: "On a Friday in August 2016, John Lynch retired from Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development with a pension he had earned over 39 years in city government. The following Monday, Lynch reported for his first day of work as assistant director of real estate at Boston's Economic Development Industrial Corporation (EDIC), where his starting salary was $125,000. Now, the Boston Retirement System is probing whether Lynch — who was sentenced to 40 months in prison last week for bribery and tax fraud — may have improperly double dipped when he collected a salary and pension at the same time ."
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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- "Michael Dukakis endorses Ed Markey in Democratic Senate primary race," by Victoria McGrane, Boston Globe: "Former Massachusetts governor and onetime presidential contender Michael S. Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, are endorsing Senator Edward J. Markey in his Democratic primary race against Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III. In a phone interview, Dukakis cited Markey's long record of "gutsy" leadership, starting with his fight for judicial reform as a state representative, a push that angered state House leaders and helped propel Markey into Congress. As governor, Dukakis in 1976 signed into law the legislation that Markey had championed."
KENNEDY IGNORED PILGRIM NUCLEAR DECOMMISSING WHILE SENATOR MARKEY SPOKE OUT...KENNEDY IGNORED THE COLUMBIA GAS CATASTROPHE WHILE BOTH SENATORS WARREN AND MARKEY SPOKE OUT AND ATTENDED THE PUBLIC HEARINGS...BOTH SENATORS HAVE ADDRESSED NUMEROUS OTHER ISSUES EFFECTING MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS WHILE KENNEDY IS AMONG THE MISSING....
- "Congressman Joe Kennedy holding first Spanish-only town halls in Massachusetts Senate history," by Benjamin Kail, MassLive.com: "U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy will host a pair of Spanish-language-only town halls in Lawrence and East Boston this weekend, giving Spanish-speaking voters a chance to ask questions and hear about the congressman without a translator. Kennedy, a Democrat serving his fourth term in Massachusetts's 4th District, is challenging Sen. Ed Markey in a primary. He's held almost a dozen town halls this year, and said in a statement Tuesday that the Spanish-language events were a vital early part of his campaign. "Since day one of this campaign we have been committed to showing up for every voter of Massachusetts and meeting people where they are," Kennedy, who is fluent in Spanish, said."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "SJC: State must push for medical parole for prisoners, not delay it," by John R. Ellement, Boston Globe: "In a ruling hailed by advocates as a victory for prisoners and taxpayers alike, the highest court in Massachusetts on Tuesday ordered the Department of Correction, or DOC, to revamp how it handles medical parole requests, in a way that is expected to increase the number of chronic and terminally ill prisoners released to nursing homes and hospices. The Supreme Judicial Court, or SJC, in a unanimous ruling written by Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants, concluded that medical parole regulations the DOC issued last year were hopelessly flawed and must be deleted."
- "Harvard Scientist Charged With Lying About Affiliation With Chinese," by Kathleen McNerney and Paris Alston, WBUR: "Charles Lieber, chair of Harvard University's chemistry and chemical biology department, has been charged with making false statements about receiving funding from the Chinese government. Lieber and two Chinese nationals were charged in connection with aiding China, according to U.S Attorney Andrew Lelling. The complaint, filed in federal court, states that Lieber lied to U.S. government investigators about his involvement in the China's so-called Thousand Talents Program, even though he had allegedly signed a contract with the program."
- "'I think justice won today,' DA Rollins says after victory in immigrant's case," by Adrian Walker, Boston Globe: "Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins: 2. Obstructionist District Court judges: 0. That's how I see the scoreboard after Rollins's latest slam-dunk victory Tuesday, in which her office prevailed in wiping out a conviction that had left a defendant, Osman Bilal, subject to immediate deportation to Somalia, a country he hasn't lived in since he was 2 days old. A ruling Tuesday afternoon by Supreme Judicial Court Justice David Lowy — acting in a single-judge appellate session — allowed the Suffolk DA's office to effectively expunge Bilal's guilty plea in a 2011 larceny case that had left him unable to renew his permanent immigrant status. With Lowy's ruling, Bilal will be free to remain in his adopted country."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Poll: Warren fares better against Biden than Sanders," by Holly Otterbein, POLITICO: "A new national poll commissioned by a progressive group reports that Elizabeth Warren would perform better in a one-on-one primary with Joe Biden than Bernie Sanders. As Sanders surges in the polls days before the Iowa caucuses, an organization allied with the Massachusetts senator is seizing on it as evidence that she is the best-equipped progressive to take on the former vice president. The online survey testing hypothetical match-ups by Data for Progress, which was conducted by YouGov Blue, showed that 47 percent of likely Democratic voters said they would support Biden if a national race were held today, while 45 percent said they would back Warren, according to the poll."
- "Warren's latest campaign bet: A ground game in late-voting states like Michigan," by Jess Bidgood, Boston Globe: "Six hundred miles away from Des Moines, with just days to go before the Iowa caucuses, Quentin Turner had an urgent message for the dozen or so volunteers who had taken off their headphones and posed gleefully for a photo after a morning of phone banking on behalf of Senator Elizabeth Warren. "The Michigan primary is 46 days away," he said, "and every day counts." The flurry of activity in the Warren campaign's Michigan headquarters here last weekend provides a glimpse into a critical bet Warren has placed in the Democratic race."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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- "Wanted for Congress: People of uncommon courage," by Rachelle Cohen, Boston Globe: "Political courage is too rare a thing. In the days ahead, the impeachment trial in the US Senate will tell us more than we ever wanted to know about exactly how rare. So if we want more people of courage in Congress, it makes sense to look among those who have already exhibited it, who have already given ample proof of their character and their core values. During the last election cycle, Serve America PAC put money and mentoring behind a group of military and national security veterans running for Congress."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Bill would help vets get medical pot," by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: "AMID NEW RESEARCH on how veterans are using cannabis to treat pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, a Republican representative from Bellingham is pushing legislation that would make it easier for vets to access medical marijuana. The bill, H.4274, sponsored by Republican Rep. Michael Soter, would let someone buy medical marijuana based on paperwork from the US Veterans Affairs Administration indicating a disability, without requiring a separate recommendation from a health care provider. It would also add post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid use disorder to a list of illnesses that qualify a patient to buy medical marijuana in Massachusetts."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "CRIMSON-FACED," — Globe: "Scientist charged with lying about China ties," "GOP tries to head off Bolton's testimony," "On the Red Line, it's a tunnel vision." |
| MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE |
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- "N.H. Voters Want Candidates To Talk Issues, Not Impeachment, Poll Finds," by Steve Koczela and Maeve Duggan, The MassINC Polling Group: "Impeachment is the talk of political nation, and with good reason. There hasn't been an impeachment trial in 20 years, and there's never been one with national polls showing public support for removal from office this high during the proceedings. According to the latest WBUR New Hampshire poll, large majorities of likely Democratic primary voters think President Trump is guilty of both articles of impeachment and support his removal. But when asked what they want to hear from their Democratic candidates for president — several of whom are sidelined by the Senate trial in Washington — voters prefer to talk about almost anything else."
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| FROM THE 413 |
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- "Patricia Duffy will run for seat being vacated by Holyoke state Rep. Aaron Vega," Springfield Republican: "Patricia A. Duffy announced Tuesday evening that she will run for state representative, hoping to succeed Rep. Aaron Vega, for whom she has been a legislative aide since 2014. Vega announced earlier Tuesday that he would not seek a fifth term. He has represented the 5th Hampden District since 2013. Duffy filed paperwork Tuesday morning with the state's Office of Campaign and Political Finance to organize a campaign committee. Candidates cannot take out nomination papers until Feb. 11. Duffy plans a campaign kickoff event Feb. 25 at the Summit House."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Braintree school officials to reconsider gendered graduation gowns," by Susannah Sudborough, The Patriot Ledger: "Under pressure from high school students and the American Civil Liberties Union, Braintree's school committee is considering whether to get rid of the high school's gender-specific graduation gowns in order to make commencement ceremonies more welcoming for transgender and gender nonbinary and nonconforming students. The committee voted this week to create an advisory committee to look into the school's practice of having blue gowns that are typically worn by boys and white gowns typically worn by girls, which is similar to traditions practiced by some South Shore high schools."
TRANSITIONS - Comptroller Andrew Maylor is leaving his state government post to become vice president and chief business officer at Merrimack College. Maylor's resignation is effective Feb. 21.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse , who is running for congress, Newton City Councilor and congressional candidate Jake Auchincloss, Mass. Playbook alum and CNN's Lauren Dezenski and Rich Rubino.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Celtics beat the Heat 109-101.
FOR YOUR COMMUTE: IF I HAD A BILLION DOLLARS — On this week's Horse Race podcast, hosts Steve Koczela and Jennifer Smith talk with State House News reporter Katie Lannan about Gov. Charlie Baker's budget proposal. NARAL Pro-Choice's Rebecca Hart Holder talks about the ROE Act on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud.
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.
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