Window Into The State House

By
South Boston Today Staff
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District attorney races: Dull and ignored no more
 
Shira Schoenberg at MassLive reports that there are more contested races for district attorney in 2018 than at any time in recent memory in Massachusetts. Of the state’s 11 districts, there are contested races in five, two of which will be decided in the Sept. 4 Democratic primary. It’s a shame not all of them are contested, but progress is progress.

Phillip Martin at WGBH, meanwhile, reports how the ACLU, via its ‘What a Difference a DA Makes’ campaign, is pushing to raise voter awareness about DA races in general – and it most definitely seems to be working in Suffolk County.
 
 
Meanwhile, it’s the ‘year of the women’ in legislative races
 
In a companion piece at MassLive, Shira Schoenberg also reports that there are about 105 women running for the state Legislature this year, compared to approximately 85 women each of the last two election years. This year’s figure doesn’t count possible write-in candidates.
 
 
Questions 1, 2 and 3 all set: Nurse staff levels, Citizens United override and transgender rights
 
Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s office has officially assigned the numbers for this fall’s three statewide ballot questions, reports SHNS’s Andy Metzger at the Lowell Sun. They are: Question 1, the mandatory nurse staffing question pushed by nurse unions; Question 2, which asks voters to create a commission that would seek an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to override the Citizens United campaign-finance ruling by the Supreme Court; and Question 3, which seeks to overturn the state’s new transgender-rights law. Questions 1 and 3 are the biggies.

The BBJ’s Jessica Bartlett has more on what’s expected to be a very expensive fight over Question 1. The AP at WBURhas more on all three ballot questions.
 
 
Citizens not happy about non-citizens voting in Boston
 
Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell’s proposal to let non-citizens vote in city elections is getting panned by residents who believe the idea is ‘watering down’ what it means to be an American, reports the Herald’s Antonio Planas. The council takes up the controversial proposal at a hearing today. Campbell is saying that her voting idea applies only to visa and green card holders, legal permanent residents and those under Temporary Protected Statute.

 

 

Let the Supreme Court confirmation brawl begin
 
To get the big news out of the way first, via NYT: “President Trump on Monday nominated Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a politically connected member of Washington’s conservative legal establishment, to fill Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s seat on the Supreme Court, setting up an epic confirmation battle and potentially cementing the court’s rightward tilt for a generation.”

Here are some interesting tidbits and stories related to Trump’s pick and the coming confirmation battle over Kavanaugh:

— U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts are already no votes and are urging others to reject Kavanaugh’s nomination (NBC Boston).

— Judge Thomas M. Hardiman, a Waltham native, obviously didn’t get the nod.

— Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, had previously warned Trump that Kavanaugh might be the hardest of the candidates under consideration to be confirmed (see NYT piece).

— The Globe’s Liz Goodwin says that those pinning their hopes on U.S. Susan Collins opposing the nomination are probably going to be disappointed.

— The Globe’s James Pindell takes a look at the six players who may hold the key to whether Kavanaugh is confirmed.

— The Globe’s Jeff Jacoby has piece on how not to fix the Senate confirmation process, such as resurrecting FDR’s old court-packing idea.

— Akhil Reed Amar, a professor at Yale Law School, says the nomination of Kavanaugh is actually “President Trump’s finest hour, his classiest move” (NYT op-ed). Not that his endorsement or idea for a confirmation “compromise” will stop the coming battle. They won’t.
 
 
House plans to pass economic development bill – perhaps with a sales-tax holiday goodie
 
The House today plans to approve the $610 million economic development bill that was originally filed by Gov. Charlie Baker this spring, reports SHNS’s Michael Norton at the Worcester Business Journal. Christian Wade at the Gloucester Times reports that House Speaker Robert DeLeo is signaling lawmakers may go along with a plan to hold a sales-tax holiday this summer after all – and there just so happens to be several sales-tax-holiday amendments tacked to the economic development bill.

Btw: The Globe’s Jon Chesto also reports that the same bill includes $100 million for a major upgrade to the Black Falcon terminal in Boston, as part of a Massport move to further boost the booming cruise-ship business.
 
 
DeLeo suggests stripping out ‘policy’ issues (i.e. sanctuary state etc.) from budget deliberations
 
With the state’s annual budget now nine days late, House Speaker Robert DeLeo has an idea: Strip out all the non-budget ‘policy’ amendments and simply pass the actual budget numbers, report MassLive’s Shira Schoenberg and SHNS’s Matt Murphy and Katie Lannan at CommonWealth magazine. Among the more controversial ‘policy’ provisions? The Senate’s amendment that would bar state and local police from asking about someone’s immigration status unless required by law, i.e. the quasi-sanctuary state proposal.
 
 
Northeastern professor defends ICE work amid plans for protest
 
Northeastern University students and activists are planning a protest tomorrow over the university’s $7.8 million research contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the professor conducting the ICE research, Glenn Pierce, says his work is about identifying export products that might be used to build deadly weapons, not immigration matters, reports SHNS’s Chris Triunfo at WCVB. “We’re discussing something that has no overlap with [the protestors’] concerns,” he says.

 

Is Warren more bi-partisan than she looks?
 
Shawn Zeller at CommonWealth magazine reports that a new study suggests that U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a fiery leader of the progressive movement nationwide, may not be as partisan as she appears. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, who’s facing a tough primary challenge from a progressive trying to paint him as a milquetoast moderate, is actually more partisan than Warren. Go figure.

 

Ex-journalist arrested for threatening to shoot up Walpole Times’ offices
 
Speaking of the media: After last month’s deadly shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, police aren’t taking any chances in situations like this. Norman Miller at the MetroWest Daily News reports that Amy Zuckerman, 64, an author and former journalist, was arrested over the weekend after she made what’s being described as a “very serious threat” against a journalist who works in the Walpole Times office.

According to CBS Boston, police say Zuckerman sent an email to a Times writer, accompanied by a detailed physical description of the newspaper’s office, that “mentioned shooting a firearm through the window of The Walpole Times while people were there,” in the words of Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael.
 
 
Healey probes Dunkin’ and other restaurant chains over alleged ‘no poach’ employment agreements
 
Attorney General Maura Healey and other AGs across the country have sent letters to Dunkin’ Brands, Panera Bread, Burger King and five other restaurant chains as part of an investigation into possible ‘no poach’ agreements that ban franchises from hiring employees from other stores, reports the BBJ’s Greg Ryan. Canton-based Dunkin’ denies it has such agreements.
 
 
Excluded no more: Malden to recognize women, African-American and other vets left off WWI memorial
 
With the centennial of the end of World War I approaching in November, the city of Malden is doing the right thing: It’s publicly recognizing the local women and African-American veterans who served in World War I but whose names were left off the city’s existing memorial. We’re talking a lot of names that were excluded – and not just females and blacks. Many were immigrants who spoke only Italian, Swedish, Russian, and Yiddish, report Lucas Smolcic Larson at WGBH. Our question: How many other war memorials across the state have similar omissions?

WGBH
 
 

 

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