| Report: Deval Patrick to announce he’s not running for president |
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| He said he would make a decision after the midterm elections – and that’s what he’s doing, apparently. From Stephanie Saul at the New York Times: “Deval Patrick, the former two-term Democratic governor of Massachusetts, plans to announce shortly that he will not run for president in 2020, according to a person close to Patrick. Patrick had been discussing a possible run with associates and had been traveling around the country to support Democratic candidates in the midterm elections. But he had also expressed some reluctance about a possible presidential run, telling David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, that he wasn’t sure there was a place for him. ” Gee, we can’t imagine who that “person close to Patrick” might be. Perhaps the first person named in the story after Patrick, the same person who was a consultant to Patrick’s first gubernatorial campaign in 2006? Just guessing. In any event, we’re disappointed by the decision. Patrick would have contributed a more optimistic, positive tone to a presidential campaign that’s already shaping up to be about as shrill as you can get. Btw: Beto O’Rourke, who’s pondering a 2020 presidential bid, recently met with former President Obama, reports the Washington Post. |
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| Of course, early polls might have played a role in Patrick’s decision. Will they for Warren? |
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| Recent polls have shown that Deval Patrick barely registered as a potential candidate for president. The same can, almost, be said for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who continues to lag far behind other potential Democratic candidates for president in surveys. Shannon Young at MassLive has the latest poll numbers, this time from Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies and The Harris Poll. Only four percent? Yikes. |
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| Bennett stepping down as Baker’s public safety director |
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| Amid ongoing scandals at State Police, Daniel Bennett, Gov. Charlie Baker’s public safety secretary, is stepping down and will be replaced by Thomas Turco, the state’s commissioner of the Department of Correction, reports Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive and Matt Stout and Danny McDonald at the Globe. The departure of Bennett, a veteran prosecutor, marks the first major change in Baker’s cabinet since Baker won re-election last month, as the Globe notes. But it also comes amid nearly non-stop State Police scandals that became an issue in the recent gubernatorial race. So make of the move what you will. |
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| National Grid gets pounded on Beacon Hill as DeLeo blasts ‘unconscionable’ treatment of workers |
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| It wasn’t a good day on Beacon Hill yesterday for National Grid, as the utility took a pounding from Dem lawmakers upset by its continued lock out of more than 1,200 workers and as legislators moved on several fronts to make the utility literally pay for its actions against union members. Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine has the details. But what caught our attention was House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s particularly harsh words, as reported by SHNS’s Katie Lannan, about large companies’ “reckless” and “unconscionable” behavior towards workers in general. DeLeo’s real target, obviously, was National Grid, leaving one to wonder if the utility now thinks its actions are worth the political price it’s paying. |
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| Is it right to judge a judge accused of helping an immigrant escape ICE? |
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| We’ve quickly reached the debate-it-into-the-ground stage of FleeGate, i.e. the controversy over the murky actions of a Newton judge who sure looks like she played some sort of role in allowing an immigrant defendant to escape an ICE agent sitting in her courtroom.In an editorial, the Globe argues Judge Shelley A. Joseph shouldn’t sit on criminal cases as a grand jury investigates her alleged actions. But in a Globe opinion piece, Nancy Gernter, a former federal judge and Harvard Law professor, says the judge and others had good cause to be concerned about the imminent deportation of the undocumented immigrant. The Globe’s Adrian Walker writes that Gov. Charlie Baker and others are wrong to conclude, without all the evidence in, that Joseph is guilty of obstructing justice. The Herald’s Howie Carr is using the incident, it appears, as an opportunity to blast all judges. Finally, Gintautas Dumcius at MassLive reports the courts have not changed Joseph’s assignment, despite Baker’s call that she be suspended. |
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| As Herald editor expands his authority, Globe plans DC hires to counter Washington Post poaching |
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| Two stories this morning impacting our two-newspaper town, both via UH: 1.) Herald editor Joe Sciacca is now editorial head honcho of all of Digital First Media’s newspapers in New England and upstate New York, reports the Lowell Sun. 2.) The Boston Globe is looking to hire a new bureau chief and two to three reporters in Washington, after repeated poaching of Globe talent by the Washington Post, reports Politico. “The Globe’s search signals that the paper remains committed to the Washington bureau,” according to Politico. OK, here’s a third item: Joe Sciacca’s announcement on the Herald’s new website redesign, which, after a rough first morning, actually looks pretty sharp. |
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