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Presented by JUUL Labs
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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
TRUMP'S 'OPPO RESEARCH' — President Donald Trump's admission that he would probably take dirt on his political opponents from foreign nations led the trio of Massachusetts politicians running for president to call for his impeachment and even his resignation last night.
Trump said he would probably take information about his opponents from foreign nations during an ABC interview that aired last night. He called it "oppo research" and said he would not necessarily call the FBI if a foreign nation offered him information. His comments come after special counsel Robert Mueller wrapped an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
"There's nothing wrong with listening," Trump said. "It's not an interference. They have information, I think I'd take it."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren slammed Trump's comments on Twitter, renewing her call for his impeachment. Warren was among the first 2020 Democrats to call for impeachment after she read a redacted version of the Mueller Report in the spring.
"The #MuellerReport made it clear: A foreign government attacked our 2016 elections to support Trump, Trump welcomed that help, and Trump obstructed the investigation. Now, he said he'd do it all over again. It's time to impeach Donald Trump," Warren wrote online.
Rep. Seth Moulton knocked Trump's statement as "the definition of collusion from the man guilty of obstruction" in a tweet. Moulton won't be able to take his Trump criticisms to the debate stage, however. The 6th District congressman came short of qualifying for the first Democratic debate last night, which is set to air later this month.
Before Trump can face a Democrat in the general election , he'll be on the primary ballot with former Gov. Bill Weld. The Canton Republican called for Trump's ouster last night, saying he should leave the White House.
"Under no circumstance should any candidate accept or use information about a political opponent gained from a foreign power — especially one who seeks the destruction of our democracy like Russia or China — to influence the outcome of an American election," Weld said in a statement. "Mr. President, resign. For once in your life put the good of the country first. America deserves better."
Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com.
TODAY — Gov. Charlie Baker speaks at a Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Gloucester. Baker recognizes students and educators who participated in the administration's early college programs this year. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito co-chairs an engagement session for the Economic Development Planning Council at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Polito and Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington hold a roundtable discussion on the RESPECTfully campaign. Rep. Seth Moulton speaks at the Kennedy Institute.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo speaks to the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce. Rep. Katherine Clark is a guest on CNN's "New Day" to discuss the House's fiscal 2020 appropriations package. Former House Speaker Sal DiMasi attends a conference for his appeal to become a lobbyist. Rep. Richard Neal attends the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association annual meeting. Polito makes a 2019 Community Investment Tax Credit Allocations announcement in Chesterfield. Polito and Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty attend a ribbon cutting for 332 Main Street in Worcester.
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A message from JUUL Labs:
Youth vaping is a problem. We're taking action. No youth or non-nicotine user should ever try JUUL products. We've taken a series of actions to greatly reduce youth use of tobacco products, including our own. Learn more about our youth prevention efforts: JUUL.com/youth-prevention
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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CHARLIE BAKER APPOINTED POLITICAL HACKS FOCUSED ON ADDING A NO-BID LUNCHROOM RATHER THAN DOING THEIR JOBS. THEY'RE OUT-OF-TOUCH. CHARLIE BAKER SHOULD RIDE THE MBTA DURING PRIME COMMUTING HOURS, NOTICE HOW FILTHY THE STATIONS ARE, NOTICE - JUST LOOK AROUND, CHARLIE! FOR POLITICAL GAIN, CHARLIE BAKER PROMOTED HIS TEMPORARY +$1 BILLION SOUTH COAST RAIL.
- Baker says the T is heading in the 'right direction.' But critics say it's not going quickly enough." by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: "To Governor Charlie Baker, the MBTA is heading in the "right direction" in updating its aging system. But like passengers on the 111 bus crawling over the Tobin Bridge, many are left asking: Is this as fast as it goes? The crippling derailment of a Red Line car this week has refueled the debate over how to best fund a transit agency hobbled by years of neglect and decay. But it's also laid bare a key difference in how Baker, Democrats, and some business leaders view a solution: As Baker defends his administration's plans to funnel billions in borrowed money into the T in the coming years, others question the speed, and depth, of the investment as trains derail and a creaky system continues struggling to move people around."
- "Massachusetts Legislature — again — passes constitutional amendment to create 'millionaire's tax,'" by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "The Massachusetts Legislature on Wednesday passed a constitutional amendment to raise taxes on income over $1 million, the first step in a process that will take until 2022. It is, in effect, a do-over of the last three-year battle over the "millionaire's tax," which ended in 2018 when the proposed constitutional amendment was struck down by the Supreme Judicial Court before it went on the ballot. "We're like junkyard dogs. We don't give up. We are back," said Lew Finfer, an organizer with Raise Up Massachusetts, the coalition of labor, religious and community groups pushing for the amendment ."
- "Parents to file civil rights lawsuit against state over unequal school funding," by James Vaznis, Boston Globe: "Parents from seven Massachusetts school districts, frustrated by the Legislature's inability to overhaul school funding, plan to file a lawsuit against state education leaders Thursday for allegedly violating the civil rights of low-income, black, and Latino students by failing to provide them with the same quality of education as their mostly white affluent peers. The 98-page lawsuit, to be filed in Suffolk Superior Court, contends the spending gaps between poor and well-to-do systems have been widening for years, enabling affluent students to have the best public education money can buy — a plethora of college-level courses, cutting-edge technology, and robust arts and athletics programs."
- "The #Mapoli Push To Expand Abortion Rights — The ROE Act," by Adam Reilly and Peter Kadzis, WGBH News: "Now that Brett Kavanaugh is on the U.S. Supreme Court, filling a seat that could have been occupied by Merrick Garland, there's a real chance that Roe v. Wade — the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion — will be overturned or seriously curtailed. As red states try to force the issue by passing a bevy of restrictive new laws, blue states are moving in the opposite direction, passing legislation aimed at consolidating and expanding abortion rights."
- "SENATOR'S DUCK DRIVES ATTENTION TO DIAPER DRIVE," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: Some migrating ducks can fly up to 800 miles during an eight-hour trip. For the much shorter trek between Salem and Boston Wednesday morning, though, Drake the duck was a passenger, riding in a plastic crate in the back of Sen. Joan Lovely's car and quacking along the way. Lovely brought Drake, one of her four ducks, to the State House, to promote a diaper drive she is holding with Reps. William "Smitty" Pignatelli of Lenox and Mindy Domb of Amherst in connection with legislation they've filed to create a diaper benefit pilot program."
- "BIZ GROUPS LAY OUT ED REFORM WISH LIST," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "Representatives of 31 business groups laid out their education reform asks in a letter to lawmakers Wednesday, as the Education Committee continues to weigh changes to the state's school funding formula. The letter, circulated by the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education and signed by groups including Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said that employers are reporting trouble finding qualified candidates for open jobs while students are graduating unprepared to secure those positions."
- "Vaping is ruining student athletes: 'It's heartbreaking,' Massachusetts parents, school officials say," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "Paul Spear was just started as athletic director at Framingham High School when he heard that students were vaping. All he knew was that a friend mentioned he was using the products to ween off cigarettes. By late 2017, a year later, he was seeing student athletes in his office every week who got caught vaping on school grounds. He had to break the news to them and their parents that they were suspended from a series of games or competitions, due to regulations set by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association."
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Attend the #WellbeingCity Forum in Montréal: Cities are currently home to more than half the global population, a figure that will soar to 70% within the next thirty years. The NewCities' Wellbeing Cities Forum, held in Montreal on June 19-20, brings together senior leaders and urban experts to explore and collaborate on city-led action to improve urban wellbeing. Guest speakers include Professor Saskia Sassen, Daniel Libeskind, and mayors from around the world. Tickets are available via NewCities here.
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "New East Boston homes out of reach for residents," by Yawu Miller, Bay State Banner: "Walking through the Jeffries Point section of East Boston recently, City Councilor Lydia Edwards pointed to different housing developments to underscore the growing inequality in her neighborhood. On one side of Summer Street, Maverick Landing, a 396-unit, $120 million mixed-income Boston Housing Authority development is an example of what Edwards believes the city ought to be aiming for in East Boston. "This is how you develop housing," she said. "Breaking down barriers of poverty." But just across the street, The Mark, a six-to-nine-story luxury building currently under development, is marketing its luxury units."
- "MFA taps former state AG to investigate racist incidents against seventh-graders," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald:"The Museum of Fine Arts has tapped former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger to lead an external investigation into alleged incidents of racism a group of Dorchester students say they experienced during a school trip to the museum in May. A group of 26 seventh-graders and five teachers from the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy said they were met with racist remarks and felt like they were being followed by security during their May 16 visit to the museum, teacher Marvelyne Lamy previously told the Herald."
- "Wynn has plan for traffic, but yachts could be problem," by Andy Metzger, CommonWealth Magazine: "ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR, which won approval Wednesday to open for testing next week, is plunking down big bucks to try to avoid exacerbating the region's notorious gridlock when it opens in less than two weeks, but the Everett casino only has limited control over how people get there. For instance, the casino's three water shuttles are low enough to slip beneath the Alford Street Bridge linking Everett to Boston, but the resort on the banks of the Mystic River will also attract sailboats and big motor yachts from Boston Harbor on the other side of the bridge. The regulations governing the drawbridge call for it to remain down during weekday rush hours, but at other times it should open whenever a boat needs to get by, according to the US Coast Guard. When the bridge is up, that stops traffic along the busy stretch of Route 99."
- "Renters searching to leave Boston look to Worcester as a potential top choice, a new report says," by Michael Bonner, MassLive.com: "Renters hoping to leave Boston looked to Worcester as one of their top destinations to live outside the state's capital, according to a recent study by Apartment List. The apartment search engine complied searches of its users between Jan. 1, 2018 and May 1 and found that Boston renters were most interested in moving to Providence followed by Worcester and Rochester, New York."
- "Massachusetts illegal immigrant population spikes, increase since '07 leads nation," by Rick Sobey, Boston Herald: "The illegal migrant population grew more in Massachusetts than any other state from 2007 to 2017 — a 60,000 spike that costs Massachusetts taxpayers and risks public safety, legal immigration advocates say. "This is very concerning," said Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, after a Pew Research Center report detailing the increase was released Wednesday. "Besides the cost to taxpayers, there are public safety implications when you fail to control illegal immigration. And the continuing high levels of illegal immigrants undermine the integrity of our legal immigration system. '"
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "'At some point, I got lost,' says former Stanford sailing coach sentenced in college bribery scandal," by Milton J. Valencia, Boston Globe: "Four months ago, John Vandemoer was coaching the Stanford University women's sailing team at a regatta in South Carolina, silently trying to make sense of a recent visit by an FBI agent. He was being investigated, they said, for taking bribes to grease the way for certain students to be admitted to the prestigious California school. The case was not yet public, but it was later revealed to be part of a massive federal investigation that would rock the integrity of the admissions system at some of the country's top schools."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Warren leapfrogs Sanders in pair of 2020 polls," by Nolan D. McCaskill, POLITICO: "Elizabeth Warren leaped ahead of Bernie Sanders into second place in a pair of Democratic presidential primary polls released Wednesday. Warren has overtaken Sanders nationally, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll, which puts the Massachusetts senator ahead of her Vermont counterpart 16 percent to 12 percent. Former Vice President Joe Biden still leads all contenders with 26 percent support. Warren also polls ahead of Sanders in Nevada, where Democrats will caucus next February after the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. Biden leads the first Monmouth poll of likely Democratic caucusgoers in Nevada with 36 percent support, followed by Warren at 19 percent and Sanders at 13 percent."
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| DATELINE D.C. |
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- "WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE CHAIR DOESN'T WANT MEDICARE FOR ALL HEARING TO MENTION "MEDICARE FOR ALL," by Ryan Grim and Akela Lacy, The Intercept: "IN PREPARATION FOR Wednesday's hearing on Medicare for All before the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, the panel's chair met privately with Democrats to lay out how he wants it to unfold. Rep. Richard Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat who has been in office since 1989, told the Democrats on the panel that he didn't want the phrase "Medicare for All" to be used. Instead, he said, the hearing should focus on all the different ways to achieve "universal health care" or "universal health coverage," which he said was a better term to deploy. Medicare for All, he argued, was wrong on policy and is a political loser, sources present for the meeting, held last Wednesday, told The Intercept."
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| ALL ABOARD |
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- No quick fix on Red Line," by Vernal Coleman and Kellen Browning, Boston Globe: "The derailment of a Red Line car Tuesday caused significant damage to the traffic signaling equipment on the subway line that has forced the MBTA to operate at reduced speeds at a critical juncture, and officials do not yet know when service will return to normal operations. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Steve Poftak said Red Line riders should expect delays to continue through at least Friday, while investigators assess whether the signaling equipment can be repaired or needs to be replaced outright. The T is also assessing damage to the third rail system that powers that stretch of the red line."
- "T shuttle buses couldn't keep up," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "THE MBTA DEPLOYED 94 of its own buses along with 15 supplied by the Yankee Line to shuttle the thousands of passengers stranded when a Red Line train derailed at the JFK/UMass Station Tuesday morning, but the effort was thwarted when demand for seats far exceeded the supply and many of those who did make it on to the buses ended up stuck in gridlocked traffic for between one and two hours. The massive shuttle operation had as many as 68 buses operating at any one time and a total of 94 over the entire rush hour period. A T spokesman said in an email that 83 of the 94 buses used in the shuttle operation were pulled from existing routes, meaning service elsewhere suffered to deal with the impact of the derailment. Typically, the T deploys about 800 buses overall during the morning rush hour, the spokesman said."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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- "Why Seth Moulton thinks impeachment is the right thing to do," PBS: "Democratic presidential candidate and Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton redoubled his support Tuesday for beginning impeachment proceedings into President Donald Trump, saying that was the right course of action despite the potential political ramifications. In an interview with PBS NewsHour managing editor and anchor Judy Woodruff, Moulton said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's concerns about starting an impeachment inquiry were valid. But Moulton said he believes the situation rises above making political calculations."
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| MARIJUANA IN MASSACHUSETTS |
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- "Cannabis advocates rally in rebuttal to 'Prohibition 2.0,'" by Naomi Martin, Boston Globe: "Dozens of cannabis advocates rallied at the Massachusetts State House on Wednesday to refute a public health group's criticisms of the state's newly regulated marijuana industry. The crowd held signs that read: "Weed's not new," "Empower our communities," and "Cannabis equity is non-negotiable." The audience cheered as researchers, clinicians, a state regulator, and people harmed by the war on drugs spoke in support of the current regulations and new ones they hope will be approved this summer, such as the creation of cannabis cafe licenses."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "UNBEARABLE," — Globe: "CUP DREAMS MELT AWAY," "6 arrested in plot to kill Ortiz for bounty." |
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New Directory Available: The new States Directory makes it easy for Pros to identify and contact state-level influencers - like state legislatures, legislative staff, state executives, and state agency officials. Visit Directories.
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "Nursing home workers in Saugus issue strike notice," State House News Service: "Workers at a Saugus nursing home announced Wednesday that they have submitted a notice to strike on June 20 and 21, over what their union describes as poor wages and ownership policies. The health care workers union 1199SEIU represents about 70 employees at Saugus Care and Rehabilitation Center, an 80-bed nursing home. Their contract expired on Oct. 31, 2018, according to the union. "Massachusetts' nursing home industry is facing a crisis in large part because of out-of-state owners, like Eli Mirlis from Saugus, who care very little for residents, employees and the communities they are supposed to serve," Tim Foley, executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, said in a statement."
TRANSITIONS - Paul Garrity was appointed fiscal affairs director in Auditor Suzanne Bump's office.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Catherine McLaughlin and Liam Byrne.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes and no! The Red Sox beat the Rangers 4-3. The Blues beat the Bruins 4-1 to win the Stanley Cup.
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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A message from JUUL Labs:
We're combating the problem of underage vaping by:
Advocating for raising the legal age to purchase our products to 21+ nationwide.
Stopping the sale of non-tobacco and non-menthol based flavored JUULpods to traditional retail stores.
Enhancing our online age verification process.
Strengthening our retail compliance program with over 2,000 secret shopper visits per month.
Shutting down our Facebook and Instagram accounts and working to remove inappropriate social media content generated by others on those platforms.
And investing in new technologies to further prevent youth use.
JUUL.com/youth-prevention |
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