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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
THINGS ARE ALREADY AWKWARD — Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Katherine Clark will appear side-by-side at a Green New Deal town hall in Framingham tonight. Normally, you'd call that business as usual during the summer recess. But ever since it became clear that Rep. Joe Kennedy III is considering a campaign to knock Markey out of office, things have been far from ordinary in Massachusetts politics.
Markey is holding a series of Green New Deal town halls around Massachusetts with state and federal lawmakers. And while climate change is the topic of discussion, the looming Senate primary will likely be on the minds of Democratic activists in the audience tonight.
Markey unveiled the Green New Deal resolution with first-year Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in January. Clark, the second-highest ranking woman in the House, is the only member of House Democratic leadership who was an original co-sponsor of the resolution, according to her office.
Lawmakers also staying quiet are Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Seth Moulton — both waged insurgent primary campaigns against incumbents and won. Clark, who holds Markey's old House seat, "intends to make public endorsements at a later time," a spokesperson told the Boston Globe last week. So will that make things awkward tonight?
"Katherine Clark is the consummate professional. I assume Katherine Clark isn't going to walk into a town hall with Ed Markey and think, 'Oh my god, Ed Markey's here,'" said Scott Ferson, founder of Liberty Square Group. "She's going to have plenty of time to figure out what her response is: supportive, opposed or indifferent."
"But I have to think, right now, it's a little awkward for everybody," Ferson added.
And while Clark and Markey will head into tonight's event with a plan, things are already going off the rails in Democratic circles. Tensions are mounting among aides and activists — and we're talking about a campaign that might not even happen, for a primary that's just under 13 months away.
"If it comes to pass that Congressman Kennedy challenges Sen. Markey , it's going to create rifts and awkwardness and people being uncomfortable," Ferson told me. "That's just reality."
Look no further than inside the Markey and Kennedy campaigns. Paul Tencher, a senior adviser to the Markey campaign, landed himself in hot water earlier this week when he shared a Twitter post suggesting Kennedy should back off the Senate race and focus on his family's mental health issues. Tencher apologized and said he shared the tweet in error, but a source close to Kennedy told reporters yesterday that the congressman is "livid." It's one of the first windows into Kennedy's thinking that we've seen since news of the potential primary broke.
On the outside, Democratic activists are already choosing sides.The grassroots advocacy group Progressive Massachusetts sent an email blast to its members yesterday, ripping Kennedy and pledging support for Markey, in part because of Markey's leadership on climate change. There are plenty of activists in that group who considered themselves supporters of both Kennedy and Markey until last weekend.
"As a white male, Kennedy's potential challenge has no purpose other than furthering his own career. Other than a family name, he has nothing of significance to offer," the group wrote, according to an email shared with POLITICO. "So to Kennedy I say — at this crucial point in history, it's time to put your country before self. So please, wait your turn."
PROGRAMMING NOTE: It's almost that time! Massachusetts Playbook is here all this week, but we won't publish next week. I'll be back in your inbox on Tuesday, Sept. 3.
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 joins the Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon on WEEI. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh attends the Sabre Labs opening. Walsh speaks at a Salvation Army/Kroc Center Volunteer Backpack Stuff-A-Thon in Dorchester, and is a guest on Nightside with Dan Rea. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito chairs a weekly meeting of the Governor's Council. Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Katherine Clark hold a town hall in Framingham.
Rep. Lori Trahan and Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini will host a census forum with state Reps. Andy Vargas, Linda Dean Campbell,Christina Minicucci and Lenny Mirra. Trahan and Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) tour the Merrimack River Region in Manchester and Lowell.
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NEW—POLITICO's UNITED NATIONS PLAYBOOK: The 74thSession of the United Nations General Assembly will jam some of the world's most influential leaders into four blocks in Gotham. POLITICO's man-about-town Ryan Heath will take you inside UNGA—revealing juicy details from the lighter-side of the gathering and insights into the most pressing global issues facing decision-makers today. Sign up for U.N. Playbook.
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 | THE RMV SCANDAL |
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— "Baker And Healey Appointees Fire RMV Records Chief," by Mike Deehan, WGBH News: "The state official at the head of the RMV's division that failed to keep track of thousands of driving violations has been fired. Thomas Bowes was director of the Merit Rating Board, the division of the Registry of Motor Vehicles that maintains drivers' records and was responsible for a massive backlog of communications about dangerous drivers from other states that went unheeded in Massachusetts. The three-member board, which hadn't convened since 2015 according to the Attorney General's office, voted unanimously to dismiss Bowes at it's meeting Tuesday."
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| DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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— "Wareham gaming proposal gets cool reception," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "A QUINCY DEVELOPER with an interesting Wareham racino proposal called on the Legislature to revisit the state's gaming statute, but early feedback from Beacon Hill and one of the drafters of the law suggested the idea was unlikely to gain any traction any time soon, if at all. Thomas O'Connell, a developer who previously built the Marina Bay Complex and Granite Links Golf Club in Quincy, on Tuesday unveiled his $300 million proposal for Wareham Park just off of Route 25. The park, on the site of a sand pit, would feature a new thoroughbred race course with a 1-mile track, a new ballpark for the local Cape Cod League team, a 171-room hotel, and a sports field complex for local teams. O'Connell said the park would revive thoroughbred horse racing in Massachusetts and employ 1,000 full-time employees."
— "REPORT FLAGS "HOT-SPOT" REGIONS WITH HIGH UNINSURANCE RATES," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "A new report out Tuesday flags "priority" areas with the greatest concentrations of people without health insurance in Massachusetts, suggesting strategies to reach those who remain uncovered despite the state's low uninsurance rate of 2.7 percent. The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation's "Geography of Uninsurance" report compared the state's different zip codes based on their percentage of uninsured residents, number of uninsured residents, and number of uninsured residents per square mile. The 526 zip codes included in the report had an average of 381 uninsured persons, or 102 per square mile. The report showed regional variations, with a concentration of 667 uninsured people per square mile in the Boston region, 149 in the northeastern portion of the state, and 33 in the western region."
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| TRUMPACHUSETTS |
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— "Under 'public charge' rule, thousands of eligible Massachusetts families might shy away from health, food programs," by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: "An undocumented mother in Everett shared some good news with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition last week. She got engaged. With that came a caveat: If she has any chance of one day obtaining legal status through marriage, she fears she has to withdraw her U.S.-born daughter from food stamps in light of the recent "public charge" rule announced by the Trump administration."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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— "Boston would need up to 100 safe-injection sites for plan to work, Councilor Essaibi-George warns," by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "A safe drug-injection plan would need up to 100 locations citywide to be effective and avoid the "Methadone Mile" effect of creating a magnet for drug users, City Councilor Annissa Essaibi-George said — though she said she thinks the controversial supervised sites are a bad idea. Mayor Martin Walsh has said he is open to the idea. But at a hearing in the Committee on Homelessness, Mental Health and Recovery on Tuesday, Essaibi-George, who has toured facilities in Canada said, 'In order for it to be impactful ... we'd need a lot. We know people won't travel more than a quarter mile to them .'"
— "Longtime Walsh friend and ally coordinates city's response to South End," by Milton J. Valencia, Boston Globe: "William 'Buddy' Christopher, a long-time City Hall insider, was appointed in June by Mayor Martin J. Walsh as Boston's first-ever czar to coordinate its response to the intersection at Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as Methadone Mile because of the concentration of addiction recovery services in the area. Seemingly overnight, Christopher has been thrust into the spotlight as tensions flared in recent weeks between the area's addiction service providers, advocates, residents, and businesses over the open-air drug dealing and disorder in the area."
— "Officials: Boston Common must get safer but avoid an 'Operation Clean Sweep' repeat," by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: "Boston Common needs to be made safer if the city is going to spend $28 million rehabbing it, city councilors say — though some reject the idea of running a version of the Methadone Mile's
'Operation Clean Sweep' in the nation's oldest public park. 'The Boston Common is a mess. ... It's become a safe haven for drug dealing and for sex offenders,' At-Large City Councilor Michael Flaherty told the Herald."
— IT SURE FEELS LIKE IT: "Does Boston Have Its Worst Traffic Jams of the Year in August?" Boston Magazine. Link.
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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— "Potential candidates are already jostling for Joe Kennedy's congressional seat," by Michael Levenson, Boston Globe: "More than a dozen potential candidates — from obscure local officials to established statewide officeholders — are not-so-quietly eyeing Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III's congressional seat or openly declaring their interest in a campaign that may never materialize. ... Until the last several days, it was a lonely race for the Fourth Congressional District seat, featuring just one challenger to Kennedy: a Brookline resident and self-described democratic socialist named Ihssane Leckey."
— "Markey aide apologizes for sharing 'despicable' message about Kennedy family," by Victoria McGrane, Boston Globe: "An apparent social media blunder by Markey's top campaign hand has angered Kennedy, his team, and supporters — just as the 38-year-old Newton Democrat is weighing a challenge to the 73-year-old Markey. The controversy started late Monday night when a senior adviser to Markey's campaign retweeted a nasty post: '@EdMarkey, co-author of the green new deal, is a great Senator. @joekennedy should focus on his family's considerable mental health issues.'"
— "Heroux latest to downplay run for Kennedy seat," by Jim Hand, Sun Chronicle: "[Attleboro] Mayor Paul Heroux said Tuesday he has always wanted to run for Congress, but he loves his job in City Hall and would not consider running now. Heroux said being mayor is the best and most interesting job he has ever had and he enjoys it because he can get things done. ... He said his political focus is only on running for re-election in the November city election. Any thoughts of Congress will have to wait until the future, he said."
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| ALL ABOARD |
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— "Commuter rail riders 'somewhat satisfied,'" by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "COMMUTER RAIL RIDERS overall are "somewhat satisfied" with the rail system's performance, according to internal polls commissioned by Keolis Commuter Services that have shown steady but slow improvement over the last four years. In a poll taken of 4,268 passengers riding trains between May 6 and May 12, the commuter rail system received an overall satisfaction rating of 5 on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being extremely dissatisfied and 7 being extremely satisfied. The 5 rating, meaning somewhat satisfied, was just below the 5.1 the system received a year ago and a whole point above the 4 the system received in a poll taken in spring 2015."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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— "The Summer of Elizabeth Warren," by Julia Ioffe, GQ:"Elizabeth Warren was ready for the question. She gets a variation of it almost everywhere she goes. Often, it'll come after she's outlined any number of the big, sweeping things she intends to do once she's assumed the presidency—wipe out student debt, say, or bring the private equity industry to heel, or revamp the State Department. Her immodest plans tend to inspire at least a few people in every crowd to wonder the exact same thing: Really? And how do you expect you'll do all that? On a chilly summer evening in a high school gym in Milwaukee, I noticed she'd begun preempting the question by highlighting her own audacity."
— TOO FUNNY: "'We need to talk;' Sen. Elizabeth Warren met her doppelgänger at a town hall in Minnesota," by Michael Bonner, MassLive.com: "Stephanie Oyen arrived at Elizabeth Warren's town hall at Macalester College Monday night in Minnesota wearing her Halloween costume — glasses and a blue blazer. The simple outfit created confusion at the event. 'I thought it would get some giggles,' Oyen told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. 'Then people started yelling, 'Senator Warren!' People were clapping and running up to me to take photos. I kept saying 'I'm not her!' but I looked up and hundreds of people were staring at me.' Oyen not only dressed like Warren, but has a similar blonde hair which is cut like the senator's."
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| MOULTON MATTERS |
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— "For Moulton, it's decision time," by David Guarino, The Salem News: "The clock is ticking on Seth Moulton. I'd say it's Labor Day. Maybe even as long as Thanksgiving. But the clock will certainly run out before votes start in New Hampshire and Iowa as the snow falls. Regardless, Moulton has a choice to make very soon — end a clearly-failing pursuit of the presidency in 2020 or announce he won't be a candidate for reelection to Congress even if he loses in the presidential primaries. The smartest move would be to quit the presidential campaign before voters get back from the Cape and Seacoast and get back to work here in the 6th Congressional District. Right now, there's a serious risk a well-known Democrat will get in to the race and several of them ought to be thinking seriously about it."
— "Stop beating up Seth Moulton," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "LONG BEFORE Ayanna (Change can't wait) Pressley defeated incumbent Mike Capuano and long before Joseph (I can't wait) Kennedy III began ruminating about a run against US Sen. Edward Markey, there was Seth Moulton. Moulton ran against incumbent US Rep. John Tierney in 2014 and won, becoming the first candidate to defeat a sitting Massachusetts congressman in a primary since 1992. He took a lot of heat for bucking the wait-your-turn mentality that tends to dominate in Massachusetts politics, but that didn't stop him."
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| DATELINE D.C. |
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— "House Democrats say whistleblower bolsters case for getting Trump's tax returns," by Aaron Lorenzo, POLITICO: "A whistleblower recently made "credible allegations" to the Ways and Means Committee of potentially wrongful interference with the IRS' presidential audit process, lawyers for the House told a federal court Tuesday. The disclosure was included in a motion by House Democrats asking Judge Carl Nichols to summarily order the Treasury Department to turn over President Donald Trump's tax returns to Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.). Part of the Democrats' argument in the case is that they need Trump's returns to review the effectiveness of the IRS' routine audits of every president."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "MY BLACK AMERICA," — Globe: "New details revealed on 'secret courts,'" "Key figure in RMV scandal is fired."
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| FROM THE 413 |
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— "A Franklin County Jail Can Now Dispense Methadone To Treat Inmates," WBUR: " Franklin County Sheriff Christopher Donelan said Tuesday his office received state and federal approvals to establish a methadone clinic at its jail in Greenfield. The jail will soon offer all three federally-approved opioid treatment medications onsite. "It was a very long and arduous process for us to get their approval but what it means now is that we are able to offer all forms of treatment," Donelan said. Methadone is generally only dispensed under special circumstances in jails and prisons because it's an opioid, but resistance to its use is fading."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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— "Braintree town councilor fired from RMV," State House News Service and Patriot Ledger: "District 3 Town Councilor Thomas Bowes said he will remain a candidate for mayor following his firing Tuesday as the director of the state Merit Rating Board by its oversight board. 'I'm staying in,' Bowes said in a telephone interview. Bowes, who is in his 12th year as the District 3 town councilor, is one of four candidates for mayor in the Sept. 17 preliminary election. The others are school committee Chairwoman Lisa Fiske Heger, District 1 Town Councilor Charles Kokoros and Light Commissioner Thomas Reynolds. The top two vote-getters will go on to the Nov. 5 final election.."
— "Discounted Uber and Lyft could fill gaps as Brockton bus ridership falls," by Ben Berke, Brockton Enterprise: "A new report commissioned by the Brockton Area Transit Authority suggests that subsidizing rides booked through ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft could fill gaps in the local bus network, potentially reversing downward trends in ridership triggered in no small part by the popularity of such apps. BAT's 93-page study, titled 'Potential Impacts of Ride-Hailing on the Brockton Area Transit Authority,' found that its buses have lost riders almost every year since 2011. Meanwhile, the number of trips facilitated by ride-hailing companies in the Brockton area grew 65 percent between 2017 and 2018, according to data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities that's cited in the report."
— "Massachusetts Lobstermen Test Ropeless Fishing Gear to Save Right Whales," Public News Service: "Researchers say conservationists and the fishing industry must work together to save the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. Only about 400 of these whales are left living in the wild, and scientists say human activity is to blame. Proposed federal regulations aim to curb ship strikes and fishing-gear entanglements, which make up about 90% of all North Atlantic right whale deaths. But these measures drastically reduce the number of lines lobstermen are allowed to have in the water. That's why Massachusetts lobstermen are eager to try new technology that would enable them to set their traps without a vertical line."
— "'Shark!': Cape Cod Recoils in a Summer of Great White Sightings, Real and Imagined," by Kate Taylor, The New York Times: "Anxiety is hanging over the Cape Cod beaches this summer. It is in lifeguards' gazes as they scan the water. It is in the three young men playing a game by the shoreline who do not swim out to retrieve their ball when it lands too far out in the surf. It is in the panicked stampede out of the water when a seal swims by and someone on the beach mistakenly yells the word already hovering in the back of everyone's mind: 'Shark!' It is feeling more than a little like Amity Island on the Cape this season."
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CLIMATE CHANGE - THE BORDERLESS THREAT - Nowhere are the long-term costs of short-term thinking more detrimental than with the environment & global climate change. How can policymakers overcome the political roadblocks of the moment to take long-term action? In the third chapter of POLITICO's podcast "Global Translations", presented by Citi, host Luiza Savage will welcome special guests to explore both the science & politics of climate change, and the geopolitical implications that it presents. Subscribe and listen now.
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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— "On me, and the Media Lab," by Ethan Zuckerman, Medium: "A week ago last Friday, I spoke to Joi Ito about the release of documents that implicate Media Lab co-founder Marvin Minsky in Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes. Joi told me that evening that the Media Lab's ties to Epstein went much deeper, and included a business relationship between Joi and Epstein, investments in companies Joi's VC fund was supporting, gifts and visits by Epstein to the Media Lab and by Joi to Epstein's properties. As the scale of Joi's involvement with Epstein became clear to me, I began to understand that I had to end my relationship with the MIT Media Lab."
TRANSITIONS — Brendan Monahan has been hired as VP at InkHouse. He previously was associate VP for health care at Rasky Partners.
FOR YOUR RADAR: "What Would A Kennedy-Markey Primary Battle Look Like?" I was a guest on WBUR's "Greater Boston" yesterday afternoon. Make sure to listen!
AND ICYMI: I was a guest on MSNBC's " Meet the Press Daily" talking about the potential Kennedy vs. Markey Senate match-up on Tuesday, and joined MSNBC's " 11th Hour" that night to weigh in on the Senate primary and Sen. Elizabeth Warren's campaign.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Joe Mathieu, anchor of WGBH's "Morning Edition"; Jana Winter, 2018-2019 Boston Globe Spotlight fellow and Yahoo contributor; Kelley Vickery; Amy Dow, director of public relations and government affairs at New Balance; Sara Seinberg, adviser to Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse's congressional campaign (h/t Alex Morse); and David A. Heifetz, chief communications officer at New Politics.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? No! The Phillies beat the Red Sox, 3-2.
FOR YOUR COMMUTE: "To the Window, to the Walsh." On this week's Horse Race podcast, we break down the group drafting Rep. Joe Kennedy III for Senate and a standoff between Gov. Charlie Baker and the MassGOP. The Boston Globe's Milton Valencia talks Boston Mayor Marty Walsh now that we have a verdict in the Boston Calling case, and Jeff Gross, formerly of the MIRA Coalition, talks about a new commission that will study challenges foreign-trained medical professionals face in Massachusetts. Subscribe and listen on iTunesand 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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