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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Massachusetts Playbook will not publish on Thursday, Nov. 28 and Friday, Nov. 29. I'll be back in your inbox on Monday, Dec. 2.
BOSTON DONORS TO RALLY AROUND PATRICK — To call Deval Patrick's presidential campaign a shoestring operation would be insulting to shoestrings.
Attend a Patrick event and there's not a bumper sticker or pin to be found, let alone organizers with clipboards collecting names of would-be voters. His ground game looks to be nonexistent: The entire campaign appears to consist of a handful of volunteers and several publicly announced staffers. In comparison, other campaigns have several hundred paid staffers and dozens of offices combined — and that's just in New Hampshire.
Patrick has spent the first dozen days of his campaign trying to persuade senior Democratic leaders in the early voting states to take him seriously. They want to give the former Massachusetts governor with an inspirational life story and friendship with Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt. But Patrick has a way to go before they fully buy in.
Some home-state loyalists are stepping in to help Patrick with his fundraising, making phone calls and even pleading on Facebook for money in an attempt to help the campaign get off the ground. One top Boston-area donor who has thrown his weight behind Patrick is John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction Co., the largest building company in New England.
Just after Thanksgiving, Patrick and his wife, Diane, plan to attend a fundraiser at the home of Joshua Boger, founder and former CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, according to an invitation email obtained by POLITICO.
The Dec. 2 event is being billed as the last time Patrick and his wife will be in the same room in Massachusetts until March 2020. It suggests contributions of $5,600 or $2,800. Co-hosts of the event include Patrick allies like Democratic donor Sean Curran, former Patrick administration official and president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council Bob Coughlin, Corvus Insurance founder Phil Edmundson, and Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, among others.
While acknowledging Patrick has an uphill climb, Boger pitched him as a candidate who can beat President Donald Trump and offered a veiled critique of the liberal campaigns of Sanders and Warren.
"He may not win the nomination, and if he doesn't, I won't have wasted a dime. This pathetically-constructed (thanks DNC!!) reality-TV-show-version of a Democratic Primary needs the voice of Deval Patrick," Boger wrote in the invitation email. "If we can get him the resources quickly, he can demonstrate that in New Hampshire and South Carolina and beyond."
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 signs a long-awaited education funding bill at a ceremony with Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Senate President Karen Spilka, House Speaker Robert DeLeo state Sen. Jason Lewis, Rep. Alice Peisch and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. Baker and Polito attend the annual Firefighter of the Year awards. Walsh and Boston City Councilor Kim Janey attend a signing ceremony for a cannabis equity ordinance at City Hall. Sen. Ed Markey meets with Braintree community members.
Rep. Joe Kennedy III visits the North Quabbin Catholic Community Food Bank and the Leominster Spanish American Center's food pantry, and takes a small business walk in Concord. Rep. Jim McGovern and Kennedy walk with Monte's March to raise money to end hunger. Rep. Katherine Clark meets with residents of the Jack Satter House in Revere. Oral arguments are made for and against House Speaker Sal DiMasi's appeal to register as a lobbyist.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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- "Baker to Sign Landmark Education Funding Bill," by Katie Lannan, State House News Service: "Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday plans to sign into law a sweeping overhaul of the state's school finance system, committing to $1.5 billion in funding over seven years. The signing ceremony is set for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at English High School in Jamaica Plain, according to an email sent to lawmakers from Baker's office, a copy of which was obtained by the News Service."
- "Massachusetts becomes 16th state to ban hand-held cellphone use while driving," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "With a stroke of his pen, Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday made Massachusetts the 16th state to prohibit drivers from holding their cellphones while driving. "Operators driving a car should not be holding a phone to text, check social media or email," Baker said moments after signing the bill. "When a driver on an electronic device hits something or someone, that's not an accident, it's a crash that was avoidable." The ban will go into effect in 90 days, on Feb. 23. Until March 31, police officers will only be allowed to issue a warning for a first offense."
- "Auditing firm hands over RMV records to Legislature," by Abigail Feldman, Boston Globe: "The auditing firm hired by Governor Charlie Baker's administration to investigate the Registry of Motor Vehicles on Monday gave state lawmakers records from interviews of current and former state employees, after initially refusing to do so without legal action. Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced the handover Monday night during an airing of WGBH's Greater Boston news series. The audit revealed that the Registry had for years neglected alerts about Massachusetts residents who broke traffic laws in other states, allowing those drivers to stay on the road."
- "Massachusetts Attorney General Releases Report On Efforts To Mitigate Asbestos Risk," by Gabrielle Emanuel, WGBH News: "Three years after launching the Healthy Buildings, Healthy Air Initiative, aimed at protecting people from the risks of asbestos exposure, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is releasing the results of her work. The report highlights a three-pronged approach to combating the risks associated with asbestos, including advocating for strong federal protections, taking action against contractors and property owners who do not follow regulations for working safely with asbestos, and working with schools to identify where there is asbestos."
- "AG Maura Healey: Grant Thornton Records Should Be Made Public," by Zoe Mathews, WGBH News: "Attorney General Maura Healey said Monday that the auditing company hired by the state to investigate the Registry of Motor Vehicles should not be keeping records private. "I'm hoping this resolves itself immediately. I think these records should be made available," she said in an interview with Boston Public Radio. Grant Thornton, the auditing firm Gov. Charlie Baker hired in the wake of a New Hampshire motorcycle crash that killed seven people in June, is refusing to turn over interview records directly relating to that incident without a subpoena from lawmakers, according to the Boston Globe."
- "Berkshire lawmakers support bill that would criminalize suicide coercion," by Carolyn Komatsoulis, Berkshire Eagle: "Amid concerns about bullying, Berkshire County representatives said they support Conrad's Law, a controversial bill intended to make it a crime in Massachusetts to coerce someone to commit suicide. State Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, and Rep. Natalie Higgins, D-Leominster, filed bills in response to the case in Fairhaven, where then-17-year-old Michelle Carter in 2014 pressured her teenage boyfriend Conrad Roy through texts to kill himself, which he eventually did."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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- "Is Walsh preparing to go 'bold' on transportation?" by Michael Jonas, CommonWealth Magazine: "IS MAYOR MARTY WALSH preparing to call for a massive upgrade of Boston-area public transit by making the case for a regional tax to support bold new investments? Listen to him on the new installment of The Codcast, and you make the call. The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce's "City to City" program sets out to take Boston civic and business leaders to other cities so they can expand their thinking on challenges at home by learning about policies and practices elsewhere. Walsh, who was part of the program's trip earlier this month to Los Angeles, has clearly taken that mission to heart."
- "Consortium plans to build cell manufacturing facility," by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine: "A STAR-STUDDED CAST of local academic, business, and hospital institutions is uniting to spend $50 million on an independent, nonprofit cell-manufacturing facility in the Greater Boston area that is expected to bring revolutionary biomedical treatments to market much faster. The founding partners include Harvard, MIT, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The other participants are five of the region's top hospitals — Massachusetts General, Brigham and Women's, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Children's, and Beth Israel Deaconess- along with MilliporeSigma and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."
- "THE QUIET ONE," by Sara Selevitch, DigBoston: "40 years ago this month, Fred Clay was arrested for a crime he didn't commit. After 38 years behind bars, he's telling his story and writing another chapter. Just after 4 am on Nov 16, 1979, 28-year-old Jeffrey Boyajian sat idling in his cab in downtown Boston. One more ride, Boyajian may have thought to himself, eager to return home to Swampscott after a slow night. Another cab driver, Richard Dwyer, who was parked behind Boyajian, watched as three men crossed the street and climbed into Boyajian's cab."
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| PRIMARY SOURCES |
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- "Shannon Liss-Riordan calls for $6 million cap on campaign spending in Senate race with Markey and Kennedy," by Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com: "The early months of the Democratic primary race for Sen. Ed Markey's seat have often been consumed by arguments more about process than actual policy. First, the Massachusetts senator challenged his primary opponents to a debate on climate change. Then, Rep. Joe Kennedy III responded in turn by calling for a "people's pledge" to block outside spending in the race (the two candidates also clashed over accepting donations from corporate PACs). Now, it's Shannon Liss-Riordan's turn."
- "LAWRENCE MAYOR DAN RIVERA ENDORSES JESSE MERMELL FOR CONGRESS," from the Mermell campaign: "Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera today endorsed Jesse Mermell to represent Massachusetts' Fourth District in Congress, citing their work together on economic growth and leadership development in Lawrence as evidence of her commitment to building diverse and inclusive coalitions and driving economic opportunity in Gateway Cities. Rivera said he sees Mermell as a groundbreaker, who will bring the same passion and results to Congress as she did for their work together on Lawrence Leads, a public-private partnership to spur economic growth for all residents of the city."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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- "Housing advocacy group sues state over lead law," by Dusty Christensen, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "A local housing advocacy organization is suing state health officials over the commonwealth's lead-paint poisoning prevention law, arguing that the law has incentivized landlords to discriminate against families with children rather than abate lead paint in their buildings. The Holyoke-based Massachusetts Fair Housing Center and two families, one of whom lives in Northampton, have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the heads of the state's Department of Public Health and its Bureau of Environmental Health and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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- "Suffolk/Globe poll finds Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, Biden in tight race in N.H." by James Pindell, Boston Globe: "A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters shows a tight, four-way contest, with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on top but statistically tied with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and former vice president Joe Biden. It has been decades since this many candidates have jostled for the lead so soon before a New Hampshire presidential primary. On Monday, longtime New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner officially scheduled the vote for Feb. 11."
- "Elizabeth Warren slams Bloomberg: He's trying to 'buy the nomination,'" by Daniella Diaz, CNN: "Elizabeth Warren made a rare direct attack on a Democratic presidential rival Monday, slamming former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for spending millions of dollars on ads to "buy the nomination." Warren's direct attack on Bloomberg illustrates how she plans to use another billionaire's entry into the race as fuel for her candidacy, which is aimed at addressing what Warren sees as a fundamentally unfair economic and political system that benefits the wealthy."
- "Exclusive: Warren Leads Among LGBTQ+ Voters in First-of-Its-Kind Poll," by Nico Lang, Out: "Elizabeth Warren, shante you stay. In a first-of-its-kind poll, a new survey from YouGov and Out magazine found that LGBTQ+ voters favor the Massachusetts Senator by a nearly 2-to-1 margin over her Democratic rivals in the 2020 primary race. In an online survey of 816 likely voters in the Democratic primary conducted between November 11 and November 18, 31 percent claimed that Warren is their preferred candidate, followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (18 percent), former Vice President Joe Biden (16 percent), and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (14 percent)."
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| PATRICK PRIMARY |
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- "Deval Patrick: Democratic primary is 'wide open,'" by Stephanie Murray and Trent Spiner, POLITICO: "Deval Patrick insisted Monday he has a real shot at the Democratic nomination despite his last-minute entry into a packed field earlier this month. "It's a wide-open race," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters at the Politics & Eggs breakfast, hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. "And the fact that folks have been in for a long time and campaigning for a long time now, raising money for a long time ... has not resolved it." Patrick's comments came on the heels of a trip through the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada."
- "Deval Patrick hires operative to head his South Carolina campaign," by Trent Spiner, POLITICO: "Deval Patrick's presidential campaign has hired LaJoia Broughton to run his South Carolina operation, a campaign official told POLITICO. Broughton, the second person to be named publicly as a member of Patrick's fledgling campaign, is a political operative based in the state capital of Columbia. Since June, she has worked as state government affairs manager for JUUL Labs, the maker of e-cigarettes. Broughton faces the task of bootstrapping an organization as other campaigns have spent months building out their operations in South Carolina."
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| DATELINE D.C. |
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- "Friendly's sudden closures prompt Sen. Chuck Schumer to call for tougher warning laws," by Jim Kinney, MassLive.com: "Prompted by Friendly's abrupt April 2019 shutdown of 23 restaurants in five states at the cost of hundreds of jobs, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer proposed tightening federal laws requiring that workers get fair warnings of layoffs. In many cases workers arrived for their breakfast shifts to learn the location was closed. Those April closures included 15 restaurants across upstate New York which got the attention of Schumer, a Brooklyn Democrat, who serves as the Senate minority leader. Each Friendly's location has about 35 employees."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "SHE NEEDS A HERO," — Globe: "Quartet of candidates top N.H. poll," "Judge orders McGahn to testify." |
| FROM THE 413 |
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- "Monte's March aims for $1 million in 10th year of raising funds for Food Bank of Western Mass," by Damaris Pérez-Pizarro, Springfield Republican: "Radio personality Monte Belmonte of WRSI 93.9 FM kicked off his 10th annual Monte's March with a large group following him down Main Street in Springfield on Monday morning. While Belmonte pushed a shopping cart his entourage held posters to raise awareness of hunger and the importance of donations made to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. The two-day walk covers 43 miles from Springfield to Greenfield with stops in Chicopee, Holyoke, Northampton, Hadley, Amherst and South Deerfield."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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- "It's 'WooSox!' Worcester Red Sox make name official while unveiling mascot honoring Harvey Ball's smiley design," by Michael Bonner, MassLive.com: "Earlier this month the Worcester Red Sox asked fans at an event "Who beats the WooSox?" The question resurfaced Monday when the organization revealed its nickname and logo at the Mercantile Center in Worcester. Whether asked Monday night, last month or last year, the answer remained consistent: nobody. The team will retain its Red Sox moniker as it moves to Worcester from Pawtucket in 2021. For more than 40 years, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox has been known more colloquially as the PawSox, a name coincidentally sparked by a Worcester native."
- MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: "N.H. Will Open Up To 10 In-Person Sports Betting Halls," by Todd Bookman, New Hampshire Public Radio: "Officials approved a contract with Boston-based Draft Kings on Monday to bring both in-person and online sports wagering to the state. The Executive Council approved the contract with Draft Kings on a 3-1 vote, with Councilor Andru Volinsky opposing and Councilor Debora Pignatelli not taking part due to a conflict of interest. Draft Kings will operate up to ten in-person sports betting halls statewide. The company will also launch an online gambling portal which will take bets from anyone physically located within the state."
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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- "NPR Veteran Margaret Low To Lead WBUR," by Callum Borchers, WBUR: "Veteran news executive Margaret Low will be the next chief executive and general manager of WBUR, leading one of the nation's preeminent public media outlets amid a series of shakeups. Low, 61, joins WBUR from The Atlantic, where for the past five years she has served as senior vice president and head of the magazine's live events division."
- Ben Swasey joins NPR Politics as deputy editor. Swasey will leave his post as digital managing editor at WBUR. Tweet.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Bob Dunn.
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Celtics beat the Kings 103-102.
FOR YOUR COMMUTE: DEVAL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL - On this week's Horse Race, hosts Jennifer Smith, Steve Koczela and Stephanie Murray discuss Boston's traffic problem, in light of a recent Boston Globe Spotlight report. Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell talks about her work on the council as her term wraps up, and her endorsement of Sen. Kamala Harris in the 2020 race. Former Gov. Deval Patrick aide Alex Goldstein gives his take on Patrick's last-minute entry into the presidential race. 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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