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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Happy Monday!
BUMP HITS BAKER ON STATE GOVT WOES — Auditor Suzanne Bump laid some of the blame for recently uncovered dysfunction at state agencies at Gov. Charlie Baker's feet during a television interview Sunday.
State government has been under a harsh spotlight in recent months. First there was the summer scandal at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, then a report finding safety is not a top priority at the MBTA, and now Bump's office is releasing a new audit that says the Department of Revenue has lacked the tools to protect sensitive data.
Bump said she was not surprised by the slew of shortcomings at state agencies during an interview on WCVB's "On the Record", and pointed to Baker's decisions early in his term as governor as part of the problem.
"The first act of his acts as governor, if you recall, was to offer an early retirement incentive plan to reduce the number of employees in state government. That had a significant impact on all of the agencies," Bump said. "They were terribly eroded and they haven't been built back up."
"It was easy to predict that when you cut out so many people, and so many basic functions were being under-funded, under-populated with professionals," Bump continued, "that you would end up with results like this."
Even as Democrats point to the Republican Baker administration as the reason for problems at state agencies, it doesn't seem to be affecting Baker's job approval in the state. Even after it was revealed that the RMV had failed to suspend thousands of licenses, Baker remained the nation's most popular governor.
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 and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito attend the Human Resources Division Performance Recognition Awards Ceremony. Baker, Polito and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh make a MassWorks announcement in Boston. Walsh signs a home rule petition for a transfer fee on real estate sales over $2 million with Boston City Councilors Lydia Edwards and Kim Janey. Walsh attends a "Shop with a Cop" event in Dorchester. Former Gov. Deval Patrick speaks at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.
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 | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
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— "Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signs $542 million closeout budget bill," by Shira Schoenberg, Springfield Republican: "Late Friday afternoon, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a supplemental budget bill that spends $542 million and ends a months-long legislative stalemate that had prevented the state from closing the books on the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2019. "A developing pattern of late appropriation bills bodes poorly for the future fiscal health of the Commonwealth, particularly if we encounter more challenging budgetary times," Baker wrote in a signing letter."
— "Safety issues at MBTA, RMV show similar problems at each agency," by Mary Markos, Boston Herald: "Similar troubles with potentially fatal safety impacts are dogging both the MBTA and the Registry of Motor Vehicles, revealing what critics say is a "cultural problem" with the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker. An emphasis on bringing the T to a state of good repair faster was "detrimental" to operations, according to a report produced last week by a panel of transportation experts, who found the "T's approach to safety is questionable, which results in safety culture concerns." The safety review panel was hired by the Fiscal and Management Control Board, which oversees the MBTA, to conduct a comprehensive review of operations after the Red Line derailment disaster in June."
— "For Berkshire legislative delegation, some hits, some misses on bills," by Carolyn Komatsoulis, Berkshire Eagle: "Everyone remembers the "Schoolhouse Rock!" song about a bill becoming a law and its happy ending: "He signed you, bill! Now you're a law!" So far this session, the Berkshire County delegation in the Statehouse has filed slightly fewer than 200 bills individually, according to an analysis of the Massachusetts Legislature website. Of those, 11 bills where one or both of the lead sponsors was a member of the Berkshire delegation have been signed by Gov. Charlie Baker and one has been vetoed — a sick leave bank for a government employee who died by the time it got to Baker ."
— "Legislators seek to stop Charlie Baker from passing Transportation Climate Initiative," by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: "Opponents of the hotly debated Transportation Climate Initiative are pushing a bill this week that would force Gov. Charlie Baker to seek approval from the Legislature before enacting the multi-state compact that will hike the cost of gas. "The bottom line is we're filing something that will at least require the Legislature to approve and maybe direct it if it's passed," state Rep. David DeCoste, a Norwell Republican, told the Herald. Baker has been keen on the TCI deal — a collaboration between 12 states from New England to the Mid-Atlantic, as well as the District of Columbia — as a method of reducing carbon emissions and moving toward renewable energy for transportation."
— "Income tax rate returning to 1985 level," by Sarah Betancourt, CommonWealth Magazine: "GOV. CHARLIE BAKER says the state's individual income tax rate will drop to 5 percent at the beginning of next year, ending a two-decades-long march back to the level it was at in 1985. The income tax rate was increased in 1985 and again in 1990, with politicians promising to lower it again when the economy improved. There was a small decrease in 1992 and another in 2000 before 59 percent of the state's voters approved a ballot question directing that the rate be lowered to 5 percent in three years. That schedule was put on hold in 2002 by the Legislature, which authorized incremental drops in the rate as long as economic conditions permitted."
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| WHAT CITY HALL IS READING |
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— "Mejia, St. Guillen look back on the closest Boston City Council race in history," by Adrian Walker, Boston Globe: "One vote. One lousy vote. Days after the conclusion of the closest Boston City Council election imaginable, both Julia Mejia and Alejandra St. Guillen were still in a bit of a state of shock over the outcome, which Mejia won by one vote after a recount. "It's still sinking in for me," Mejia said last week. "I feel like any moment, someone will say 'Psych! I was just joking!' It doesn't feel real yet." It's no less jarring for St. Guillen, who made the surprising decision not to challenge the result in court."
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| FROM THE HUB |
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— "Scores of sex offenders have state licenses to be electricians, manicurists, and more. The official who found out got fired," by Andrea Estes, Boston Globe: "It was pure chance that Ada Alfonso discovered a high-risk registered sex offender among the licensed electricians that her office oversees. Benjamin B. Brause had renewed his license online in June 2016 — even though at the time he was locked up for sexually assaulting a boy he coached in youth football. Even one such lapse is problematic; people licensed in the trades are trusted to work unsupervised in private homes. But a review of licensed professionals conducted by the state in May after Alfonso's questions revealed a much bigger problem."
— "This Decade, Boston Voters Crushed the Old Guard," by David Bernstein, Boston Magazine: "A mere ten years ago, Boston politics didn't seem all that different from a century earlier. Men—primarily white, Catholic men—led the city's transactional, tribal political machinery, where what you get is about who you know, and who you owe. Cracks in that system were beginning to show ten years ago. Today, the dam has burst. A more anarchic and progressive politics has rushed in, with a wave of younger, more progressive, and more diverse candidates bulldozing past the remnants of the old guard, as it tried in vain to hold back the deluge."
— "Protesters call for more affordable housing in Suffolk Downs redevelopment," by Jeremy C. Fox, Boston Globe: ""More than 100 community members and affordable housing advocates rallied Saturday afternoon in East Boston's Central Square to call for greater transparency, more community input, and an increase in the number of affordable units for a proposed development at Suffolk Downs. Neighborhood residents feel their voices are not being heard by the 161-acre site's proposed developers, HYM Investment Group, or by the Boston Planning & Development Agency, said Andres Del Castillo, an organizer from the affordable housing group City Life/Vida Urbana who planned the protest."
— "Amid reforms and staffing dips, overtime for prison officers soars," by Gal Tziperman Lotan, Boston Globe: "Massachusetts has the lowest incarceration rate in the country, and its state prison population has dropped by 19 percent since 2015. But hopes for increased cost savings have not been realized. Payroll for correctional officers has increased slightly over that span, as overtime costs have nearly tripled, a Globe review has found. Last year, correctional officers received $44.68 million in overtime, up from $16.3 million in 2015. This year, overtime pay is on pace to rise again, having reached $40 million by early November."
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DEBATE PREP: Seven candidates have qualified for the final Democratic Presidential debate, hosted by PBS Newshour and POLITICO, in Los Angeles on Dec. 19. Check out POLITICO's debate hub featuring election forecasts, a breakdown of the candidates' policy positions, and everything you need to know to get ready for the big night.
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| FROM THE DELEGATION |
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— "Ayanna Pressley's prison plan slammed by law enforcement officials," by Rick Sobey and Erin Tiernan, Boston Herald: "U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley's sweeping plan to significantly cut jail and prison populations, in part by declining to prosecute numerous offenses, is drawing heat from law enforcement officials who say it would trigger more crime and is "only exacerbating problems." Pressley's resolution — called "The People's Justice Guarantee" — includes proposals that would dramatically reduce the number of people incarcerated across the country, and would encourage diversion programs. The plan also calls for declining to criminally prosecute low-level offenses associated with poverty and addiction, and ending mandatory minimum sentencing."
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| ALL ABOARD |
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— "Get ready: Keolis says fare gates are coming to the commuter rail next year," by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: "The mad dash to catch a rush-hour commuter train is about to get more complicated for tens of thousands of riders, as the MBTA prepares to install turnstiles similar to those in the subways at its three busiest stations in order to improve fare collections. They're probably coming to North Station first, sometime in the first half of 2020, before rolling into the Back Bay and South Station later in the year, according to rail operator Keolis Commuter Services, which will install the gates for the MBTA."
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| DAY IN COURT |
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— "Boston law enforcement has been fighting a court order to release data on who police target on Snapchat," by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, The Appeal: "For almost a year, Boston prosecutors and police have been fighting a court order to disclose police reports that advocates say could expose a pattern of racially discriminatory policing practices. In January, Superior Court Judge Robert Ullmann ruled that the police department must provide Boston defense attorney Josh Raisler Cohn with reports from Aug. 1, 2017 to July 31, 2018, for any case in which a charge was filed as a result of law enforcement surveillance of Snapchat accounts. Ullmann excluded sexual assault, murder, and human trafficking cases."
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| WARREN REPORT |
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— "Mayor Pete's bestie is also helping craft the Warren agenda," by Alex Thompson and Elena Schneider, POLITICO: "Ganesh Sitaraman is one of Elizabeth Warren's closest advisors. He's also one of Pete Buttigieg's best friends. How's that for awkward? The 37-year-old Vanderbilt Law School professor, who's been with Warren since before the start of her political career, has been a key architect of the sweeping policy agenda that powered her surge to the top of the Democratic field. But in his new book, The Great Democracy, the first person Sitaraman acknowledges isn't Warren. It's the man she's been battling fiercely for bragging rights in Iowa."
— "Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders Have a Problem: Each Other," by Jonathan Martin, The New York Times: "Diane Chojnowski and Denyce Rusch were among the Iowans who braved light snowfall and temperatures in the teens to see Senator Bernie Sanders on Sunday afternoon, a few hours before Senator Elizabeth Warren was also due in this liberal pillar of eastern Iowa. But after Ms. Chojnowski and Ms. Rusch praised Ms. Sanders, they turned to a predicament far more bothersome than the winter weather: choosing between the two progressive candidates."
— "A new Warren surrogate gingerly takes the stage: 'Hi, I'm Elizabeth's husband,'" by Jess Bidgood, Boston Globe: "He wryly admitted to being a poor substitute for his wife. He warned that his golden retriever, Bailey, might jump on the assembled volunteers. And he seemed almost embarrassed by the lengthy introduction that preceded his own remarks. This week, Senator Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign rolled out a new and exceedingly low-key surrogate: her husband, Bruce Mann, who up until now has been more likely to be folding chairs after a Warren event than taking the microphone to kick one off."
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| ABOVE THE FOLD |
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— Herald: "PATS CLINCH," "CRIME ALERT," — Globe: "A quiet morning, then chaos," "3 busiest rail hubs to get fare gates soon."
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| EYE ON 2020 |
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— MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: "Lower-tier candidates stand firm in NH primary field," by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: "Dennis Ryan is a Democrat who has voted in every presidential election since the early 1970s, but he doesn't consider himself beholden to the party's nominee. The Manchester man is among the politically active residents of the Granite State who have been squeezing into town hall meetings, watching televised debates and combing over policy statements in search of a candidate to support in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary. He said the crowded field makes it difficult."
— MEANWHILE IN OHIO: "Amherst's Nakajima campaigns for Patrick in Ohio," by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: "An Amherst School Committee member who served in state government during Deval Patrick's tenure is in Ohio this week working on the former Massachusetts governor's fledgling presidential campaign. "I'm organizing volunteers and helping us to get set up across the state of Ohio, and to build support," Eric Nakajima said on Friday as he was driving near Cleveland. But Nakajima, chairman of the Amherst Regional School Committee, said his immediate focus is on collecting enough signatures so Patrick's name can appear on the primary ballot alongside other Democrats running for president."
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| FROM THE 413 |
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— "His struggle with heroin landed him behind bars; Here's how he got clean in a Western Massachusetts jail," by Douglas Hook, MassLive.com: "Allan J. Ryan has spent the past decade in-and-out of trouble with the authorities. His longtime struggles with drug addiction led him to present-day life inside the Franklin County House of Correction in Greenfield serving time for larceny. In the library of the jail, he sits. A tall, slender man in an orange jumpsuit, he waits for his dose of methadone daily. He looks over the top of his oval glasses waiting for the nurse to call his name so he can walk over and relieve his craving for the heroin addiction he has developed over the years."
— "The Richie Neal Moment in the House of Representatives," by Matt Szafranski, Western Mass Politics & Insight: "One day in October, the House Ways & Means Committee chairman, Springfield Congressman Richard Neal, exited the stately conference room in the Capitol. A swarm of Capitol Hill scribes were waiting, buzzing him with questions about impeachment, Donald Trump's tax returns and pending legislation. A staffer walked ahead, recording exchanges for quote accuracy. Aside from Ireland matters or a hit on CNBC to nerd out on tax policy, such a sudden scrum around Neal would be unthinkable a few years ago."
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| THE LOCAL ANGLE |
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— "Worcester vape shop owners report big losses as Mass. ban expires," by George Barnes, Telegram & Gazette: "Adrian Pelkey has vape pens on display in his counters at Rize+ store, tobacco flavored products on the shelves, but stored away is $100,000 worth of flavored vaping products the state has prohibited him from selling. The state ban on unflavored vaping products expired Wednesday, but Pelkey's flavored products sold at the Park Avenue store before the ban remain off the shelves. Since the vaping products ban went into effect in September, Rize+ has been focused more on CDB products, smoking glassware items such as bongs and other products to stay in business."
— "Officials: Amazon eyeing West Quincy property," by Mary Whitfill, The Patriot Ledger: "Online retail giant Amazon has its eye on West Quincy as the potential site of a new distribution center, officials say. The online retailer, which recently dropped plans for a facility on Campanelli Drive in Braintree, is considering building at the site of a former Lowe's hardware store on Burgin Parkway. The MBTA has also expressed interest in the site for a new bus maintenance center to replace the aging facility on Hancock Street. Palmucci said an engineer for Amazon met with city officials to express interest in the 13-acre parcel at 599 Burgin Parkway."
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| MEDIA MATTERS |
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— "The Short List Mourns The Demise Of Small-Town Newspapers," by Jill Kaufman, NEPR: "In western Massachusetts this week, the Athol Daily News shut its office in town. The paper will still be published, but will be based some 25 miles away in Greenfield. Staff were cut in what the paper's parent company said is a cost-cutting move. Susannah Whipps, Athol's state representative, said she understands the expense of running a daily paper. "The Athol Daily News has been a staple in the community for decades, for as long as I can remember," she said."
TRANSITIONS - Cassie Moreno joins Suraj Patel's congressional campaign in New York's 12th District as communications director. Moreno previously served as communications director for Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu, and is a Rep. Seth Moulton alum.
MAZEL! to the State House News Service's Colin Young, who got engaged and turned 30 in the same weekend. Tweet.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Boston Globe's Liz Goodwin, Charlotte DuHamel, Ryan McCollum and Beth Fairservis
DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! The Patriots beat the Bengals 34-13.
FOR YOUR COMMUTE: THE POLL-AR EXPRESS — On this week's Horse Race podcast, hosts Jennifer Smith and Steve Koczela discuss new polling on the New Hampshire primary. Boston Globe reporter Adam Vaccaro runs through the safety report on the MBTA conducted by an independent panel of experts. MassINC Polling Group Research Director Rich Parr rounds out the show with a look at a regional poll focused on the Transportation Climate Initiative. 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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