 | By Kelly Garrity | GOOD TO HEAR POLL NUMBERS! THE NEWTON NEBBISH IS A CARPETBAGGER, LIGHT ON PUBLIC POLICY & LACKING EXPERIENCE.... BOSTON BY THE NUMBERS — Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has an early lead over Josh Kraft. But Kraft has room to make some inroads. A new poll from Emerson College out this morning gives us our first glimpse at how Boston voters view the two candidates and the issues they’re campaigning on. Let’s break it down. GOOD NEWS FOR WU: She’s leading Kraft by a healthy margin head-to-head. Forty-three percent of the 617 registered Boston voters surveyed Feb. 24-26 said they would vote for Wu if the election were that day, compared to 29 percent who said they’d back Kraft. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. And one issue that’s emerged as an early campaign cudgel for Kraft, the demolition and renovation of White Stadium, may not be as effective a wedge issue as it seems. Asked if they support the redevelopment of White Stadium, 53 percent of voters said they did, while 22 percent said they oppose it. Even those who said they would support Kraft are split on the issue: 38 percent of voters who identified as Kraft supporters said they oppose the redevelopment, while 35 percent support it. Wu and City Hall also notched a win Wednesday in the stadium debate when Attorney General Campbell told opponents she won't back their lawsuit seeking to halt the project. Another key temperature check: a solid majority (57 percent) of those polled believe the city is going in the right direction. Less than half (43 percent) believe things are headed in the wrong direction. Kraft has time to gain some ground, but “he's got a lot of room to make up, because over a majority of the voters think things are headed in the right direction,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, told Playbook Wednesday. Wu is also well-liked, Kimball pointed out. Fifty-seven percent of voters also said they view the mayor herself favorably, but … WHERE KRAFT CAN CAPITALIZE: 41 percent approve of those polled approve of the job Wu is doing in office, while 38 percent disapprove. And for Kraft, there’s potentially room to grow his support. Wu didn’t garner a majority of support in the head-to-head, and 24 percent of voters polled said they were still undecided. One issue that could be particularly potent: the state of Boston Public Schools. More voters polled said they believe BPS is heading in the wrong direction (54 percent), than in the right one (46 percent). GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS . An internal poll from Wu’s campaign paints a slightly rosier picture for the incumbent. According to a person briefed on the results, Wu holds a 40 percentage point lead over Kraft, notching 65 percent to his 25 percent in a survey of 500 likely voters (margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points) the campaign commissioned that tested voters Feb. 13-17. TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey announces funding for the state's Innovation Career Pathways program at 11 a.m. in Athol and hosts a roundtable related to her transportation funding proposal in Conway at 2 p.m., followed by a press conference at 3 p.m. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll speaks at the 2nd Annual Dominican Independence Day Breakfast at 8:30 a.m. in Boston and at the 5th anniversary of the Emerging Adult Court of Hope at 2 p.m. in Springfield. Auditor Diana DiZoglio attends the Annual Dominican Independence Day Breakfast at 8 a.m. in Dorchester. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu speaks at a Mothers for Justice and Equality’s women's empowerment brunch at 10 a.m. in Hyde Park, delivers remarks at the Dominican Republic flag raising ceremony at City Hall at 12:30 p.m. and attends a public safety meeting hosted by the Downtown Boston Neighborhood Association at 5 p.m. downtown. Sen. Ed Markey hosts a press conference with climate, health, and environmental groups to condemn EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's move to urge the White House to rescind a declaration that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare at 1:30 p.m. in D.C. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Drop me a line: kgarrity@politico.com .
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| | Donald Trump's unprecedented effort to reshape the federal government is consuming Washington. To track this seismic shift, we're relaunching one of our signature newsletters. Sign up to get West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government in your inbox. | | | | | |  | DATELINE BEACON HILL |
| WHO YOU SHOULD BE LOBBYING — More than 50 days into the session, leadership and committee assignments for the new session are here. Down a couple members of his leadership team after last session’s exits, House Speaker Ron Mariano elevated state Rep. Jeff Roy to 2nd Division chair and Rep. Carlos González to 3rd Division chair. Roy’s move up the leadership ladder also means he’s off the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy committee, where he came under scrutiny after a Boston Globe report revealed he was dating a lobbyist. More on that from the Boston Globe . Six of the nine members of Mariano’s leadership team are now men, up from four last session. But Mariano indicated he made an effort to begin building out the chamber’s bench of women leaders. "We've lost a lot of women in the upper levels of the leadership team … now we have to begin to give some experience to some of the folks who haven't had an opportunity, and they happen to be women," he told reporters Wednesday. Senate President Karen Spilka didn’t make any changes to her leadership team, but she did shuffle some committee chairs around. Notably, state Sen. Julian Cyr will chair the Housing Committee, Sen. Lydia Edwards is moving over to the Judiciary Committee and Sen. Jamie Eldridge will chair the Revenue Committee, a spot previously held by former Sen. Su Moran. See the full House and Senate committee assignments. ENERGY SAVER? — After outcry over a recent spike many Massachusetts residents saw on their energy bills, Gov. Maura Healey announced plans to file “energy affordability and independence” legislation early this session. “The utilities offered to spread the pain out over the course of the year. But that is not good enough,” Healey said Wednesday during a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce forum. "And it's why I told the DPU to right now, in this moment, explore every option, every action that we can take to provide relief in this moment that we are in." Healey was light on specifics about what the legislation or any executive action will look like. And she didn’t say directly whether there will be changes to the Mass Save energy program, one of the reasons the state’s Department of Public Utilities approved the increases Bay Stater’s saw on their bills. More from State House News Service. DEI GUIDE — In response to the “Dear Colleague” letter from the U.S. Education Department aimed at diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools, Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell are rolling out updated guidance for Bay State schools that Healey says will “send a clear message that Massachusetts is going to stay true to who we are.” Read the guidance and dive deeper with MassLive . — “‘A clear and present danger’: Healey meets with ‘eds and meds’ leaders about NIH funding cuts,” by Jon Chesto, The Boston Globe: “The situation is even worse than she thought. That was one of Governor Maura Healey’s takeaways from a meeting at the State House on Tuesday with leaders in the state’s ‘eds and meds’ sector — education and health care — to discuss significant cuts in federal research funding." — “DiZoglio eyes legal tactic to force Campbell’s hand in standoff with Mass. Legislature,” by Adam Reilly, GBH News: “State Auditor Diana DiZoglio said Wednesday that her office is preparing a writ of mandamus to try to obtain Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s assistance in DiZoglio’s ongoing standoff with the state Legislature.” — “For years, House leaders promised reforms to protect staff. Their new rules package goes backward, staff say,” by Samantha J. Gross, The Boston Globe: “Massachusetts House leaders on Tuesday voted along party lines to adopt internal rules that govern their chamber, including changes leaders say will increase transparency and efficiency. Left out of the 145-page bill, State House staff say, are critical elements needed to help make the building a safer place to work.”
| | PARTY POLITICS |
| MARK YOUR CALENDARS — The state’s Democratic convention will be Sept. 13 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, the party announced yesterday.
| | PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES |
| — “Holden to drop opposition to MBTA communities act,” by Adam Bass, MassLive: “The community of Holden has dropped its opposition to a state law designed to incentivize building more multi-family housing. The town of Holden had previously said it would not comply with the MBTA Communities Act — a law requiring municipalities with an MBTA station or, in the case of Holden, borders a community that has a station to have at least one zoning area that allows multi-family housing by right.”
| | FROM THE DELEGATION |
| UNDER PRESIDENT BIDEN'S LEADERSHIP, THE IRS PROCESSING IMPROVED, THE BACKLOG OF RETURNS WAS ELIMINATED...AUDITING WEALTHY TAX CHEATS RECOUP THEIR COSTS...HOW MUCH $$$ DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE TO CHEAT ON YOUR TAXES? THANK YOU SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN! — “You could be headed for ‘IRS hell’ after Trump cuts, Mass. Sen Warren warns,” by John L. Micek, MassLive: “Ever tried to get an actual human on the phone at the Internal Revenue Service? If you have, you know it’s an exercise in futility and frustration, often punctuated by the muttering of dark oaths. And now that the Trump administration has started laying off more than 6,000 IRS employees in the middle of tax season, it’s about to get worse. Much, much worse. Because there are more cuts to come. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has some words to describe the job cuts at the agency Americans love to hate. But the ones she has in mind she can’t say out loud.”
excerpt: All told, the IRS is expected to shed about 6,700 employees, which barely scratches the surfaces of the roughly 84,000 people who work there, according to U.S. News & World Report. But the workers who were shown the door audited tax forms and collected back taxes, so they will be missed, the online outlet reported. “The particular irony here is that over the last three years, Congress has authorized more money to the IRS so they can answer the phone and help people be able to fill out their taxes and get their tax refunds in a timely fashion,” she continued. The IRS went on a hiring spree after an infusion of funding from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, leading agency honchos to conclude that they could boost revenue by $850 billion over the next decade thanks to more efficient collections, Government Executive Magazine reported. “And all of that has gone away,” Warren told MassLive. Warren’s comments came ahead of a packed town hall in Framingham last weekend, where she derisively referred to Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk as “co-presidents.” Musk is helming the quasi-governmental Department of Government Efficiency, which has taken what critics say is an indiscriminate weed-whacker to the federal bureaucracy to pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that will mainly benefit the wealthiest Americans. You can count Warren among the staunchest and most outspoken of those critics. She grilled Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his confirmation hearing and voted against the White House’s cabinet picks. Republicans on Capitol Hill are “spineless” for not standing up to Trump, his unelected adviser, and a brash wielding of executive power, she fumed. “They are afraid of co-presidents Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” she said. “Musk has been quite open in saying that if the Republicans don’t toe the party line, he will fund Republican primary challengers to take them out. So many of those Republicans just want to keep their heads down.” But back to the IRS. Because some Massachusetts residents can file their federal income taxes through the government’s Direct File website, they may be spared some heartache this tax season, Warren said. Still, “it’s not for everyone,” she continued. “If your taxes are more complicated, you can’t use it. But it will help many tens of thousands of people file their taxes for free, securely ... and people will get help that way.” But “anyone who’s got a problem, they’re missing a document, [or] the numbers don’t add up for some reason? I fear they are about to enter IRS hell.” And what of the effective demise of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the government watchdog she proposed while still a professor at Harvard Law School? “There is literally no cop on the beat,” she said. Warren told MassLive she has the resistance mapped out. It’s a three-pronged attack that includes the courts, the Congress, and people on the street. Doing that, Warren would later tell a cheering crowd in Framingham, sends the message that “we want an America that works for all of us, and we are willing to fight [for it].” | | FROM THE 413 |
| MEDIA MOVES — Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni has hired Payton North , the former managing editor of the weekly newspaper The Reminder, as director of communications for his office, Western Mass Politics & Insight’s Matt Szafranski reports . — “UMass Amherst Chancellor Reyes was finalist to lead West Virginia,” by Scott Merzbach, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “Less than two years since taking the helm as chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Javier Reyes interviewed as a finalist to become the next president of West Virginia University.” — “Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts hires nonprofit to enhance safety at congregations, schools throughout region,” by Samuel Gelinas, Daily Hampshire Gazette: “The Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts committed this month to a three-year, $200,000-a-year partnership with the Secure Community Network (SCN) to strengthen and enhance security measures at congregations, schools and organizations throughout the region.” — “Should Richmond consider a merger with the Berkshire Hills school district? For the town’s School Committee, it's a firm ‘no’,” by Clarence Fanto, The Berkshire Eagle. — “Possible SNAP cuts could affect food insecure residents in WMass. Advocates are snapping back,” by Namu Sampath, The Springfield Republican.
SPRINGFIELD — The GOP is proposing to slash federal spending on national food assistance, and the ripple effects will be felt deeply in Western Massachusetts, advocates say. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, offers food aid to low-income Americans; Massachusetts receives $2.6 billion each year to help its hungry. | | THE LOCAL ANGLE |
| SAD COMMENTARY ABOUT THE COMMUNITY! WE CAN DISAGREE WITHOUT RESORTING TO THREATS! THIS DEFINES A WARPED, BUT VOCAL MINORITY! IT'S LONG PASSED TIME TO STOP SUCH ANTI-DEMOCRATIC RHETORIC! — “Worcester city councilor to begin attending meetings remotely due to 'threats',” by Toni Caushi, Telegram & Gazette: “District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj said Wednesday morning that she will temporarily attend City Council meetings virtually due to threats she has received against her and her family. She said that some of the threats were sexual in nature. ‘Everything has been reported to authorities and I am thankful for their responsiveness,’ Haxhiaj wrote in the statement posted on social media. ‘I have informed the chair of the city council regarding the reason for my temporary virtual attendance.’” excerpt: Haxhiaj was first elected to represent District 5 in 2021, when she became the first Albanian-born and the first Muslim American to be elected to the Worcester City Council. Haxhiaj arrived in Worcester in 2001 as a young adult with her parents after fleeing political upheaval in Albania. She received her green card and completed undergraduate and graduate studies at Clark University. “Given previous acts of vandalism and non-stop harassment these last few years, I take my safety as a woman, mother and immigrant very seriously,” Haxhiaj wrote. “My and my family’s safety come first and my work serving District 5 residents continues uninterrupted.” She declined further comment when reached by a reporter on Wednesday. A Worcester Police Department spokesman said the threats are under investigation. Haxhiaj is known to be one of the more progressive members of council, often focusing on issues such as pedestrian safety and immigrant rights. Last July, after she urged the city to declare a public health and safety emergency for vulnerable road users following a flurry of crashes. The city's leadership later declared a “road safety and traffic violence crisis” in Worcester.
— “Worcester city councilor’s supporters are split over refusal to attend meetings,” by Adam Bass, MassLive: “Worcester City Councilor Thu Nguyen announced in January they would take a month’s hiatus from council meetings. Then they announced last week they would continue their hiatus indefinitely. The announcement has had a mixed response, with some cheering the councilor’s decision while others say they cannot do their job.” MUSK'S CUTS ARE HASTY, ILL-INFORMED TO FUND $4.7 TRILLION TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY. TRUMP'S TAX CUTS CAUSED THE DEFICIT & SPINELESS MAGA GOP ARE GOING TO REPEAT THE PROCESS ON THE BACKS OF POOR AMERICANS BY SLASHING MEDICAID, MEDICARE & SOCIAL SECURITY. WASTE, FRAUD & ABUSE? INSPECTORS GENERAL WHO AUDUT THESE AGENCIES WERE FIRED BY TRUMP! — “Job cuts at USDA in Boston could weaken New England food security,” by Liz Neisloss, GBH News: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a small, six-person food distribution team that works directly with food banks across the Northeast to get food onto shelves, part of a program feeding low-income seniors. Half of them were fired earlier this month under cuts spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, a union leader told GBH News this week.”
| | HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH |
| NEW NON-PROFIT DROPPING — Crystal Jaramillo and husband Revere City Councilor Juan Pablo Jaramillo have launched The Cord Foundation, a non-profit focused on raising awareness about perinatal health challenges. Learn more . TRANSITIONS — Joe Tutino will be comms director for Sen. Ed Markey. He previously was comms director for Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.). HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former state Sen. Eric Lesser, who’s now senior counsel at WilmerHale; Susan Zalkind, Alan Harvey Guth and Ayub Tahlil, deputy press secretary for Gov. Maura Healey. 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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