POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Santiago sounds off on VA cuts

By Kelly Garrity

CHAINSAW VS. SURGERY — A few weeks ago, state Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago was at an event with the Veterans of Foreign Wars national commander.

The commander was ruminating on cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs — and on his own experience fighting in Vietnam. If, he posited in Santiago’s recollection, medics had decided to take a “chainsaw approach” to treating a gunshot wound to his arm, he wouldn’t have an arm today. Instead, they took a surgical approach, removing the shrapnel and saving the arm.

“That's the type of targeted approach we should be taking to any types of cuts,” Santiago told Playbook in a recent interview. “We all agree that waste, fraud and abuse needs to be addressed, right? But the way that folks are handling it, discussing it, treating it, raises some red flags.”

The VA was one of the early targets of the Department of Government Efficiency’s job cuts, with more than 1,000 employees, including some in Massachusetts, dismissed earlier this year. The White House is planning to axe more than 80,000 positions in the department by the end of the year. (Several states, including Massachusetts , have been in court fighting DOGE’s job cuts.).

That means the backlog for veterans seeking care is almost certainly growing. A report from the VA’s inspector general last year found severe staffing shortages at several VA health care facilities. Now, with the implementation of the PACT Act, alongside cuts to staff, getting care could be even more complicated.

“You have a case where you have a significant backlog that's been there, that's been present. You've expanded benefits to veterans … and instead of hiring folks addressing the gaps that have been noticed and discussed by these reports, you plan to cut staff,” Santiago said. “It doesn't make sense.”

It’s not just cuts to the VA where veterans are taking a hit. Many federal workers in other agencies are veterans, Santiago pointed out. The state has already tried to step in to lend a hand there with a launch of a new website to connect fired federal workers with jobs and training.

Luckily for Bay State veterans, most funding for Santiago's department comes from the state. Gov. Maura Healey bumped up Santiago’s budget in the spending bill she filed at the start of the year, but that still needs legislative approval.

And the state has already implemented nearly all of the policies in the HERO Act, a packed veterans’ welfare package the Legislature passed last year.

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS . TGIF! Happy home opener to those still following the Red Sox.

TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey has no public events. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu attends opening day at Fenway at 1:30 p.m. Rep. Seth Moulton holds a press conference on the impact of federal firings on Massachusetts at 11:30 a.m. in Danvers. Auditor Diana DiZoglio speaks at Student Government Day at noon at the State House.

THIS WEEKEND — Wu kicks off her campaign in Boston’s South End at 2 p.m. Saturday and is on WCVB’s “On the Record” at 11 a.m. Sunday. Attorney General Andrea Campbell is on WBZ’s “Keller @ Large” at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

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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DATELINE BEACON HILL

— Amid fed funds squeeze, millionaire's tax money gives Mass. a chance to invest in new programs by Katie Lannan, GBH News.

— Surtax spending turning into real balancing act by Chris Lisinski and Colin A. Young, State House News Service: “Lawmakers will need to reconcile questions about the right balance for income surtax spending, in more way than one, when they take up Gov. Maura Healey's proposal to deploy about $1.3 billion in unspent revenue from the new levy on wealthy households.”

FROM THE HUB

— Michael Flaherty drove Water and Sewer Commission car well outside Boston, GPS records show by Joey Flechas, The Boston Globe: “In former city councilor Michael Flaherty’s final three months as the Boston Water and Sewer Commission’s top lawyer, he took an agency-issued car on what appeared to be personal trips to Cape Cod, Braintree, and other locations outside the city, records show. The travel, well outside the commission’s service area, may have violated the agency’s policy on take-home vehicles. It’s unclear if the trips factored into Flaherty’s firing in February, which came amid a clash with the agency’s executive director and allegations that Flaherty favored political cronies on his staff. Commission officials have declined to answer questions about Flaherty’s travel.”

— Boston releases review of streets, including new bus and bike lanes by Jeremy Siegel, GBH News: “In a memo to Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston city officials said they may have moved too fast on the addition of new bike and bus lanes across Boston. The lanes have become a flashpoint as Wu faces off opponents in the upcoming mayoral election. The nine-page memo compiled feedback gathered by city officials in meetings with neighborhood groups and local businesses over the past month.”

— Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox sued by ex-superintendent over demotion by Flint McColgan, Boston Herald: “A former Boston Police Department deputy superintendent sued the BPD commissioner over being demoted. Eddy Chrispin, who describes himself as a “Black Haitian man and a decorated 25-year veteran of the Boston Police Department,” says in his complaint that BPD Commissioner Michael Cox demoted him after he refused to follow an ultimatum. The civil action filed Thursday in federal court in Boston names Cox as a defendant both individually and as commissioner of the BPD.”

THE RACE FOR CITY HALL

****DO YOUR RESEARCH & SCRUTINIZE ANY CANDIDATE'S HISTORY BEFORE SUPPORTING THEM! YOU HAVE A PUBLIC RECORD OF MAYOR MICHELLE WU'S POLITICAL RECORD....WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NEWTON NEBBISH OTHER THAN HIS ELITE LIFE? JUST ANOTHER CARPETBAGGER WHO BOUGHT A $2.3 MILLION CONDO TO RUN FOR OFFICE! THINK ABOUT IT!****

— Council President Louijeune 'wholeheartedly' backs Mayor Wu for re-election by Bill Forry, Dorchester Reporter: “City Council President Ruthzee Louijuene is endorsing Mayor Michelle Wu for re-election, the Reporter has learned. Louijeune, who was the top vote-getter in the last municipal election in 2023, is expected to make the news official as Wu officially launches her re-election campaign at a rally in the South End on Saturday.”

MEANWHILE — Laborers Local 22, which backed Wu last cycle, has endorsed Josh Kraft in his bid to become Boston’s next mayor. Kraft also nabbed an endorsement from Iron Workers Local 7 earlier this week.

— Super PAC aligned with Mayor Wu receives six-figure donation by Gintautas Dumcius, CommonWealth Beacon: “An outside group that worked to help Boston Mayor Michelle Wu elect a slate of City Council candidates two years ago has received a six-figure infusion of cash as she faces a challenge from Josh Kraft, one of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s sons. Bold Boston, a super political action committee (PAC), took in a $100,000 donation last month from 1199 SEIU, a union that represents 56,000 health care workers in Massachusetts.”

FROM THE DELEGATION

SPEECH, SPEECH, SPEECH — Sen. Elizabeth Warren is taking to the Senate floor this morning as the Senate gears up for a long day of debate.

Warren is helping kick off Senate Democrats’ vote-a-rama (a marathon voting session on symbolic amendments) with a speech railing against the White House’s policies that she says are having a detrimental impact on Massachusetts — from the cancelation of medical research grants to cuts to K-12 education to federal firings.

“So here’s the big question: are we going to hand our country over to co-presidents Donald Trump and Elon Musk and a handful of other billionaires and make everybody else pay for it?,” Warren plans to say, according to a copy of her prepared remarks shared with Playbook. “Or are we going to be a country that says: ‘No, we want to make these investments so everybody in this country gets an opportunity.’ Everybody’s at least got a chance to build something for themselves.”

Get the C-SPAN feed ready: Warren takes the floor around 8:50 a.m. this morning.

***TARIFF LUNACY! LUTNICK PROMOTES A TARIFF ON PENQUINS & SEALS? SMOOT-HAWLEY TARIFF ACT DEFINES THE STUPIDITY OF TARIFFS! ****

— Tariff ‘chaos’ isn’t what America needs, Mass. Sen. Warren says as markets churn by John L. Micek, MassLive: “President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs that sent markets tumbling and rattled business owners isn’t the kind of economic ‘chaos’ the nation needs right now, a top Democratic lawmaker said. The Republican president’s ‘tariff plan will drive up costs for families and drive down investment in new jobs and new businesses here in the United States,’ U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told MassLive on Thursday.”

***HUH? A NATION ABLAZE WITH SCAMS, IDENTITY THEFT, FRAUD....MUSK & DOGEsh*t HAVE NO LEASH!****

— Trahan asks IG to probe DOGE privacy violation by Christian M. Eade, The Eagle-Tribune: “Congresswoman Lori Trahan is leading a group of Democrats demanding an investigation of possible privacy violations by a former Treasury employee working with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. In a letter to the U.S. Inspector General's office, Trahan and other lawmakers called for an ‘immediate’ investigation into the ‘unauthorized and harmful actions’ by Marko Elez, a computer programmer who was granted access to federal payment systems by Bureau of the Fiscal Service officials as his security clearance was still being processed.”

ON CAMPUS

****THERE'S ALWAYS MORE TO ANY ICE GESTAPO ABUSE!***

THIS IS IRRATIONAL ABUSE!

— Attorneys for Rümeysa Öztürk and government argue before district judge by Sarah Betancourt, GBH News: “Lawyers for detained Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk and counsel for the federal government argued before U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper on Thursday, carving out arguments over whether the case should be dismissed or moved due to issues around jurisdiction.”

excerpt:

Adriana Lafaille of the ACLU of Massachusetts, one of seven attorneys present for Öztürk, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement strategized when “secretly whisking her away and making sure no one would know where she was.” Lafaille argued the intention of the habeas statute is “set up to prevent petitioners from forum shopping,” or choosing a court that might be more favorable to their case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Sauter reiterated court documents noting that the decision to take Öztürk to Louisiana was made before her arrest, and due to lack of bed space in Massachusetts.

The government argues “there was no attempt to manipulate jurisdiction,” he said, adding that there is “no facility to detain female detainees in Massachusetts.”

Lafaille said there’s reason to believe there was bed space in New England detention centers at the time. She said plaintiffs sued in District of Massachusetts and named ICE’s acting Field Office Director Patricia Hyde because law allows the plaintiff to “sue the immediate custodian where the custodian is,” and that even with Öztürk being transported outside of the state to New Hampshire and Vermont, Hyde still the person in charge as the head of the Boston field office.

The government argued the petition needed to be dismissed or moved to Louisiana because it is the “district of confinement.”

“The petitioner’s counsel did not know where she was. That’s not the same thing as ICE not being forthcoming about her location,” Sauter said, adding that Öztürk was still being transported.

Asked by Casper if Öztürk was told where she was going when she was detained, Sauter said no, and referred to protocol under an ICE manual for transport.

Casper said she was very “focused on the jurisdictional issue,” and would issue a decision at a later date.

Outside the courthouse, a few dozen people gathered to support the Tufts student. Attorney Mahsa Khanbabai read a statement from Öztürk:

“I am a Ph.D. student working with children and youth. We know that injustice in the world and systemic brutality towards people of color has long-lasting negative effects on children, youth, and other communities. My life is committed to choosing peaceful and inclusive ways to meet the needs of children. I believe the world is a more beautiful and peaceful place when we listen to each other and allow different perspectives to be in the room. Writing is one of the most peaceful ways of addressing systemic inequality. Efforts to target me because of my op-ed in the Tufts Daily calling for the equal dignity and humanity of all people will not deter me from my commitment to advocate for the rights of youth and children.”
Rümeysa Öztürk, in a statement read by her attorney

After arresting Öztürk outside her home in Somerville on March 25, agents took her to New Hampshire and then Vermont, before finally moving her to a detention center in Louisiana. Öztürk had no contact with an attorney for over a day while she was being transferred.

Unaware of Öztürk’s exact location in the hours immediately after her arrest on March 25, Judge Indira Talwani ordered agents to keep her in Massachusetts.

The Trump administration argued that since Öztürk was quickly moved out of Massachusetts , the Boston court doesn’t have jurisdiction, given that when attorney Mahsa Khanbabai filed suit, she was already in transit to Vermont.

Multiple ICE detention facilities in the Northeastern region hold women detainees, wrote Heather Yountz, senior immigration staff attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute in a declaration to the court.

Those include one in New Hampshire, one in Maine, one in Vermont, and one in New York. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island has cells for overnight or short-term detention, as does the local field office in Burlington, Massachusetts. Yountz said in 17 years of experience, she doesn’t “recall seeing an immigrant arrested on civil immigration charges in eastern Massachusetts who has not been processed in Burlington before being sent to a detention facility.” ICE skipped this step, and sent Öztürk out of state almost immediately.

Öztürk’s attorneys contend that she was transferred to Louisiana without ICE notifying the court, her counsel, or Department of Justice counsel.

DAY IN COURT

— Former MassGOP Chair Jim Lyons’ legislative audit lawsuit dismissed by local judge by Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald: “A Suffolk County judge dismissed a lawsuit from former MassGOP Chair Jim Lyons that asked a local court to declare a voter-approved law giving State Auditor Diana DiZoglio the power to audit the Legislature constitutional and invalidate an internal House rule on audits. Suffolk County Superior Court Justice Kenneth Salinger’s ruling marks one of the first legal setbacks for audit law supporters who pursue private lawsuits to force an opinion on whether DiZoglio’s contentious efforts to investigate the two chambers pass constitutional muster.”

FROM THE 413

— Greenfield mayor unveils $67.93M budget proposal for FY26 by Anthony Cammalleri, Greenfield Recorder: “Mayor Ginny Desorgher unveiled her nearly $67.93 million fiscal year 2026 budget proposal this week, emphasizing that while department cuts are necessary, the city will have to get “crafty and creative” to stay afloat in the years ahead.”

— A federal judge will weigh whether to dismiss a lawsuit over a classroom search by Great Barrington police for the book 'Gender Queer' by Heather Bellow, The Berkshire Eagle.

PAY WALL

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— Mayor names committee to vet police chief candidates by Anastasia E. Lennon, The New Bedford Light: “Mayor Jon Mitchell has convened a screening committee to interview and recommend candidates for the city’s next police chief. The 10-person committee includes city councilors, retired legal officials and police officers, and two consultants whom the mayor has contracted to review issues within the New Bedford Police Department.”

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

TRANSITIONS — Bianca Sigh Ward of the ACLU, Bay State Progress’s W. E. David Halbert and Branden Miles of the Mayor’s Office of Black Male Advancement in Boston have joined the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center’s board of directors.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former Sen. Mo Cowan, Michael Forbes Wilcox, Amanda Leonard, former Springfield City Councilor Jesse Lederman and Sam Doran of Senate President Karen Spilka’s office.

HAPPY BIRTHWEEKEND — to Charlie Baker alum and South & Hill Strategies co-founder Lizzy Guyton, and Aleca Hughes McPherson, who celebrate Saturday; and to Sunday birthday-ers John Lechner and Ricardo Sánchez, Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s communications director.

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