PRESSLEY’s OCASIO-CORTEZ bump — BAKER signing GRAND BARGAIN into law today — Mass. Dems want SCOTUS replacement picked post-2018 Presented by CuriosityStream

By Lauren Dezenski ([email protected]; @LaurenDezenski) with Brent D. Griffiths ([email protected]; @BrentGriffiths)

GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.


PRESSLEY’S OCASIO-CORTEZ BUMP — The buzz from a New York Democratic primary upset against a powerful, 10-term incumbent in New York has already delivered an instant boost for Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley’s own bid against Rep. Michael Capuano.

Pressley’s campaign tells me it’s seen a burst of interest over the last 24 hours thanks to the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez victory over Rep. Joe Crowley. Website traffic at AyannaPressley.com has spiked 56 percent – most of which came from people Googling Pressley, and the candidate has gained 4,000 new followers on Twitter and at least 100 new small-dollar donations. That’s on top of new volunteers streaming into the recently opened campaign headquarters in Jamaica Plain. They’ve “been putting folks who didn’t know ‘AP’ yesterday to work all day,” according to Pressley campaign manager Sarah Groh.

Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez met in person on June 6. They initially connected over Twitter this spring, and met in real life at a star-studded Manhattan fundraiser for Pressley hosted by musician Questlove, comedian Amy Schumer, founding Chief Communications Officer of Everytown for Gun Safety Erika Soto Lamb and actress Amber Tamblyn. Both Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University (though at different times — Ocasio-Cortez is 28 and Pressley is 44).

A week before New York’s primary election day, Pressley sent a campaign staffer to Queens to work on GOTV operations for Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign. Now, with 68 days left until the primary, Pressley’s campaign is open to a similar move from Ocasio-Cortez, but told me it is not expecting reciprocity.

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TODAY— Gov. Charlie Baker makes it official and, flanked by state Senate President Harriette Chandler and state House Speaker Robert DeLeo, will sign the so-called Grand Bargain into law. The soon-to-be-law averts three potential ballot questions, and would phase in $15 minimum wage, phase out time-and-a-half pay on Sundays and holidays, create paid family and medical leave, and create an annual sales tax holiday while averting a potential sales tax decrease — The Senate is expected to take up a bill that would allow Massachusetts residents to designate their gender as “X” on their drivers licenses — Sen. Ed Markey holds a Climate Change Action Summit with Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Obama Science Advisor John Holdren, and US Climate Negotiator Todd Stern at Belmont High School tonight.

DATELINE BEACON HILL —

– “DeLeo: House to respond to court’s union ruling,” by Colin A. Young, State House News Service: “As lawmakers mull the impacts of a US Supreme Court ruling seen as a devastating blow to public sector labor unions, the Massachusetts House is hoping labor leaders will suggest ways the Legislature can respond and soften the blow. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees that public employees cannot be forced to pay fees or dues to a union to which they do not belong, a decision cheered by some as a victory for freedom of speech and decried as an attack on organized labor by others. ”

– “Under pressure, Healey clarifies marijuana ruling,” by Dan Adams and Alex Gailey, Boston Globe: “Under sharp criticism from marijuana advocates, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey defended her decision to allow some municipalities to delay marijuana businesses until next summer without holding a communitywide vote, insisting it won’t lead to widespread prohibitions by communities across the state. Healey, who opposed the 2016 ballot initiative legalizing marijuana, ruled Friday that Mansfield could extend a temporary moratorium on permitting marijuana operations through June 2019. ”

– “Massachusetts House passes automatic voter registration,” by Shira Schoenberg, MassLive.com: “The Massachusetts House on Wednesday passed a bill that would establish automatic voter registration in Massachusetts. That means anyone who updates their driver's license at an RMV or applies for MassHealth, and is an adult U.S. citizen, would automatically have their name registered in the state's voter database unless they choose to opt out. ”

– “Massachusetts House bans 'conversion therapy' for gay youth,” by Shira Schoenberg, MassLive.com: “The Massachusetts House passed a bill on Wednesday that would ban "conversion therapy" for minors. Conversion therapy tries to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. ”

– “Lack of transparency adding to Charlie Baker's woes,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Joe Dwinell, and Dan Atkinson, Boston Herald: “Gov. Charlie Baker insisted it was ‘not my call’ to withhold a trooper’s report that details his son’s alleged groping of a woman on a Boston-bound JetBlue flight last week, in what some are calling a disturbing lack of transparency amid ongoing state police scandals. Yesterday, the Herald confirmed that state police questioned A.J. Baker after he was taken off the flight last week and wrote a report. The Boston Globe first reported details of that report after it was unofficially leaked yesterday. ”

– “Mount Ida campus shouldn't be operated by just UMass Amherst, senators say,” by Gintautas Dumcius, MassLive.com: “UMass President Marty Meehan's office, instead of UMass Amherst, should operate the Mount Ida campus controversially acquired earlier this year, according to a summary of a report from state senators set for release Thursday. The Senate committee is expected to ask in its report that Healey investigate why Mount Ida officials "walked away" from a deal with Lasell College before entering talks with UMass, according to a press release issued Wednesday evening. The committee plans to formally release its report on Thursday at 11 a.m. ”

DATELINE DC —

– “Massachusetts Democrats urge GOP leaders to push Supreme Court justice confirmation vote until after 2018 election,” by Shannon Young, MassLive.com: “Massachusetts lawmakers called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday to take a leaf out of his own book by pushing the chamber's consideration of the next U.S. Supreme Court nominee until after the 2018 election. The state's Democratic senators cried foul over the Republican leader's plan to hold hearings and vote on President Donald Trump's pick to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy "this fall," arguing that the American people should have a say at the ballot box as they did when it came to filling the seat left open by the late-Justice Antonin Scalia. ”

– “US officials reject Baker’s Medicaid proposals,” by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey, Boston Globe: “Federal officials have rejected proposals from Governor Charlie Baker’s administration to slash costs in the Massachusetts Medicaid program by limiting coverage for some prescription drugs and moving thousands of people off the program. The Washington-based Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, said Wednesday that Massachusetts’ request did not meet the agency’s requirements for such changes. ”

THE WARREN REPORT —

– “U.S. Sens. Sanders and Warren call for a living wage for resort workers,” by Hugo Martin, LA Times: “The dispute over living wages at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim has spread to the halls of Congress in Washington. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have joined 21 other Democratic legislators in signing a letter to Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger, urging him to tap the company’s hefty profit to pay his resort workers a living wage. ”

– “US Sen. Warren endorses Watson for 9th District,” by The Herald Times: “Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has endorsed Liz Watson, Democratic candidate for Indiana's 9th Congressional District. According to a news release from Watson's campaign, Warren first heard about Watson's work as a policy director on the Schedules That Work Act, which gave employees more certainty as to their work schedules. ”

ON THE STUMP —

– “Retired Congressman John Olver endorses write-in Jo Comerford for Stan Rosenberg's former Senate seat,” by Mary C. Serreze, MassLive.com: “Retired U.S. Rep. John Olver said of the six Democrats seeking Stan Rosenberg's former state Senate seat, that "only one candidate" is up to the job -- a statement quickly challenged by a rival campaign on Wednesday. Olver, an Amherst Democrat who held the Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester Senate seat himself from 1973 to 1991 -- before he became a Congressman and Rosenberg replaced him on Beacon Hill -- endorsed Jo Comerford from the steps of Town Hall. ”

THE TSONGAS ARENA –

– “Latina Leaders to Watch 2018,” by The Hill staff, The Hill: “in her first few months as a state representative in Massachusetts, Juana Matias (D) said she would sometimes get stopped by security officers who mistook her for a staffer. Matias, 30, who became one of the first Latina immigrants elected to the legislature when she unseated a longtime Democratic incumbent in 2016, said those situations gave her an opportunity to show people there are young Latinas involved in government. ”

WOOD WAR — Herald: “BUSTED!” “HIGH COURT BATTLE BEGINS” — Globe: “Kennedy, key vote on high court, retiring,” “3 troopers face federal charges in OT probe,” “A CHORUS OF BOOS,” “Choice made on interim school leader,” “N.Y. upset shows what’s possible in Mass. race.”

THE LOCAL ANGLE —

– “Key evidence in alleged trooper overtime scam came from cruiser radios,” by Martin Finucane, Boston Globe: “The three Massachusetts state troopers who are facing federal embezzlement charges for allegedly charging tens of thousands of dollars of fake overtime were betrayed by trusted tools: their cruisers and their radios, according to federal investigators. Records from the radios were a key part of the paper trail laid out in the affidavits supporting the criminal complaints against the troopers. ”

–“Mediator again seeks elusive compromise on Housatonic River cleanup,” by Larry Parnass, The Berkshire Eagle: “Same problem. Same disputing parties. Same mediator. It begs the question: Is a breakthrough possible on the region's costliest environmental disaster? The last time attorney John G. Bickerman waded in to help the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Electric Co. and a flotilla of stakeholders come to terms on further removal of a probable carcinogen from the Housatonic River, he didn't see much hope. ”

– “Great Barrington banned plastic water bottle sales; now it will be challenged at special town meeting,” by Heather Bellow, The Berkshire Eagle: “ A group looking to overturn a recent ban on the sale of small plastic water bottles has raised enough signatures to hold a special town meeting for a new vote. Opponents of the ban raised 337 signatures and turned them in Wednesday, according to Town Clerk Marie Ryan — 200 are required to call a special town meeting. Ryan said the town Select Board would likely schedule it at its July 9 meeting.It must be held within 45 days, she said.”

– “Conservationist intends to sue over whale entanglements,” by Mary Ann Bragg, Cape Cod Times: “A noted North Atlantic right whale conservationist who is suing Massachusetts officials over the licensing of commercial lobster pot gear has said he intends to do the same in five other states, starting with Maine. “The Maine Department of Marine Resources is killing and injuring endangered whales and sea turtles in U.S. coastal waters from its licensing of lobster pot gear and gill nets,” said Richard “Max” Strahan of Whale Safe USA, which is based in Cambridge. ”

– “MBTA shells out $2,500 for break room pool table refurbish,” by Dan Atkinson, Boston Herald: “The MBTA spent more than $2,500 in taxpayer dollars to refurbish a billiards table so employees could play pool while on break, but doesn’t plan to use more tax funds to repair its other employee pool tables, officials said. Manager of Customer Experience Projects Lisa Radosta ordered the repairs from Boston Billiards last year, according to emails obtained by the Herald. ”

– “Meet The Divers Who Inspect Our Unseen Infrastructure,” by Bob Seay, WGBH: “We are all well aware of the deteriorating conditions of our bridges above ground. We can see them. But what about the conditions underwater? Figuring that out is the job of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation dive teams, each made up of half a dozen divers who inspect more than 1,000 bridges every year. ”

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY — to Sen. Joe Boncore of Winthrop, who celebrated yesterday.

DID THE HOME TEAM WIN? Yes! — The Red Sox edged out the Angels 6-9.

DO NOT MISS THIS — THE LATEST EPISODE OF THE HORSE RACE: State Senate President Harriette Chandler joins us for a special extended edition of The Horse Race. We ask her about the Grand Bargain, legislation vs. ballot questions, the fallout from Stan Rosenberg, and what she has learned in her time at the top. Then WBUR's Shannon Dooling discusses what the immigration debate means for Massachusetts. Plus, what the NY-14 result means for the Pressley-Capuano matchup. Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud

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