Massachusetts Legislature, Olympics 2024, State Government

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If there is one man who is happy about the blizzard that will white-out coverage of almost any other news for the next few days it may be Bob DeLeo.

It’s not that the unassuming House speaker actually pines for the massive storm, which could hit his coastal hometown of Winthrop particularly hard. It’s that any day spent focused on the snow is one less day of scrutiny to the power grab that may be in the works with an upending of House rules in order to let DeLeo blow through the eight-year term limit that exists for the top leader of both legislative branches.

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It now seems clear that DeLeo’s minions are floating that potential among their colleagues. On Friday, theHerald’s Matt Stout reported that Rep. Paul Donato, the loyal DeLeo “division leader” who often gavels sessions to a start in his stead, is ready to charge ahead in support of a rule change. And consideration of rules for the new session could begin as early as tomorrow, when Democrats are scheduled to hash things out in closed-door caucus (where much gets done on Beacon Hill) before bringing rules to the House floor for a formal vote on Wednesday. (The timing of all that is, of course, now in serious doubt, as the blizzard may giveth but it can also taketh away.)

The way some House members are publicly addressing the issue almost is worthy of Abbott and Costello. Or maybe a body-bending contortion artist is more apt. Donato tells the Herald he certainly hasn’t been approached by anyone regarding a possible rule change, and says he has no idea if the speaker (who he is thisclose to) has any interest in such a thing, but he would be more than supportive of such a move if he were. For his part, DeLeo has repeatedly brushed off questions about such a change, saying only at one point that he was “flattered” by such talk.

Rep.told thethat talk of scrapping the term limits “hasn’t come up formally. But it doesn’t mean it hasn’t come up.” Okaaay.

Both the Senate president and House speaker are limited to serving eight years at the helm. The rule change followed the 17-year reign of Senate President William Bulger, a tenure that convinced lawmakers of the wisdom of establishing limits on leadership. Even with the eight-year limit, the two branches operate in a remarkably top-down mode, with major decisions often subject to the whim of the speaker or Senate president.

New Senate President Stan Rosenberg has vowed to change that pattern of highly centralized power, and he showed the first concrete evidence that he means it with last week’s approval by the Senate of new rules designed to undergird his call for “shared leadership.”

If the term rule remains in place, this would be the last full two-year session that DeLeo would be allowed to preside as speaker. If there is a concerted effort to change the rule, it likely wouldn’t happen without a fight. Some of the liberals who were so committed to battling for rules reforms under the autocratic run of Speaker Tom Finneran, including Reps. Byron Rushing, Jay Kaufman, and Ellen Story, are now part of DeLeo’s leadership team, and may find it hard to suddenly pivot on term limits just because they’ve been brought in from the cold.

Story, for one, an Amherst Democrat who is also a DeLeo division leader, does not seem ready to go along. “The last time this came up was with Tom Finneran, and the Herald had all these wonderful cartoons with him with a crown,” she told Stout. “I think an eight-year limit is a good and sensible limit. And it’s there for a reason.”

MICHAEL JONAS

BEACON HILL

New Senate President Stan Rosenberg talks about Olympics, budget deficits, and agendas withKeller@Large, waving off the label of liberal and proclaiming himself “pragmatic.” He took much the same tack in this CommonWealth profile last fall.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh lends his support to the Dorchester teacher who donated awards and gifts to her school after CommonWealth reports the teacher’s actions may run afoul of state ethics laws.

In a parking policy U-turn, Boston officials now say they will carry out a review of the city’s resident parking policies following a recent Globe story that raised questions about the policy of allowing residents to obtain parking permits for an unlimited number of vehicles registered at an address. The basic math problem? There are many more resident parking permits issued in city neighborhoods than on-street spaces available there.

One of the two people Boston Mayor Marty Walsh named earlier last year to head up a citywide crime-fighting effort quietly moved out of that position and into a job as an assistant to the city’s head of inspectional services — though he has maintained his $108,000 salary.

OLYMPICS

Although documents released last week said, with respect to Dorchester property being eyed for an Athletes Village, that Boston 2024 organizers had “engaged all owners regarding the access and use of this land,” that’s not true, according to the Dorchester Reporter, which spoke with several affected landowners who said they have heard nothing from Olympics organizers.

The United Independent Party’s Evan Falchuk takes his “no taxpayer money” for the Olympics campaign to Pittsfield. Ballot questions, both in Boston and statewide, are being considered by opponents any public financing of a 2024 Olympics, CommonWealth reports.

The poll numbers being cited by supporters of a Boston Olympics don’t add up, say Steve Koczela and Rich Parr of the MassINC Polling Group.

Watchdogs say the doings of Boston 2024 have to be scrutinized particularly closely now that lots of people who are well-wired into the local political power structure are coming on board the organization. Former state transportation secretary Rich Davey was brought on late last week as the $300,000-a-year new CEO of the Olympics effort. Amy Sennett, the girlfriend of Boston Marty Marty Walsh’s chief of staff, is a serving as a “strategist” with the private nonprofit.

CASINOS

MGM Springfield is looking at a 30-month timeline to complete the gaming facility.

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

President Obama proposes new protections for Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, NPR reports.

Many states are moving to tax e-cigarettes, Governing reports.

An audit of the books at West Point finds the US military academy did not properly record nearly one-third of the $26.2 million in cash and non-monetary gifts the school received in 2012 and 2013.

ELECTIONS

Allies of Mitt Romney say a potential third run for the White House is intricately tied to his Mormon faith, a far cry from his previous efforts to downplay his religious background.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie launches a PAC called Leadership Matters for America, the Associated Press reports.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Low interest rates and rising values are spurring a refinancing surge by Massachusetts homeowners who are pulling money out of their homes to finance renovations and other projects.

Google took nearly three years to disclose to WikiLeaks that it had turned over staffer emails to the US government, the Guardian reports.

EDUCATION

The Stoughton teachers’ union is raising concerns over the school superintendent’s outside consulting business.

TRANSPORTATION

The MBTA fines Keolis, the state’s commuter rail operator, $1.6 million for on-time performance and cleanliness issues.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Snowmageddon is on its way. It’s one of those moments when a tabloid newspaper earns its stripes, so theHerald gives it a try with today’s headline: “Blizzard of Awes.” The looming storm will be an early test of Gov. Charlie Baker — and he will evidently oversee the state’s emergency efforts without the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency vest that Deval Patrick regularly donned in such situations.

West Roxbury residents protested over the weekend against a possible natural gas pipeline that would run through their neighborhood

Methane is seeping out of Boston and other major cities, likely contributing to an increase in greenhouse gases.

Cape Wind, already reeling from the loss of two power purchase contracts, cancels two more agreements to purchase land and facilities in Falmouth and Rhode Island, the Boston Globe reports.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

While it’s taking longer than anticipated overall to seat jurors in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial, lawyers on both sides are also on the look-out for the opposite problem: “Rogues” in the jury pool who seem too eager to be empaneled and who may be shading their responses to questions to help their chances.

The state’s district attorneys want the Legislature to rewrite the wiretap law that hasn’t been updated since the 1960s and restricts its use to “organized crime.”

MEDIA

Meet the Author Michael Jonas Executive Editor , CommonWealth About Michael Jonas Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section. Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston. Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters. About Michael Jonas Michael Jonas has worked in journalism in Massachusetts since the early 1980s. Before joining the CommonWealth staff in early 2001, he was a contributing writer for the magazine for two years. His cover story in CommonWealth's Fall 1999 issue on Boston youth outreach workers was selected for a PASS (Prevention for a Safer Society) Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Michael got his start in journalism at the Dorchester Community News, a community newspaper serving Boston's largest neighborhood, where he covered a range of urban issues. Since the late 1980s, he has been a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. For 15 years he wrote a weekly column on local politics for the Boston Sunday Globe's City Weekly section. Michael has also worked in broadcast journalism. In 1989, he was a co-producer for "The AIDS Quarterly," a national PBS series produced by WGBH-TV in Boston, and in the early 1990s, he worked as a producer for "Our Times," a weekly magazine program on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7) in Boston. Michael lives in Dorchester with his wife and their two daughters.

’s journalism school has entered into a partnership withto produce investigative stories for the station under the guidance of longtime Fox reporter, now also a professor at the school.

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has shaken up the news side of his business operations since returning from public life.

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