Window Into The State House

By
South Boston Today Staff
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UMass Boston says dorm upgrades on the way
 
The interim chancellor at UMass Boston says the school will move quickly to address security concerns and other issues plaguing the first-ever dormitory to open on campus, while laying at least part of the blame at the feet of the private contractor who built and now operates it, Laura Krantz reports in the Globe.

 

Massport chief: Traffic congestion is choking Logan
 
A booming economy, the rise of Uber and Lyft, and declining T ridership are all contributing to now the No. 1 problem at Logan Airport: Ground transportation and traffic congestion to and from Logan, writes outgoing Massport chief Thomas Glynn, who has some recommendations at the Herald about what do about the overall problem, including more Uber-Lyft carpooling.
 
 
Anti-Trump groups decide it’s not safe to continue protests
 
Two Cape Cod-based organizations say they’ve paused their weekly standouts amid growing concern about the safety of anti-Trump protestors in an increasingly caustic political environment. The organizers of Move to Remove, which has been protesting for 15 months on the Falmouth Village Green, said the nature of responses from passersby has become more troubling in recent weeks, along with the overall political climate, Geoff Spillane reports in the Cape Cod Times.

 

Charlie Baker for U.S. Senate?
 
This is the first we’ve heard about this. The Herald’s Jaclyn Cashman writes that the “word is Gov. Charlie Baker is mulling a 2020 run against U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey.” We’ll believe it when we see it. But if he does have the U.S. Senate bug, it would be a case of history repeating itself, if you recall his former boss Gov. Bill Weld’s own hankering to be a player in Washington.
 
 
Pope to U.S. bishops: Hold off on those anti-child-molestation reforms until we have time to talk more
 
There they were, all gathered in Baltimore, ready, or so they said, to finally take action to hold bishops accountable for clergy sexual abuse cases. But then the Vatican called: Hold off until we can talk about things in February. Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley was taken aback by the “unexpected” Vatican order, reports WBUR. The Globe’s Brian MacQuerriereports the “bombshell left the country’s Roman Catholic bishops stunned and silent.” The Globe, in an editorial, is blasting the pope’s delay. The NYT has more.

 

Moulton claims ‘silent majority’ wants Pelosi gone, but Neal sure isn’t one of them
 
It’s become a post-election ritual, i.e. U.S. Seth Moulton launching a challenge to Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic leadership in the U.S. House. He’s at it again this year, openly saying yesterday that a ‘silent majority’ of Dems want Pelosi gone, reports Sean Philip Cotter at the Herald.

But the Herald’s Kimberly Atkins reports that U.S. Rep. Richard Neal has sent a letter to fellow House Dems, asking them to back the “shrewd, battle-tested” Pelosi. Meanwhile, someone who’s been curiously silent on all of this: U.S. Rep.-elect  Ayanna Pressley, as the Washington Post reports in its piece on Pelosi’s all-out effort to line up support for her speakership.
 
 
While Moulton and Warren grab the headlines, Katherine Clark quietly expands her power
 
The Globe’s Victoria McGrane has a good story this morning on how U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, in contrast to the Seth Moulton and Elizabeth Warren “media darlings,” quietly recruited and pushed a number of Democratic candidates in the midterm elections that ultimately saw Dems regain control of the House. Btw: Clark isn’t remaining silent on the Nancy Pelosi leadership squabble. She’s backing Pelosi.
 
 
Pragmatism or progressivism, Part II
 
In an opinion piece in the NYT, Steve Phillips, the founder of Democracy in Color and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, is absolutely convinced that conventional wisdom has it wrong and that last week’s midterm elections prove his theory that people of color and white progressive candidates are the way to go for Democrats in 2020.

Then again, the NYT,in a story on the same day, contradicts Phillips’ assertions about the midterm elections: “For all the talk of the rise of the progressive left — embodied by the rock star of the class, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez — the bulk of the newcomers might better be described as pragmatists.” That tends to confirm Kimberly Strassel’s contention in the WSJ (pay wall) that the “biggest loser” last week was U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
 
 
Here we go: ‘Get ready for Hillary Clinton 4.0’
 
Hillary Clinton obviously believes going full progressive is the way to go. Mark Penn, a former pollster and senior adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Andrew Stein write at the WSJ that, yes, the Democratic nominee who lost to Donald Trump two years ago is going to go for it again in 2020, this time as a progressive Democrat, not as pragmatic Democrat. Shannon Young at MassLive has more on their prediction, which, because of Penn’s co-byline, is generating a lot of political chatter this morning.

 

‘Mr. Middle Ground’
 
Speaking of pragmatism versus ideology, Peter Lucas at the Lowell Sun writes that Gov. Charlie Baker’s landslide re-election last week was a triumph of moderation over demagoguery and partisanship. “No political extremism for him, either from the right or the left,” Lucas writes of the Republican Baker. “He is Mr. Middle Ground.”
 
 
Baker signals he plans to resume push to address housing shortage
 
Heading into a new legislative session, Gov. Charlie Baker plans to renew his push for zoning law changes aimed at addressing the state’s housing shortage, Christian Wade reports in the Gloucester Times. Legislation Baker filed last year won a favorable committee vote but did not make it out of the legislature.
 
 
Boston not engaging in self-flagellation as N.Y. and North Virginia confirmed as HQ2 winners
 
The New York Times and Washington Post, both via the same apparent source(s), i.e. folks close to the “decision-making process,” are confirming that, yep, Amazon’s HQ2 will be split between Queens, N.Y., and Crystal City, Virginia.

But do you notice anything? Hint: It’s sort of like the Sherlock Holmes case of the dog that didn’t bark. In this case, there’s a noticeable (and welcome) lack of self-flagellation going on in Boston over the HQ2 decision. We still believe the Queens decision, in particular, may yet pose a competitive threat to Boston’s own tech community, up to and including the transfer of some Amazon employees from the Hub to NYC. But the fact is Boston really didn’t need the Amazon HQ2 headache – and the sky isn’t falling this morning.
 
 
FCC rule change could slash local cable-access TV shows
 
Following town-government matters on the tube may be a thing of the past. Local cable access TV could be on the chopping block if a proposed FCC rule change is approved, Phillip Martin reports at WGBH. A public comment period on the change — which would limit communities’ ability to levy the fees that now support locally made programming, including government meeting coverage — ends Wednesday.

 

 

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