| | | | |  | | By Lisa Kashinsky | | | GUESS WHO’S COMING TO SOTU — Maura Healey wants to show President Joe Biden that he’s got a partner in the Massachusetts governor's office by attending his State of the Union speech tonight as Rep. Richard Neal’s guest. Democrats want to show her off. Both parties are using SOTU as a vehicle to showcase their rising stars. Democrats are bringing Healey and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, both of whom flipped Republican-held seats and made history in their states. Republicans are turning to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the first female governor of Arkansas, to deliver their party’s rebuttal to Biden’s address. Healey is one of several Democratic governors being cast as the next faces of their party’s leadership. She’s been mentioned alongside newcomers Moore and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, another Democratic-attorney-general-turned-governor, and second-term stars like California’s Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ JB Pritzker and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer. But Healey doesn’t appear to be playing into the national hype. This is her second State of the Union address, after she went as Neal's guest in 2016. And neither she nor Neal revealed the reason for this year's invitation in a Monday press release. Neal called Healey “a steadfast advocate for the people of Massachusetts throughout her career in public service.” Healey said she wants to hear what Biden “will continue to do to strengthen our economy, lower costs, invest in infrastructure, and combat the climate crisis.” She also spoke of partnering with the federal delegation to deliver for Massachusetts — and what better way to do that than by teaming up with the ranking member on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Bringing Healey as his guest also gives Neal the governor’s ear to advocate for western Massachusetts, including, perhaps, West-East rail. He’ll likely get another shot at that on Thursday, when Healey joins the weekly delegation meeting Neal hosts when Congress is in session. She’ll be back in the District for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting, which runs Thursday to Saturday. GOOD TUESDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll will take over as acting governor for the first time when Healey heads out of state today. TODAY — Healey attends Biden’s SOTU at 9 p.m. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announces members of the city’s reparations task force at 1:30 p.m. at the Museum of African American History on Beacon Hill. House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Rep. Ayanna Pressley join colleagues and SOTU guests for a press conference on the child care crisis at noon in the U.S. Senate Swamp. Tips? Scoops? Birthdays? Email me: lkashinsky@politico.com.
| | A message from NextEra Energy: Affordable, carbon-emissions free, reliable electricity from nuclear energy. Seabrook Station lowers consumer energy costs in Massachusetts and New England by providing a year-round, low-cost, baseload energy supply. And American-made nuclear energy supports hundreds of jobs across New England. | | | |  | FROM THE DELEGATION | | — GUESS WHO ELSE IS COMING TO SOTU: Doctors, immigrants and faces of the abortion-access fight are among the congressional delegation’s guests for President Joe Biden’s big speech. Here’s a rundown of who’s been announced so far: — Sen. Elizabeth Warren is bringing Eugénie Ouedraogo, a Taunton parent, Triumph Inc. Head Start policy council member and immigrant from Burkina Faso. — Sen. Ed Markey is bringing Kate Dineen, who traveled to Maryland for an abortion in 2021 when she couldn’t get one in Massachusetts after her unborn son suffered a catastrophic stroke when she was 33 weeks pregnant. Dineen worked with advocates and state lawmakers last year to expand access to abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy. — House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark is bringing Cheryl Hamlin, a Cambridge-based OB-GYN who routinely traveled to Mississippi to perform abortions at the state’s last abortion clinic. — Rep. Ayanna Pressley is bringing Jaqueline Sanches, a Cape Verdean immigrant and Early Head Start teacher from Mattapan, per GBH News. — Rep. Jake Auchincloss is bringing Xiaoyan Qin, a Chinese immigrant and independent pharmacist from Newton. — Rep. Lori Trahan is bringing James Baker, a substance-use disorder prevention advocate from Haverhill who lost his son to addiction. — Rep. Seth Moulton is bringing Shamsurrahman Rahmani, who supported U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and who recently resettled with his family in the U.S. on a special immigrant visa. — “After climate protest gets scientist fired, Sen. Ed Markey demands answers,” by Ryan Mancini, MassLive. — “Elizabeth Warren Is Furious with the Restaurant Lobby,” by Kara Voght, Rolling Stone.
| | | | JOIN POLITICO ON 2/9 TO HEAR FROM AMERICA’S GOVERNORS: In a divided Congress, more legislative and policy enforcement will shift to the states, meaning governors will take a leading role in setting the agenda for the nation. Join POLITICO on Thursday, Feb. 9 at World Wide Technology's D.C. Innovation Center for The Fifty: America's Governors, presented by Cisco, where we will examine where innovations are taking shape and new regulatory red lines, the future of reproductive health, and how climate change is being addressed across a series of one-on-one interviews. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | DATELINE BEACON HILL | | — “Healey takes more than $2.9 million to fund inaugural party, the most ever by a governor,” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “Governor Maura Healey has collected more than $2.9 million in donations for her inaugural celebration, setting a Massachusetts record, new campaign finance filings show, with energy companies, professional sports teams, and labor unions among the generous contributors. … At a reported cost of $2.8 million, Healey’s inaugural celebration also stands as the most expensive in state history.” — "A new bill in the Mass. Legislature could subsidize local newspaper subscriptions," by Dana Gerber, Boston Globe: "The bill, introduced by Representative Jeffrey Rosario Turco in mid-January, would institute a new tax credit reimbursing any Massachusetts resident up to $250 a year for the cost of subscribing to local newspapers. The hope, said Turco, is that the bill would help to generate extra revenue for the state’s newsrooms."
| | FROM THE HUB | | — “Royals visit to Boston cost city $170,000,” by Sean Philip Cotter, Boston Herald: “Call it a royalty check. Prince William’s and Princess Kate’s three-day visit to the Hub in November and December cost the city a total bill of $170,407.52, which largely went to police overtime, according to data from the city.” — “Mayor touts Boston’s electric school bus pilot program as ‘largest of its kind’ in the Northeast,” by Samuele Petruccelli, WBUR: “The first 20 buses were purchased with $7 million in COVID relief funds. City officials said the cost per vehicle is around $350,000, or three-times the price of a diesel bus. But they expect cost savings over the long run due to less maintenance.”
| | | | A message from NextEra Energy:   | | | | | PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES | | — “Springfield rail car maker CRRC accuses ex-employee of stealing documents,” by Luis Fieldman, MassLive: “A former employee of Springfield’s CRRC train car manufacturing plant is accused in a civil lawsuit of downloading and sharing sensitive company documents after leaving the Chinese-owned company earlier this year. … CRRC has been in the news recently as a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority executive took the company to task over faulty Orange Line cars they produced, as well as for failing to meet deadlines to produce Orange and Red line cars promised to the MBTA.”
| | DAY IN COURT | | — “SJC hears challenge of Healey ballot question rejection,” by Jennifer Smith, CommonWealth Magazine: “The Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments Monday on a thorny and novel question of political spending and free speech rights. Proponents of a potential 2024 ballot measure limiting individual campaign contributions to political action committees are asking the high court to find the measure was improperly rejected by then-Attorney General Maura Healey’s office last year. The ballot question, submitted in June 2022 and rejected in September, would have imposed a $5,000-per-year limit on contributions from individuals to independent expenditure PACs, also known as super PACs.” — “Mass. high court considers extending the age limit for mandatory life sentences in prison,” by Deborah Becker, WBUR: “On Monday, the state Supreme Judicial Court heard arguments in two cases that ask whether it is constitutional for people between the ages of 18 and 20 — who are sometimes referred to as ‘emerging adults’ — to receive mandatory sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. … The justices had tough questions for both sides. They expressed concerns about how a judge would determine which young offenders should be eligible for parole and which should not. … They also spent considerable time focused on previous legal precedents, such as their ruling banning life without parole sentences for anyone convicted of murder before the age of 18.” — “Mass. Court Interpreters Walk Off Job in Call for Higher Pay,” by Bianca Beltrán, NBC10 Boston: “In many court cases where the defendants do not speak English, they hear the words of the judges and attorneys through interpreters, who are simultaneously listening and translating. Some court interpreters in Massachusetts are not working this week as they participate in a walkout to demand higher pay.” — “New filing in state drug lab federal civil rights case seeks return of assets,” by Nick Stoico, Boston Globe: “Five Massachusetts residents convicted of drug crimes that were later dismissed as part of the state drug lab scandal are seeking the return of money and property, including a car in one instance, that authorities had seized as part of their investigation, according to court records.”
| | | | DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS– DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID. | | | | | | | THE LOCAL ANGLE | | — “The Mayor, the Muckraker, and the Bombshell North of Boston,” by Gretchen Voss, Boston Magazine: “Everett’s oldest weekly newspaper, the Everett Leader Herald, spent years reporting that the city’s highest-elected official was a corrupt politician who deserved to be thrown in prison. But what if it was fake news?” — “Juvenile delinquency spikes in wake of pandemic,” by Christian M. Wade, Eagle-Tribune: “The report by a state panel looking at the impact of 2018 juvenile justice reforms found that custodial arrests of suspects age 18 and under increased by 37% between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, while delinquency filings for offenses such as school disturbances and underage drinking increased 39%.” — “Harvard researchers and non-tenure faculty to push for union,” by Hilary Burns, Boston Globe.
| | A message from NextEra Energy: Seabrook Station has provided Massachusetts with low-cost, clean, reliable energy for over 30 years, reducing carbon emissions regionally by approximately 4 million tons per year. Nuclear energy is Massachusetts’ most cost-effective and essential tool to combat climate change. | | | | | HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH | | TRANSITIONS — Sydney Levin-Epstein joins Arena as director of development. Levin-Epstein is a former state Senate candidate who previously worked on Sen. Jon Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaigns in Georgia and on Capitol Hill for Rep. Richard Neal and Sen. Ed Markey. — Tom Mangan, Jay A. Youmans and Jefferson R. Smith have launched Bulfinch Strategies Group; Ayah H. Roda joins as associate director of government affairs. HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to former Uxbridge state Rep. Kevin Kuros, Keri Rodrigues, Mike Cummings, Mark Townsend, Michel R. Scheinman and Beth Robbins. 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. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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