New England Public Radio

Despite Campaign Criticism, Baker Said He Phoned Trump Last Week

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said he’s reached out to President-Elect Donald Trump. Baker, a Republican, criticized Trump during the campaign, and didn’t cast a vote for president.

Leading up to the election, Baker said he didn’t think Trump had the temperament to be president. That’s just some of the criticism he had for his party’s nominee going back to the primary elections.

Despite that, Baker told WGBH he phoned Trump before Thanksgiving, in what he termed “a social call.”

“I did think it was important for me to reach out and and to say congratulations, and to offer our assistance, if appropriate,” Baker said.

And what did Trump say to that?

“Thanks for the call and thanks for the good wishes, and that was about it,” Baker said.

The governor said he’s not worried about Trump penalizing Massachusetts because of Baker’s stance, or the heavily Democratic lean of the Bay State.

 

What Could Trump’s Pledge To Cut Funding Mean For ‘Sanctuary Cities’ In Western Mass.?

Republican President-elect Donald Trump made a lot of big promises on the campaign trail. One of them: cancel all federal funding to “sanctuary cities” on his first day in office.

That’s a sweeping promise, and it could have an impact in New England if it happens.

First, what is a sanctuary city? Los Angeles is one, so is New York, Chicago and the entire state of Connecticut. They’re also smaller communities, including Amherst, Holyoke and Northampton in western Massachusetts.

The term refers to communities that do not comply with some orders from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). For example, if ICE asks local police to detain an immigrant suspected of living in the country illegally, those police are barred from doing it. There are exceptions if there’s a court order or criminal warrant for a person’s arrest.

Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz in his office.
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz. (Henry Epp for NEPR)

“The position is really that local law enforcement, which doesn’t have the authority to enforce federal immigration laws…are opting not to do that,” said Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz.

Narkewicz issued an order creating his city’s policy in 2014. So did Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse.

“We want no one to be scared of talking to our officers and our city officials,” Morse said.

So that’s the idea behind so-called sanctuary cities. But could President-elect Trump actually end all federal funding to Northampton or Holyoke? Yes, according to John Hudak, a senior researcher at the Brookings Institution who studies presidential power. There are two ways this could happen, Hudak said. One is through executive action, but that would face legal challenges.

You can bet that if an executive order or other kind of executive action is issued on January 20th to that effect,” Hudak said, “states and localities will sue.”

Hudak said if that happens, federal funding would likely continue to flow while the measure is in court. The other option would be to push a law through the Republican-controlled Congress.

“It would probably say ‘any city that is violation of federal immigration law will not be entitled to federal discretionary funding,'” said Hudak.

According to Hudak, that approach could have a more immediate effect. So what would be at stake for sanctuary communities if a de-funding bill made it through?

Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse during editorial board meeting at The Republican in Springfield. October 15, 2015.
Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse. (Michael S. Gordon for The Republican)

“Lots of different areas,” according to Northampton’s David Narkewicz.”We receive Community Development Block Grant funding…which helps us support low- and moderate-income residents of our community.”

Holyoke and Amherst get those funds too. Plus, lots of transportation funding comes to cities and towns from the federal government through the state. Overall, though, federal money is a fairly small part of the budgets for these communities. Mayor Narkewicz said the threat of losing that funding changes nothing for him.

“In terms of the executive order that I issued, no, I don’t have any plans to reverse that because of what happened on November 8th,” he said.

In Holyoke, Mayor Morse is also standing by his policy. He also makes an important distinction about his city’s population, which is 48 percent Hispanic or Latino.

The majority of our Latino community is Puerto Rican and so they are not considered immigrants. They are United States citizens that don’t have to grapple with the same legal, bureaucratic situations that many of our immigrant communities do have to face,” said Morse.

Morse, who is white, said that speaks to a larger point.

“Immigrant or not, any talking point or policy about criminalizing or prosecuting or deporting immigrants in our community will target people that don’t look like me, and I think that’s incredibly dangerous rhetoric,” Morse said.

For now, local sanctuary city policies are here to stay. And for the record, both Mayors Morse and Narkewicz said, to their knowledge, there haven’t actually been any instances where local police have ignored federal immigration requests to detain people.

Amherst College Soccer Team: ‘That Is Not Our Locker Room’

Amherst College senior David Lander has received a lot of attention recently — and not for his academics or his performance on the school’s soccer team. Lander wrote a column for the Huffington Post after Donald Trump said his decade-old comments describing sexual assault were just quote “locker-room talk.”

The reaction from Lander and his teammates: Not in our locker room. Lander says he worried that the tone of the column would sound preachy, and he’s not saying that his team’s locker-room talk is rated G.

Click the audio player above to hear Lander’s conversation with New England Public Radio’s Susan Kaplan.

Massachusetts State Senate Candidates Trade Jabs Over Donald Trump And Larger Ambitions

Two candidates for a western Massachusetts State Senate seat are confronting each other over Donald Trump and political opportunism. The topics arose during a recent debate on Focus Springfield TV between incumbent state Senator Eric Lesser, a Democrat, and his challenger, Republican Chip Harrington.

They’re running for the First Hampden and Hampshire State Senate seat, which represents 13 communities from Belchertown to Longmeadow.

Both candidates were asked whether they were opportunists. Harrington defended his decision to switch parties since the last election.

“Let me remind you: Two of the leaders of the Democratic Party — Elizabeth Warren was once a Republican, until I think she was the age of 44 when she became a Democrat, and Hillary Clinton herself was a Republican back when she was in college,” Harrington said. “So people mature, people change and people do change their parties.”

Lesser was asked if he was focused on a bigger stage by campaigning for Hillary Clinton and on having friends in high places from his time working on the Obama campaign. He didn’t answer directly.

“I’d like the voters to look at what we’ve been up to the last twenty months,” Lesser said. “When I ran for office two years ago, I came to you and I said, ‘Let’s work together on some big issues.'”

But Harrington wouldn’t let go of the question about Lesser’s aspirations. Part of the debate took place in Lincoln Douglas format, allowing the candidates to question each other directly. Harrington portrayed himself as someone whose dreams reach no higher than state senator. He pushed Lesser on whether he’d run for the seat of Springfield Congressman Richard Neal, if it suddenly opened up.

“Well, no, that’s a very hypothetical question, Chip, so I’m not going to answer a hypothetical question,” Lesser said. “I’m going to continue to do the job as long I feel like we’re effective and we’re making things happen.”

For his part, Lesser accused Harrington of sharing campaign resources like office space and volunteers with Donald Trump.

“I don’t know if they’re his resources,” Harrington responded. “They’re national GOP funds. So I don’t know if they’re Donald Trump’s resources. I’ve never met Donald Trump, I don’t plan to meet Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s a disgusting person. I’m not voting for Donald Trump. When it comes to Election Day, I’m writing [Massachusetts Governor] Charlie Baker’s name in.”

The candidates also tried to outdo each on who is more supportive of veterans and the arts, and on who is more capable of battling the opioid crisis.

Some Voters Unhappy With Presidential Choices

With less than a month before election day, many New England residents remain unsatisfied with the presidential choices in the 2016 election.

Barbara Armfield, a Marlboro, Connecticut, resident, watched the debate Sunday night. She said she didn’t hear anything to change her mind.

“I had already decided I didn’t like Trump,” Armfield said with a nervous laugh.

She said she’s voting for Clinton.

This type of response was common on the streets of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where resident Kyle Mole says his patience with the election is wearing thin.

“To be honest, I’m pretty disillusioned with the two-party system,” Mole said. “Bickering on stage isn’t really doing it for me.”

Despite a lack of enthusiasm this election season, Massachusetts voters will have a chance to pick their preferred candidate as soon as October 24th, when early voting begins.

This Week On Beacon Hill

The Massachusetts Legislature restored millions in spending to the state budget during a rare Saturday session, over the objections of Governor Charlie Baker. State House News Service reporter, Matt Murphy tells New England Public Radio’s Carrie Healy, lawmakers squeezed in some work over the weekend in-between national party conventions…as they face a July 31st deadline to wrap up formal sessions.