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The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill: Pay Raise Fallout, House Meets To Respond To Trump

Many legislators, elected officials and judges in Massachusetts are now in line for much bigger paychecks. That’s after the legislature last week overrode Governor Charlie Baker’s veto of a pay raise bill. It’s estimated to cost the state an extra $18 million each year.

For more, we checked in with reporter Matt Murphy of the State House News Service, as we do most Mondays. He said the bill took effect immediately, so state officials should see the extra money very soon.

Also this week, House Democrats will meet to discuss how they might respond to recent actions by the Trump Administration. Last week, the state senate took up a resolution to oppose President Trump’s executive action on immigration and refugees.

Click the audio player above to hear Henry Epp’s conversation with Matt Murphy about the week ahead on Beacon Hill.

Outgoing PVTA Administrator Reflects On Funding, Service and Future

Later this year, the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority will be in new hands. Mary MacInnes is stepping down later this spring. She’s led the agency since 2006, overseeing public transit in Hampden and Hampshire Counties.

MacInnes took over at a tumultuous time. The previous administrator was ousted after the PVTA’s offices were raided by federal investigators in a bid-rigging scandal. MacInnes said the agency is in a strong position now, compared to when she took charge.

Click the audio player above to hear PVTA Administrator Mary MacInnes interviewed by New England Public Radio’s Henry Epp.

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill

Massachusetts lawmakers pushed through their first major piece of legislation of the new session last week: a pay raise for themselves. The bill also boosts pay for the governor, judges and other elected officials. Governor Charlie Baker vetoed the measure, but Democrats in the legislature seem to have enough votes to override that veto.

For our weekly look at all things Beacon Hill, we checked in with Matt Murphy, a reporter with the State House News Service. He said the legislature could take an override vote this week, and it would be difficult to peel away enough lawmakers to prevent it from passing.

Click the audio player above to hear Henry Epp’s conversation with Matt Murphy about the week ahead on Beacon Hill.

State Auditor Calls For More Money And Regional Collaboration On Water Systems

Cities and towns in Massachusetts need an additional $17.8 billion over the next two decades to pay for water infrastructure. That’s according to a new report by the state auditor.

It’s up to cities and towns to come up with the funding to treat waste water, manage runoff from storms and provide clean drinking water. Most federal and state funding to municipalities for water projects comes through loans.

The state auditor’s report recommends that lawmakers not only provide low interest loans, but also grants that don’t need to be paid back.

It calls for a new state Trust Fund that would provide “at least $50 million” every year for the next decade for municipal water projects and give priority to proposals that regionalize water systems.

It recommends the state streamline regulations that would allow cities and towns to collaborate on projects like waste water treatment plants.  The auditor’s office says it currently can take five years to set up a shared project.

Springfield Union Station Construction To Officially End This Week

This week, the construction project at Union Station in Springfield will officially end, but the renovated station won’t open until April.

The Springfield Redevelopment Authority will get its occupancy certificate for Union Station this week, according to the city’s chief development officer, Kevin Kennedy. He said there’s still plenty of work to do in the coming months, including locking down contracts with transit, retail and office tenants.

“We’re expecting that we will have the building substantially leased…in the near future,” Kennedy said. “Buildings like this typically don’t get leased for two or three years, but our leasing has gone pretty well, we expect, and we’re very optimistic.”

Kennedy wouldn’t say exactly how much space has been rented out so far. He said there’s a total of 62,000 square feet of commercial space available.

Kennedy put the final price tag of the renovation at $94 million dollars — paid for with state, federal and local funds.

Hopes And Expectations From Some Western Mass. Trump Supporters

At noon on Friday, Republican Donald Trump will become President of the United States. In last year’s election, every county in Massachusetts went for Democrat Hillary Clinton. Still, more than a million Bay Staters voted for Trump. Ahead of his inauguration, we wanted to hear from some Trump supporters in Western Massachusetts on their hopes and expectations for his presidency.

Craig and Rachie Vermes live in Ludlow. They both work at local hospitals. There’s a Trump campaign sign and an American flag in their front yard.

Craig is an antique collector. He restores a lot of old machinery. He has a soft spot for old telephones. Vermes said his love of antiques goes back to his teens. His admiration of Donald Trump goes back a few decades too, to when he first read The Art of the Deal.

“As a businessman, he’s just a phenomenal and compassionate guy,” Vermes said. “When I first heard that he was running, I started supporting him right then.”

Trump ran on the idea of making America great again. But Vermes sees Trump as something new, not nostalgic, in Washington.

“Trump owes no one anything,” Vermes said. “He doesn’t owe anyone any back deals, he’s not even going to accept a salary. So he’s in it for America, he’s not in it to make money for himself. He’s got billions. He doesn’t need any more money.”

Vermes is excited for a shake-up of what he sees as widespread corruption in Washington. He likes Trump’s pledge to “drain the swamp.” At the same time, he’s a big fan of his Democratic congressman, Richie Neal, who’s been in Washington since the late 1980s.

“I’m hoping, for Western Mass., that if our congressman and our senators can work with Mr. Trump, I think that would be a great thing,” Vermes said.

Craig and Rachie Vermes at their home in Ludlow. (Henry Epp for NEPR)

Craig’s wife Rachie grew up in Taiwan. She moved to the United States over a decade ago to pursue a graduate degree. Now she’s a United States citizen, and immigration was at the forefront of her support for Donald Trump.

“If the government says we will give all free benefits to all illegal immigrants, then what about us? We followed the rule,” she said. “I think the government should take care of legal immigrants first and their own citizens, then we can consider about other things.”

Since the election, there’s been a sense of anxiety and fear from many groups that felt Trump’s campaign set an offensive tone — of racism, sexism, Islamophobia. I asked Craig and Rachie what they’d say to people who are scared of Trump’s presidency. Craig rejected the notion that Trump himself is biased toward any group.

“If somebody’s afraid, if somebody’s concerned, I think what they’ve got to do is be properly educated and not listen to these 60-second blurbs on the news, and look at the actual facts to this and who’s saying it,” Craig said.

Rachie said it’s easy to be scared these days, especially with the way things are shared on the Internet.

“There are so many…laws [that] protect us here. If he puts out some law…I’m sure we will have communities, lawyers working together to examine the fairness of the law,” Rachie said. “But you cannot just sit [at] home and read [the] Internet and say ‘I’m so scared.’ Scared of what? Scared of [the] future? Everybody’s scared of [the] future.”

Craig and Rachie Vermes both said they felt silenced during the election — especially at work — where they say they were surrounded by vocal Clinton supporters. Now, Rachie said, it’s time for everyone to give Trump a chance.

“Obama had not only four years, but eight years of chance to take care of [the] country. Now we can give this person four years to see how he does,” Rachie said. “If we don’t like him, if he fail[s] us, in four years, we will let him know. Hopefully, he will bring some fresh air, fresh idea[s], fresh set of viewpoints to our government.”

Former Springfield Mayoral Candidate Weighs In

I found Craig and Rachie Vermes through searching Donald Trump’s federal campaign finance records for contributions from Western Massachusetts. There were some notable local names in those records: Eugene Cassidy, head of the Big E, and Peter Salerno, the executive director of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Cassidy declined a request for an interview. Salerno and I played phone tag, but he ultimately did not respond to a request to comment.

There was another somewhat recognizable name from the Springfield area who was willing to talk: Sal Circosta. He ran for mayor in 2015, losing to Domenic Sarno. Circosta said he came around to support Trump late in the Republican primary.

“After some consideration, I just said, ‘You know what? This is so much opposite of what we usually get, this might be a breath of fresh air for us in politics.'”

I met Circosta at La Fiorentina, an Italian pastry shop in Springfield’s South End. Circosta is Italian-American, and he said for the first time he can remember, every member of his family voted for the same presidential candidate. So what attracted them to Trump?

“Plain speaking,” Circosta said. “Italians are known to speak very bluntly. Not always the most charitable group of people, but they speak what’s on their mind. My mother and father, I never had a question [of] what they thought. They made it very blunt with me.”

Sal Circosta at La Fiorentina in Springfield.

Trump’s bluntness, Circosta said, looked strong, and that translated into votes. For Circosta, there’s also policy substance to his support of Trump. Most notably, he’s pro-life — against abortion. He’s also hopeful that Trump can help struggling cities, and as a veteran of the National Guard, he believes Trump will support the military.

But for a supporter, Circosta has one interesting descriptor for the president-elect. We got to the subject of the infamous Access Hollywood tape. Circosta said those were the words of a narcissist. I asked if that was a concern to him — that someone he considers a narcissist is going to be president. He said it’s not.

“He’s a pragmatic narcissist,” Circosta said. “I don’t even know if that’s a term, maybe I just invented it. I’ll have to trademark it. But as a pragmatic narcissist, he wants to make sure that he does things to make himself look good. There’s no doubt that Donald Trump wants to go down as the greatest president in U.S. history. I think that’s a good thing!”

Circosta said he knows Trump has been divisive through the campaign and the transition, but he hopes he changes course.

“We have an extremely divided country right now,” Circosta said. “He says some nice things that I think are going to help unite us, but then the next day he’ll say something idiotic that divides us again. I want to see if he uses his office to unite our country as one American people again.”

We’ll all see if and how Donald Trump attempts to do that in his inaugural address.