We don’t know whether Donald Trump’s dismissal of campaign manager Corey Lewandowski followed the script of his old reality TV show The Apprentice. We don’t know whether Trump uttered the show’s famous punchline: “You’re fired!” But we do know Lewandowski was escorted out of the building after he was fired and that Lewandowski said he didn’t know why he was being let go.
The firing shows that Trump really isn’t that different from other politicians. When the going gets tough — and Trump’s lackluster fundraising, his absence from the airwaves, and his tone-deaf comments about a federal judge and Muslims suggest things are very tough — Trump fires his campaign manager instead of giving himself a kick in the pants.
Lewandowski fits the mold of the Trump campaign: brash, controversial, and totally committed. He was a true believer in a job that in most campaigns is filled with a cool, dispassionate tactician. He made headlines in March when he was arrested on misdemeanor battery charges involving former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields. The charges were later dropped, but the incident thrust Lewandowski into the public eye.
As the Trump campaign has sputtered recently, there were reports Lewandowski didn’t get along with Trump’s children, that he drove campaign staffers too hard, and that he was neglecting to build out the candidate’s fundraising and campaign apparatus. Michael Caputo, a Trump campaign advisor, was not a fan. “Ding dong, the witch is dead,” he tweeted after Lewandowski’s dismissal. Caputo was quickly gone himself.
The departure of Lewandowski appears to put Paul Manafort in the campaign driver’s seat. Manafort, hired by Trump to assemble delegates for the Republican convention, is a skilled political operative who likes to remain in the background. He appears to have done work for some of the world’s best-known dictators in the past.
The Boston Globe played Lewandowski’s firing at the top of page one, all but suggesting that Trump’s campaign and the candidate are about to move in a new direction. But if Lewandowski’s mantra was “let Trump be Trump,” what are we going to get now?
Utah Republican Chairman James Evans said letting Trump be Trump isn’t working and it’s time to move in a new direction. “The other direction means a more professional, disciplined campaign,” he said. “This decision is the right kind of pivot Trump needs for the general election.”
It almost sounds like Republican activists want Trump to turn into boring Jeb Bush.
–BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
Gov. Charlie Baker and legislative leaders appear to be working cooperatively on closing the state’s budget gap. (State House News)
Senate President Stan Rosenberg says charter school reform is dead in the Legislature. (Masslive)
With state facing a potential $750 million budget hole, state leaders float the idea of skipping the annual sales tax holiday. Last year, it cost the state $26 million. (Boston Globe)
A Globe editorial says the House should get behind zoning reform legislation that the Senate passed.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo seeks to create a task force on integrity. (State House News)
Sen. Joan Lovely of Salem files a bill to change the name of the Special Legislative Commission on Postpartum Depression to the Ellen Story Commission on Postpartum Depression in honor of the retiring state rep from Amherst. (State House News)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The Lawrence City Council is moving forward with a measure that would ban the use of marijuana in public places. (Eagle-Tribune)
Several Quincy city councilors say Mayor Thomas Koch must include affordable housing in his new plan to redevelop the downtown area before they’ll back the project. (Patriot Ledger)
Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter has appointed a new communications and community relations director for the police department despite a union grievance and a move by the City Council to defund the position. (The Enterprise)
Mayors are increasingly seizing the initiative when it comes to big policy issues. (Boston Globe)
Fall River’s controversial new 10-year deal privatizing the city’s trash pick-up includes a termination fee of up to $1.67 million if the city pulls out in the first two years. Meanwhile, officials are looking to sell the city-owned fleet of trash trucks but the sale is unlikely to come close to the $5.8 million owed for the vehicles. (Herald News)
The Globe reports that lawsuits are mounting against the failed IndyCar race that the city initially backed.
CommonWealth’s own Jack Sullivan is like a magnet for out-of-control cars. (Patriot Ledger)
CASINOS
A federal judge shows no inclination to delay action on a suit brought by Taunton residents that would block a tribal casino, setting a final hearing date of July 11. (Boston Globe)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
Four amendments to restrict gun sales in the wake of recent mass shootings failed to move forward in predictable party line votes in the Senate. (U.S. News & World Report) Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected a Second Amendment challenge to an assault weapon ban in Connecticut that was passed after the massacre of 26 children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. (New York Times)
Gov. Charlie Baker urges European Union officials not to ban American lobsters. (Gloucester Times)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Uber’s bid to raise billions in investments is not only a matter of expansion but also to starve competitors of needed capital. (New York Times)
French energy conglomerate Veolia is moving its North American headquarters from Chicago to Boston. (Boston Globe)
Six teams have offered bids, ranging from $50 million to $150 million, for the city-owned Winthrop Square garage site in downtown Boston. (Boston Herald)
Golf equipment icon Titleist, headquartered in Fairhaven, is going public with an IPO expected to bring in $2 billion. (Bloomberg)
EDUCATION
The Dever elementary school in Dorchester is struggling under a state-appointed receiver, with low student performance, a revolving door of principals, and high staff turnover. (Boston Globe)
Former state education official Sandra Stotsky says Education Secretary Jim Peyser misses the mark with his ideas for reforming teacher licensing and argues that the key is to raise the standards for admission to teacher preparation programs. (CommonWealth)
A Wayland family whose young son was sexually abused is suing school officials who they say encouraged their child to have a relationship with an older boy who the officials knew had a history of sexually abusing children. (MetroWest Daily News)
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board approves a “unique” contract with a union representing the bulk of its managers. The contract reportedly spawned an internal fight at the T. (CommonWealth)
A $20.4 million reconstruction of a stretch of Commonwealth Avenue near BU is approved. (State House News)
A $14.8 billion transportation capital plan emphasizes repair and modernization over expansion. (State House News)
MBTA will begin to accept Apple Pay as part of expanded mobile-app rollout. (Boston Business Journal)
Tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike aren’t going away, although they may be renamed gantry fees. Also, there’s a possibility the “fees” could be going up. (Masslive)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The Sturbridge Board of Selectmen approves a solar pact with Blue Wave Capital that will yield an annual tax payment of $737,000 and significant savings on power bills. (Telegram & Gazette)
The world is experiencing the worst coral bleaching ever. (Time)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
Hampden County Sheriff Mike Ashe, who is retiring this year after almost 42 years in the post, has made a mark through a pre-release job training program that readies inmates to move into job settings when they are released. (Boston Globe) CommonWealth spotlighted Ashe’s reform approach to corrections in this cover story way back in 2001.
Andrew Flonory was shot and killed in Mattapan on Saturday night less than a mile from the spot where his sister and her two-year-old were gunned down in a quadruple killing six years ago. (Boston Globe)
A Quincy nightclub owner who formerly worked as finance director at the state Group Insurance Commission has been charged with stealing more than $122,000 from the agency by fraudulently transferring funds to a company he owns. (Patriot Ledger)
Scott Frasca, a low-level political figure in Peabody, is arraigned on fraud charges. (Salem News)
The Supreme Court has ruled that evidence seized during illegal stops can be used in prosecutions if it is discovered the suspects had outstanding warrants, a decision that drew a sharp rebuke in a minority dissent that the opinion would disproportionately affect minorities. (New York Times)
Boston police officials say all was on the up-and-up with the use of civil service lists to name the current class of department recruits, but the head of the state Civil Service Commission says an investigation of potential favoritism is ongoing. (Boston Herald)
MEDIA
Winter really is coming for newspaper publishers. (Politico)
The Rutland Herald of Vermont plans to stop publishing a print newspaper on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. (Berkshire Eagle)
I expected CommonWealth to use The Globe’s headline “Can receivership save a failing Boston school?” to give the impression a failing public school was about to be placed into receivership when it’s already under state receivership and still failing…only worse…much worse. According to The Globe, the state recruited a local nonprofit as a receiver “that had never run a school.” Unbelievable, but true. Under this nonprofit, the Blueprint Schools Network, the Dever Elementary School’s MCAS results “were disappointing, with most scores dropping.” In addition, enrollment declined from 583 to 498 last fall and only two out of the original 47 teachers remain. Three principals left in the past 15 months with the current interim principal actually living in Florida, receiving paid travel to that state along with a local housing allowance when in Massachusetts.
Anyhow, the state education department somehow came up with $1.3 million to pay Blueprint’s management fees and $176,000 was spent on 650 Chromebooks. The interim principal is receiving a salary of $140,000, a housing allowance “$10,000 so far,” and free flights to Florida. I looked up how much Boston public schools principals make for a salary and came across a BPS “Principal/Headmaster Compensation System” showing “a current base of $105,000 to $120,000 depending on school size” which noted the salary “has not kept pace with…principal salaries in neighboring districts.” But the interim principal at Dever doesn’t have to worry about that low salary range or housing costs or trips to Florida.
The Dever Elementary School’s quarterly report for 10/15 states the school “continues its efforts to transform school culture and accelerate student achievement…building capacity through increased staffing in key positions…expanded the leadership team from two to five positions, to include the principal, three assistant principals (academics, operations and instruction, and school culture), and the therapeutic learning community coordinator… Dever also added a new full-time position of Community Field Coordinator (CFC) to work directly with the assistant principal of school culture to strengthen family engagement. The district’s budget allocation was expanded for a 1.0 FTE position coordinator of special education services, which was previously a .6 FTE. Dever strengthened school wide English as a second language (ESL) and English language development (ELD) supports by hiring a fifth dedicated ESL teacher, expanding resources such as Imagine Learning…In addition, two full-time coaches, in newly created roles, will support teachers by modeling, developing, and disseminating exemplary practices across the school.” Why couldn’t all those positions be added BEFORE the school dropped to Level 5? Dever was designated a Level 4 in 2010 and Level 5 in 2013. No one could see this school needed more resources? Why wait until a school’s performance drops off the chart to take effective steps to turn it around while throwing $1.3 million in management fees to an inexperienced nonprofit that never ran a school to run this underperforming school?
I was curious about the Dever’s quarterly report highlighting the purchase of Google Chromebooks being used “to implement the Imagine Learning software program, which provides individualized ELD instruction.” There was no cost mentioned for the software or the full-time media and technology teacher who will be managing “the rollout of this new technology.” A product review said the Imagine software isn’t accessible from a personal device which makes me wonder if Google and Imagine have a deal going on where the schools have to buy the Chromebooks to be able to use the software. Imagine Learning offers discounts for volume, multi-year contracts and to schools that choose to be a research partner. I wonder if Blueprint signed up the Dever Elementary School’s students to be part of the research.