Hillary Clinton had President and Michelle Obama, Bruce Springsteen, and Jon Bon Jovi campaigning for her on the final day of the 2016 presidential race, but Donald Trump was not to be outdone. At a campaign event in New Hampshire on Monday, he said he had the Hall of Fame duo of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick on his bench.
Trump said TB12 called him on Monday and said he had voted for him, while Belichick sent Trump a letter proclaiming his support. Trump said he asked both New England Patriots whether he could publicly share their endorsements, and was told he could. Trump said Belichick, in fact, responded by sending along a new, improved letter that praised the Republican presidential candidate for the beautiful way he “dealt with an unbelievable slanted and negative media” during the campaign and expressed the hope that the election results “will give the opportunity to make America great again.”
Brady’s embrace of Trump, if it did happen (more on that in a bit), is not that surprising. Brady enjoys playing golf with Trump and has expressed admiration for him. Brady also leans Republican. He was registered as a Republican until 2004, when he shifted his party registration to unenrolled. He attended George W. Bush’s State of the Union address in 2004 as a guest of the president, and he snubbed Obama when the Patriots visited the White House as Super Bowl champs in 2015.
What is interesting is that the notoriously circumspect Brady would let Trump go public with the endorsement. Brady told 60 Minutes in 2007 that he was not averse to running for office some day, but he typically keeps his political sentiments to himself. Brady told WEEI on Monday morning that he hadn’t voted yet, but there were reports he voted by absentee ballot in Brookline later that day. Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen, apparently gave an emphatic “no” on Friday when she was asked about rumors that she and her husband were backing Trump.
Belichick’s politics are more murky than Brady’s. His Hoodiness isn’t much of an activist off the gridiron and he rarely discusses his political views. Yet Belichick probably shares Trump’s disdain for the press, as evidenced by his monosyllabic responses to reporter questions at his post-game press conferences.
BRUCE MOHL
BEACON HILL
Gov. Charlie Baker confirms his administration is investigating whether members of the state’s Environmental Police have spent part of their workdays at home. (State House News)
Two developers building a boutique hotel in Quincy Center have agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to settle campaign finance allegations they reimbursed an employee for her donations to Mayor Thomas Koch as well as Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Attorney General Maura Healey. (Patriot Ledger)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Boston officials kept the public and parks advocates in the dark as they made plans to redevelop a city parcel with a spiraling tower that would cast shadows across Boston Common in violation of state law. (Boston Globe)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says the convictions of two former aides in the Bridgegate scandal do not reflect poorly on him. (Governing)
ELECTIONS
For the one or two readers who may not have checked, the FiveThirtyEight forecast as of 6:30 this morning had Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning at 71.6 percent and Donald Trump’s at 28.4 percent. To track voting as the day progresses, check out the live blog of Rich Parr and Steve Koczela of the MassINC Polling Group. (CommonWealth)
The New York Times has a year in pictures on the campaign trail with both Trump and Clinton.
“America is so much better than Donald Trump,” writes Peter Gelzinis. (Boston Herald)
Bill Weld tells voters to back Clinton if they are not prepared to embrace him and fellow Libertarian Gary Johnson. (Masslive)
Trump tells a Monday night rally in New Hampshire that Tom Brady voted for him, but the quarterback said on Monday morning he hadn’t voted yet. (Boston Globe)
Some of the most tense Election Day scenes could come in potential encounters between right-wing poll checkers and voting rights advocates around the country. (New York Times)
FBI Director James Comey has an unlikely ally in explaining to cynics how the bureau could cull the hundreds of thousands of emails found on Anthony Weiner’s laptop: Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden, who said a simple program on an “old laptop” could do it in minutes to hours. (Huffington Post)
Supporters and foes of Question 2 rally for for the final push by their side on the charter school ballot question, which voters will decide on along with questions about casinos, marijuana legalization, and farm animal rights. (Boston Globe) The suburbs will be a key battleground determining which side wins, though most of them will be largely unaffected by the outcome. (CommonWealth) Spending on the ballot questions shattered records. (Eagle-Tribune)
More than 1 million Massachusetts voters cast early ballots. (Lowell Sun) A judge ordered three voters who challenged the cutoff deadline for registration to be allowed to cast provisional ballots. (Boston Globe)
Maine voters face a hotly-contested ballot question on gun background checks. (Boston Globe)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The state convention center authority says losses are shrinking at its popular Lawn on D venue, which went $2.3 million in the red last year but is projected to lose only $250,000 to $350,000 this year. (Boston Herald)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Deaths from the synthetic opioid fentanyl continue to spike in Massachusetts with more fatal overdoses from fentanyl use than from heroin so far this year. (Wicked Local)
Sexually transmitted diseases hit an all-time high in 2015, with teenagers a group particularly afflicted. (Time)
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA hires a Chicago-based construction manager to oversee the Green Line extension and agrees to pay him a base salary of $280,000 along with perks that would raise his annual compensation to more than $382,000. (CommonWealth)
The Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, a powerful business group, is exploring ways to potentially help subsidize recruitment and training of top management MBTA hires, driven by the group’s belief that reliable T service is an imperative for a healthy business climate in the region. (Boston Globe)
Orange Line trains are turning around faster when they reach the end of the line, speeding up service. (CommonWealth)
The MBTA is ramping up capital spending, but still not spending all the money available. (CommonWealth)
An Eagle-Tribune editorial comes very close to embracing a North-South rail link.
More than 350,000 people have flown to Florida out of Worcester over the last three years. (Masslive)
The overnight dismantling of toll booths on the Mass Pike is keeping some Brockton residents up as a scrap yard in the city is trucking in the demolition materials and dumping them from midnight to 5 a.m., potentially in violation of city ordinances. (The Enterprise)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
There is a mystery on Nantucket that has been baffling scientists for decades: Hundreds of headless millipedes are regularly found on Tuckernuck Island with no clue how they are decapitated. (Cape Cod Times)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A crowd of 1,000 got unruly and police were called in to an event at Cambridge mall featuring Celtics rookie Jaylen Brown and a rap artist. (Boston Globe)
A 35-year-old Weymouth woman was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after she allegedly stomped a kitten to death in a drunken rage. (Patriot Ledger)
MEDIA
A jury ordered Rolling Stone magazine and one of its writers to pay $3 million to a University of Virginia administrator in a defamation lawsuit over a now-discredited and since-retracted story about a campus gang rape. (New York Times)
How the 2016 election changed American political journalism. (Poynter)
Question 2 already affects the suburbs. Brookline, Hingham, Lexington, Newton, and Winchester are being drained of their public schools funding to finance charter schools! Brookline, Hingham, Lexington, Newton, and Winchester! VOTE NO on Question 2.
According to the Eagle Tribune, three of the five “ballot committees supporting the charter school question have vastly out-raised opponents, drumming up more than $24 million…Those contributions include more than $15.6 million from the New York-based Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy Inc. and $240,000 from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a longtime champion of charter schools. Save Our Public Schools raised $14.7 million in opposition to the question.” VOTE NO on Question 2.