The Codcast: Alex Morse wants to change how Washington works
By 
Alex Morse, the 30-year-old mayor of Holyoke, may look like he’s on a fool’s errand by challenging Rep. Richard Neal in next year’s Democratic primary. After all, just seven months ago Neal’s three decades of toil in the DC vineyards landed him in one of the most powerful positions in the House, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. But Morse says the veteran Springfield pol is out of step with the urgency of the times, and he questions whether Neal’s new clout will deliver tangible gains for the First Congressional District.
“I think there’s an urgency to this moment right now in our country,” Morse says in this week’s Codcast. “These aren’t normal times. It isn’t business as usual. And that urgency isn’t matched by our current representative in Congress.”
Defeating an incumbent eight years ago to become Holyoke’s youngest mayor ever at age 22 — as well as its first openly gay leader — Morse’s path has not been carved by following the wait-your-turn custom. What’s more, there’s plenty of recent precedent for voters tossing out powerful pols in Democratic primaries. Last year, Ayanna Pressley upended 10-term incumbent Michael Capuano, who was poised to take over as chair of an important transportation subcommittee. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ousted a New York incumbent who was widely seen as a potential heir to the House speaker’s post.
But Morse unquestionably starts out as a huge underdog against a well-funded incumbent who’s likely to make the case that his decades in office are about to pay particularly big dividends for Western Massachusetts.
Morse told Mother Jones magazine that he’d “be thrilled to be welcomed into the Squad,” a reference to the foursome of progressive first-term congresswomen making waves in Washington, which includes Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez. He’s tapping Pressley’s campaign staff for talent as he ramps up his effort, and says he’s looking to replicate the approach of his own 2011 mayoral victory and the winning Pressley and AOC campaigns by expanding the universe of usual voters in congressional primaries.
Morse’s critique of Neal includes attacking his reluctance to call hearings on Medicare-for-all proposals and the fact that he’s the only one in the state’s nine-member House delegation who has not signed on to the Green New Deal. On the most prominent issue he’s faced since taking his powerful committee chairmanship in January, Neal has been accused by progressives of “slow-walking” the process of seeking President Trump’s tax returns, something he waited until April to begin.
“This one issue is certainly not the reason I’m running for Congress,” Morse says of the Trump tax returns. “But this issue is again another example of our congressman’s lack of awareness of the urgency of this moment.”
Morse is poised to paint Neal as a Washington insider who’s more beholden to big corporate donors than the needs of residents of economically distressed cities in his district like Holyoke and Springfield. He questioned how Neal can fight the opioid epidemic or champion health care expansion when he’s banking campaign donations from the pharmaceutical industry.
“He has power. No one is arguing with that. But power for who?” asks Morse. “He knows how Washington works — he’s been there a long time. But he certainly won’t change how Washington works. Because Washington’s working for the wealthy, the well-connected.”
In terms of early reaction to Morse’s July 22 announcement, a Berkshire Eagle editorial struck a wait-and-see stance, welcoming the challenge and the “good, issue-oriented race” it should bring. But there was nothing nuanced in the view quickly staked out by the Springfield Republican. “Morse’s challenge to Neal comes at the worst possible time,” was the headline on a Republican editorial last Thursday, the day I spoke with Morse for the Codcast.
As Democrats push their party further to the left, the editorial said, Neal is now considered a moderate. “In other words, he’s willing to work with other Democrats and Republicans to get things done,” said the paper. “The bitter irony is that his best strength is being portrayed as a weakness, at just the time our leadership needs more result-driven members, not fewer.”
Morse dismisses the idea that the race will be decided by editorial boards and other opinion pooh-bahs, and he rejects the idea that the district would be losing a potent force given Neal’s new powerful role. “As mayor, I haven’t felt like we’ve had a strong partner or champion in Washington helping us advance our goals,” he says of Neal.
MICHAEL JONAS
BEACON HILL
Vineyard Wind is threatened by bureaucratic infighting between two federal agencies. The National Marine Fisheries Services is at loggerheads with the Bureau of Oceans Energy Management, saying the project as designed does not address all the concerns of the fishing industry. (Reuters) Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Baker is headed to Washington today to meet with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who oversees both agencies.
State Auditor Suzanne Bump is lagging on audits she is required to do by law. (CommonWealth)
After a legislative showdown, all systems are go at a New Bedford charter school which says it is on track to attract a larger student body. (CommonWealth)
In the budget, the Massachusetts Cultural Council weathers a Boston Herald storm. (CommonWealth)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
A class-action lawsuit against Columbia Gas for the gas explosions that rocked three Merrimack Valley towns last September has been settled for $143 million, the company announced this morning. (Boston Herald)
New regulations in place for police cameras in Lawrence put restrictions on how they can be used to surveil the interior of private premises. They cannot exceed the ability of an unassisted human eye. (Eagle-Tribune)
Billions of painkillers flooded communities across the United States, including Brockton, according to recent data obtained by the Washington Post. (Brockton Enterprise)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
The cabinet official set to replace the governor of Puerto Rico says she doesn’t want the job. (Associated Press)
Three people are dead, and at least 15 more are injured from a mass shooting at a California food festival. (Washington Post)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The Federal Reserve Bank is poised to cut interest rates for the first time since the recession. (New York Times)
New state hemp regulations are causing local businesses in New Bedford to take products off the shelf. (Standard Times)
EDUCATION
Teachers Jamil Siddiqui and Takeru Nagayoshi say the inconsistency in how colleges treat advanced placement results needs to be corrected. (CommonWealth)
Mary Walsh, director of the Center for Optimized Student Support, says coordinating services for students can pay a huge dividend. (CommonWealth)
The Lowell Sun examines some similarities between the $256 million Somerville High School rebuild and the $343 million Lowell High project, both undertaken by Suffolk Construction.
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Deep poverty increases the risk of child welfare system involvement, say Susan Elsen of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and social worker Rebekah Gewirtz. (CommonWealth)
TRANSPORTATION
Bus drivers on Martha’s Vineyard have ended their nearly month-long strike with approval of a contract that includes pay raises, extra holiday pay and other benefits. (Associated Press)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Robert Jay Lifton and Naomi Oreskes denounce the false promise of nuclear power. (Boston Globe)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
Christopher McCallum was found bleeding and unconscious outside the Robert I. Nickerson American Legion Post in Quincy six months ago. Dozens of witnesses later, there are still few answers about what led to his death and no arrests. (Patriot Ledger)
There are about 100 active gangs in Boston, 30 that are “actively driving violence,” and about 2,800 active gang members, according to an analysis of the Boston Police Department’s gang database generated in response to a lawsuit. (WBUR)
Lawrence District Court Judge Mark Sullivan barred the media from covering the hospital-bed arraignment of Giovanni Lebron, accused of killing Nicole Connor, and the court erroneously failed to audio-record the proceeding. (Salem News)
MEDIA
Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins admitted she was “not accurate” in her rebuttal to press coverage about some of the cases her office has handled. (Boston Globe)
Mass Media, the student newspaper at UMass Boston, is being challenged in court in a high-stakes case that could have broad ramifications for the press. (Boston Globe)