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Mass. Dems Prepare To Visit Springfield, Sans Mayor Sarno

Springfield, Massachusetts, Mayor Domenic Sarno in a file photo. Behind him stands Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood.
Adam Frenier
/
NEPR

Massachusetts Democrats are gathering in Springfield on Saturday for their annual convention. And there's at least one Democrat who was not invited to speak. 

That's Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, who was a visible supporter of Republican Governor Charlie Baker.

Sarno has said Baker's been helpful to Springfield on issues like education and economic development. And the mayor was unconcerned last year that his endorsement of the incumbent governor could lead to political problems. Massachusetts Democrats voted early this year not to invite Sarno to speak at this week's convention.

Katie Lannan of State House News Service joined us to talk through what to expect.

Carrie Healy, NEPR: Who will be addressing convention delegates?

Katie Lannan, State House News Service: This is actually going to be an interesting speaking portion at this year's convention. The delegates will be hearing from Senator Elizabeth Warren in the midst of her presidential campaign. She'll be, of course, addressing them in the context of her role as a senator.

And some of the other candidates for the other Senate seat, the one currently held by Ed Markey, will be addressing the convention as well, which typically isn't done in an election year.

But with Congressman Joe Kennedy still weighing potential entry into that race, there's a lot of eyes on it this year. And the party has decided to open up and let all candidates — there's two other Democrats who have declared themselves as primary challengers to Ed Markey, Steve Pemberton, and Shannon Liss-Riordan, and they have been invited to speak this year.

The state party chairman, Gus Bickford, acknowledged that inviting the Senate candidates to speak was unusual for this being a off-year convention. But he called that Senate race "a little exciting." Was Markey annoyed at the high-profile platform the party handed his challengers?

If he was annoyed, he's playing those cards close to the vest.

His campaign director issued a statement saying that the senator welcomes the participation of Steve Pemberton and Shannon Liss-Riordan at the convention. And, of course, didn't mention Joe Kennedy, who's not technically a challenger yet, though he's been suggesting it.

Kennedy won't be giving a speech. He's got some constituent office hours in his district, but he'll be participating in a breakout session panel on race in politics later on in the convention.

Former state Senator Stan Rosenberg's husband, Bryon Hefner, has a trial scheduled for this week. Can you catch us up with Hefner since the allegations of sexual misconduct came to light back in November of 2017?

That's a trial that lawyers involved are expecting to run from three to five days, and that'll be three to five days in the courtroom after jury selection.

The judge in the case has said because this is such a high publicity case — it dominated political headlines for for much of last year, led to the resignation of Stan Rosenberg, and really a period of extended turmoil in the Senate and the state House at large — because of that high publicity, she expects jury selection to take some time, and that is if the trial goes forward.

There has been some reporting that there might be a change of plea. He has pleaded not guilty, but could be changing that. And that's something we are hoping to find out on Tuesday, the next pre-trial appearance. And that'll be the day before proceedings are formally set to begin on Wednesday.

Let's talk a little bit about legislation. Lawmakers are considering a version of the gender X bill for gender neutral designations on state IDs. Does that have enough support?

It'll be interesting to see. That's a bill a version of which has already passed the state Senate, and passed it almost unanimously.

This is a different bill that's up for a committee hearing this week. It's a House version of the bill filed by Representative Mindy Domb of Amherst. And it would allow non-binary gender designations on state ID forms.

We really haven't seen a bill like this voted on in the House. It was set to come up last summer, and there were some delays there that kept it from reaching the floor. And it's really still a question what the support for this measure would be in the House. We'll be looking to the hearing to see who comes out, and what they have to say about it.

Keep up here with Beacon Hill In 5.

Carrie Healy hosts the local broadcast of "Morning Edition" at NEPM. She also hosts the station’s weekly government and politics segment “Beacon Hill In 5” for broadcast radio and podcast syndication.
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