Five Things you should know today, July 18, 2012

by: Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno

Wed Jul 18, 2012 at 06:24:30 AM EDT

A drunk driver, a rumored target of a federal investigation, and a guy from Ashland walk into a bar?  Nope that's not a joke, that's the headliners for a fundraiser for Education Committee Chair, Tom Sannicandro (D-Ashland).  The probability of the House being in recess from 5:30 to about 6:00 is very high today.  That's the time of Sannicandro's "time" with Ways and Means Chair Brian Dempsey of Haverhill, and House Speaker Bob DeLeo.  Sannicandro describes his opponent Jon Fetherston as running a "spirited race", according to the State House News Service.*

2. House is in Session
The House is in full session. Many bills are expected out of committee.  Including possibly the Health Cost Control Bill.  Remember that 26 Republican Representatives voted for price controls in health care.  Josh Archambault, of the Pioneer Institute, tells us why this is so very bad, in a blog post.  Please remember to contact the following 26 Republican Legislators and tell them to vote against the conference committee bill, the GOP should not be voting for price controls on anything:

Brad Jones - 617-722-2100 - Bradley.Jones@mahouse.gov
George Peterson - 617-722-2100 - george.peterson@mahouse.gov
Brad Hill - 617-722-2100 - Brad.Hill@mahouse.gov
Betty Poirier - 617-722-2100 - Elizabeth.Poirier@mahouse.gov
Fred "Jay" Barrows - 617-722-2488 - F.JayBarrows@mahouse.gov
Matt Beaton - 617-722-2230 - Matthew.Beaton@mahouse.gov
Nick Boldyga - 617-722-2810 - Nicholas.Boldyga@mahouse.gov
Vinny deMacedo - 617-722-2100 - Vinny.deMacedo@mahouse.gov
Angelo D'Emilia - 617-722-2582 - Angelo.D'Emilia@mahouse.gov
Geoff Diehl - 617-722-2810 - Geoff.Diehl@mahouse.gov
Peter Durant - 617-722-2060 - Peter.Durant@mahouse.gov
Kim Ferguson - 617-722-2263 - Kimberly.Ferguson
Paul Frost - 617-722-2489 - PaulFrost@mahouse.gov
Susan Gifford - 617-722-2976 - Susan.Gifford@mahouse.gov
Sheila Harrington - 617-722-2600 - Sheila.Harrington@mahouse.gov
Steven Howitt - 617-722-2305 - Steven.Howitt@massgop.com
Don Humason - 617-722-2803 - Donald.Humason@mahouse.gov
Randy Hunt - 617-722-2396 - Randy.Hunt@mahouse.gov
Shaunna O'Connell - 617-722-2305 - Shaunna O'Connell
Keiko Orrall - 617-722-2430 - Keiko.Orrall@mahouse.gov
George Ross - 617-722-2130 - George.Ross@mahouse.gov
Todd Smola - 617-722-2240 - Todd.Smola@mahouse.gov
David Viera - 617-722-2810 - David.Viera@mahouse.gov
Dan Webster - 617-722-2487 - Daniel.Webster@mahouse.gov
Dan Winslow - 617-722-2060 - Daniel.Winslow@mahouse.gov
Donald Wong - 617-722-2488 - Donald.Wong@mahouse.gov

You may remember that, on Monday, Deval Patrick told the Boston Herald if they wanted an accounting of who uses the people's garages they should just set up a camera.  Well the good folks at the Herald took his advice, and well they ran afoul of law enforcement. Hillary Chabot has the story:

When Gov. Deval Patrick invited the Herald to film top state officials arriving for work - rather than release parking records he insists the public is "not entitled to" - apparently the state police didn't get the memo.

And it didn't seem to matter that the Herald helpfully printed Patrick's words all across the front page. When a Herald team showed up at the State House parking garage yesterday morning to film lawmakers arriving for work, the statie in charge there got all ... statie about it.

"You're putting me in a very awkward situation," Lt. Paul Maloney said with a sigh, after asking the reporter and videographer to leave the garage.

Hah!

4. Senate grand jury day?

The Senate is not in session today.  Rumors have been flying on Beacon Hill because Wednesday seems to be the day set aside for Senators to testify before a Worcester Grand Jury.  Does anybody have a camera and want to camp out in Worcester to see?

5. Is Speaker DeLeo getting any sleep?

The Boston Herald is also reporting that the Feds are turning on the after-burners in their hunt for corruption in Massachusetts.

"This is certainly an indication that the feds are not letting up," said one Democratic legislator, speaking on condition of anonymity about the highly sensitive subject. "They're moving forward aggressively. This isn't over by a long shot, and there's more to come."

"I would assume it's making everybody nervous," said another Democratic lawmaker. "Especially these two guys so high up in the hierarchy, it can't help but make everybody nervous. ... Who knows where it's gonna lead?"

Who knows indeed...  August the First is coming...

*(Full disclosure: I design and print materials for Jon Fetherston)