State Rep. Subject of National Immigration Controversy

By Matt Murphy, State House News Service

BOSTON - When will it be safe to go outside again?

There are plenty of good reasons to stay inside and lock the front door, and a late-spring snowstorm is not the worst excuse to pull the blinds and wait for warmer days.

But Rep. Michelle DuBois was not worried about her constituents driving on unsafe roads this week when she suggested they might want to hunker down in their living rooms and wait for the ICE storm to pass.

DuBois, a Brockton Democrat, caused an uproar when she used Facebook to alert her community to a possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid targeting undocumented immigrants. The internet siren came a day after Attorney General Jeff Sessions said cities would have to prove their compliance with immigration requests to qualify for Justice Department grants and funding opportunities.

The second-term lawmaker acknowledged that the raids were just a rumor at the time, and there's no evidence to suggest it happened. But DuBois thought the public deserved to be aware anyhow.

"Please be careful on Wednesday 29. ICE will be in Brockton on that day. If you are undocumented don't go out on the street. If there is a knock on the door of your house and you don't know who it is, don't open the door," she posted, quoting information she said she received from a "friend in the Latin community."

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That such a step taken by an elected official, who is sworn to uphold the law, would turn a few heads is to be expected. But Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson poured gas on the fire when he mentioned the Faecbook post in testimony to Congress, during which he also said elected officials in so-called "santctuary cities" that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration police should be arrested.

Hodgson is no stranger to controversy or media attention, but in many respects this was a coming out party for DuBois and it didn't take long before her story was the talk of Fox News.

DuBois aplogized for nothing and said she'd do it again if given the chance, suggesting she may have actually done ICE a favor by telling them, if they were planning a raid, that the word was already on the street.

That argument, however, didn't wash with Hodgson who told Congress she had undermined law enforcement and called on DuBois to step down from office.

DuBois may not be going anywhere anytime soon, but with April around the corner, it seemed to be decision time for legislators seriously thinking about going a little more local.

Over the weekend, Rep. Paul Heroux announced plans to jump into the race for Attleboro mayor, planning to challenge one of the few Republican mayors in the state this fall. Heroux came out of the gate throwing bombs at Mayor Kevin Dumas, while Sen. Thomas McGee took a different tone as he lauched his own campaign.

McGee, the long-time Transportation Committee chairman, also pulled papers to challenge the incumbent mayor in his hometown Lynn on Monday, but at least at the outset McGee did not directly jab at Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, instead talking up his own "vision, skills and experience" for the city.

Running for mayor does not preclude either man, or anyone else considering a run for mayor this cycle, from seeking re-election if they lose in 2018, which is shaping up to be a blockbuster of an election year.

Already, Massachusetts voters can look forward to a U.S. Senate race and a gubernatorial contest, and it would be shocking if a constitutional amendment to impose a 4 percent surtax on income over $1 million doesn't make the ballot.

Now the Retailers Association of Massachusetts is floating the idea of putting a sales tax rate reduction before voters.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo said lowering the sales tax rate would put the state in a "precarious financial situation," but Gov. Charlie Baker did not dismiss the idea. Baker has in the past supported lowering the 6.25 percent tax on purchases to 5 percent, but he opposed a 3 percent rate.

That makes RAM's decision on how steep a sales tax cut to pursue, should they pursue it at all, even more interesting.

As MassINC Polling Group President Steve Koczela noted, a large enough reduction in the sales tax could wipe out any revenue gains that public officials are already spending in their minds from the "millionaire's tax."

Offsetting tax questions could complicate the governor's race with Democrat Jay Gonzalez now promising to use the revenue from the income surtax to pay for his plan to expand eligibility and state subsidies for families to access early education for children from birth to age 5.

In the hypothetical match-up of Gov. Charlie Baker versus Gonzalez, early education has emerged as an early issue framing the contest.

Baker this week jumped ahead of DeLeo, who has talked about improving early educator salaries with his budget next month, by announcing a 6 percent increase in rates paid by the state.

Baker, one would assume, will also be eager during a campaign to talk about the work that his administration has done to combat the opioid abuse crisis, assuming some of the policies pursued by him and the Legislature start to drive down overdoses by then.

This could be one arena in which Baker will be willing to bring up President Donald Trump, who the governor agreed to help this week as a member of the president's new commission to fight drug addiction. Baker was asked to join the bipartisan task force by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who will lead the White House effort.

Baker also helped launch a new non-profit this week that plans to raise $50 million over the next three years to support efforts to fight opioid addiction and substance abuse. The board consists of some of the Boston area's most prominent corporate citizens, including General Electric, Partners Healthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

While Baker found a way to work with the new administration this week, Attorney General Maura Healey trained her sights elsewhere for the week.

Healey announced two major $20-million-plus settlements, first with Santander for its deceptive subprime auto loan business, and then with Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche for selling illegally polluting cars and SUVs.

AP Photo/Michael Dwyer