Keller on hoping for failure

Keller at Large

It wasn’t quite a Kinsley gaffe, the political blunder that journalist Michael Kinsley once observed happens when “a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.”

But it was a telling moment last week when House budget chief Aaron Michlewitz, in an effort to plaster a happy “this is fine” face on the five-alarm fire spreading across the Massachusetts economy, told a Joint Ways and Means Committee hearing that decent recent revenue numbers show the economy is holding up well “while some folks are almost wishing us into some type of recession for political gain.”

That was most likely a reference to the three Republican gubernatorial candidates lobbing spitball at the Healey administration along with the Trump squad in Washington doing their best to undercut our economic pillars. But who’s he kidding? Michlewitz is a born-and-bred Bostonian, and thus a product of a political culture where hoping for your enemy’s failure is a given.

Does he root for the Trump administration’s policies to prove a smashing success? When the Yankees eliminate Boston from the postseason, do Red Sox fans hope for them to go all the way?

In politics, one person’s failure is another’s opportunity. The perception that Joe Biden had overspent the economy into an inflationary spiral opened the door for Trump 2, not exactly a clinic in wise economic management so far. No wonder the GOP hopefuls are hammering away at the blame game, typified by a Brian Shortsleeve post last week reacting to Healey’s fingerpointing at Trump during that Ways and Means hearing. “Massachusetts didn’t fall to the bottom in private-sector job growth because of Washington, we’re bleeding jobs because Maura Healey policies make it harder to do business here,” he wrote.

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CORRECTION: An item in Friday’s “Political Intel” section noted Gus Robinson was doing some work for the Massachusetts Democratic Party. His father is developer Mark Robinson, a former Kevin White aide, and not former Weld chief of staff who carries the same name.

HAPPENING TODAY

10:00 | U.S. Reps. Jim McGovern and Lori Trahan visit Growing Places, an organization that runs farms and markets to connect people to local produce, for the fourth stop of McGovern’s End Hunger Now tour. | 62 Waterford St., Gardner

10:30 | The state Lottery Commission meets. Treasurer Deb Goldberg chairs the meeting. | For access contact (781) 917-6057 or email gpolin@masslottery.com

1:00 | Gov. Maura Healey, who is swinging through Holyoke and North Adams for her reelection campaign in the morning, heads to Pittsfield in the afternoon to announce awards from the Commercial Conversion Tax Credit Initiative and the Affordable Housing Development grant program. She’ll be joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Housing Secretary Ed Augustus, Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti. | 24 North Street, Pittsfield

7:00 | Foxborough Select Board meets and reviews the FIFA World Cup 2026 entertainment license. The board has threatened to withhold a license unless the town receives its upfront funding request of $7.8 million. | Town Hall, 40 South St., Foxborough | More Info

FROM BEACON HILL

ENROLLMENT FALLS: The state’s insurance exchange said enrollment has fallen 7% after federal changes caused premiums to spike and Congress didn’t support subsidies. More than 352,000 people currently have Health Connector coverage. – WBUR

HEALEY VS. AYOTTE: Gov. Maura Healey has publicly called for New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte to oppose Department of Homeland Security plans to open a new ICE detention facility 11 miles from the state border. – Eagle-Tribune

NEWS NEXT DOOR

MORE LAYOFFS: A packaging company is closing two Gardner facilities, leading to the elimination of 91 jobs, while Baystate Health is cutting more than 100 jobs and shutting down a Holyoke warehouse. – Boston Business Journal and Western Mass News

SPRINGFIELD DRAMA: Springfield City Council President Tracye Whitfield, facing calls to resign her post, said she declines, but plans to step away from her job as managing agent of a company that’s led to ethics complaints and accusations against her. – MassLive

SUPER DELEGATE FIGHT: The GOP candidates for governor have moved on from fighting about Twitter polls to a dispute over whether one of them, Michael Minogue, “bought” super delegates as they all prep for MassGOP state convention in April. – Boston Herald

COLLEGE CLOSURE: Laboure College will be acquired by neighboring Curry College, in a merger that will create one of the region’s largest nursing schools. – MassLive