Fresh off what many perceived as a convincing debate performance, JD Vance was scheduled to make a Massachusetts funding-raising swing this weekend.
Taking a cue from the plethora of politicians who have sought to tap the Bay State’s wealthy donor base this year, Vance was scheduled to participate in a luncheon event in Gloucester today hosted by Michael and Renee Minogue.
Suggested donations are hefty, with the top slot of “host” costing $100,000 per couple. Though for a meager $5,000, someone could have purchased an “attendee” slot. Want a photo opportunity? That cost $15,000, according to an invitation reviewed by the Herald.
Michael Minogue is the president and CEO of Minogue Consulting and Heartwork Capital, two Hamilton-based businesses. Heartwork Capital is a private equity fund “focused on companies advancing innovative technologies and healthcare accessibility,” according to its website.
Michael Minogue has given money this year to John Deaton, the longshot Republican running to unseat U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Republican National Committee, America Great PAC, and U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Texas conservative, according to federal campaign finance filings.
Renee Minogue donated $100,000 in April to former President Donald Trump’s campaign as well as two separate $40,000-plus donations in April to the Republican National Committee, according to federal filings.
Republican National Committeewoman Janet Fogarty and Bob and Laura Reynolds are also leading the event. – Chris Van Buskirk
Libertarians love Hub
The management of deeply blue Boston got kudos from an unlikely source: a prominent libertarian.
“The city of Boston — just walking around it — it’s great,” Peter Suderman, an editor at the premier libertarian magazine Reason, said in the Sept. 30 episode of The Reason Roundtable, a podcast featuring senior editors at the publication, after being directly asked if there was a single major city he could point to that has been managed well in recent years.
“It doesn’t feel sort of like, ‘What the hell happened here’ in the way that Washington D.C. often feels these days, in the way that New York has sometimes felt in the years after the pandemic,” he said, adding other cities like San Francisco and Seattle to those he feels have become “real messes.”
“And it’s not a red city, it’s not a libertarian city. There’s a bunch of stuff here all of us would disagree with,” he said. “But Boston does a better job post-pandemic than any other city I’ve been in.”
He highlighted Boston’s “incredibly low” murder rate in recent years.
As of Sept. 29, which is the most recent date statistics have been released, there have been 16 homicides in the city, down from 29 during the same time last year and the five-year average of 38. There were 37 homicides last year.
In contrast, of the cities Suderman mentioned, New York City reports 275 murders so far this year, compared to 311 during the same time frame the year before; Washington D.C. reports 144 homicides so far this year compared to 215; San Francisco reports 24 homicides so far this year compared to 40; Seattle reports 39 homicides so far this year compared to 44. – Flint McColgan
Baker back in Bay State
Former Gov. Charlie Baker, now president of the NCAA, is still dipping his toes into Bay State politics. (No, he’s not challenging Gov. Maura Healey, that we know of.)
Baker received the Brigadier General Enoch “Woody” Woodhouse II Leadership Award this week for his “unwavering dedication to veterans.” Woodhouse, 96, one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, thanked Baker for helping make a mural at Logan Airport’s Terminal C honoring the Tuskegee heroes a reality. “Governor, friend,” he said, “you still have potential.”
Baker was the first recipient of the award from the Hanscom Federal Credit Union Charitable Foundation. The ceremony was held at the Blue Hill Country Club in Canton. – Joe Dwinell
