GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue says his campaign currently has more cash on hand than Democratic Gov. Maura Healey and her reelection campaign.

As of Jan. 31, Minogue’s campaign reports his election committee has raised and contributed an overall total of $8,538,804 since announcing his candidacy in October. The billionaire and former pharmaceuticals executive says he also is currently holding $5,633,389 in cash on hand, outmatching Gov. Maura Healey by nearly one million dollars.

As of Saturday, the Healey Committee is reporting $4,712,738 in cash on hand. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll is reporting $1,744,959 in cash on hand.

In a press release, Minogue’s campaign says it raised and contributed $2,319,471 in January alone.

“Massachusetts voters are tired of being ignored while costs rise and government refuses to account for how their money is spent. This support shows voters want a new kind of governor who will deliver real accountability, make life more affordable, create opportunity, and keep our communities safe,” Minogue said in a press release.

Rounding out the remaining Republican candidates, Mike Kennealy finished January with $1,567,652 in cash on hand and Brian Shortsleeve reported $686,351.

‘ICE’d out’

A rally in Boston set for Sunday led by a group of fifth grade students has been cancelled due to the bitter cold and snowstorm hitting New England over the weekend.

According to a press release from the Boston Workers Circle, a nonprofit arts and education center supporting Jewish children, the Solidarity Protest for Immigrant Justice has been cancelled as the city is forecast to receive up to eight inches of snowfall as temperatures are expected in the single-digits with wind chills ranging as low as 10-to-30 degrees below zero.

Fifth-grade students were scheduled to join members of the activist group Neighbors United for a Better East Boston (NUBE) for a protest outside the State House on Sunday afternoon to “call on court officials and police officers to end their complicity with ICE operations in and around Massachusetts courthouses.”

The organizations are specifically calling on Chief Justices Kimberly Budd and Heidi Brieger, along with the Massachusetts Legislature, to pass legislation banning ICE courthouse arrests, mandate virtual access to all Massachusetts courts and to stop court and law enforcement cooperation with ICE, among other things.

“In Massachusetts, attending required court appointments has become a pipeline to ICE detention. These practices have led to the perception that court appearances are being used as a ‘deportation trap,’ making it less likely for immigrants to seek help or participate in any kind of legal process,” Boston Workers Circle said in a press release. “ICE’s targeting of individuals in state courts for interrogation and arrest based on perceived immigration status, race, or national origin undermines the basic principle that all individuals be treated equally under the law.”

The organizations had been planning to join students in anti-ICE songs and chants while the fifth-graders share “their belief in immigrant justice from their own experiences and perspectives.”

Pols & Politics logo (Boston Herald)