It's good to be Steve Murphy

Please direct yourself to John Keith's twitter feed. Ever since the man with the SJM 1 license plate took over the Suffolk Registry of Deeds spelling of Grantors, Grantees, Streets and other information on the web page have gotten to a Daniel Boone / Andrew Jackson level of a'learning.

Mr. Keith is adept at pointing out the slacking of basic skills by the Good Ol' Steve's corps at the Brooke Courthouse.

If I had any power on this, I would almost consider granting him the pay raise in exchange for removing his face from the home page of the registry of deeds website. Every time I go there, I am painfully reminded of how much of our tax money is wasted on some (but certainly not all) public employees...

Registry of Deeds Division, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/rod/rodidx.htm

Suffolk County Registry of Deeds
http://www.suffolkdeeds.com/

Hello.

How disheartening to hear this news.

When I was running for this office I considered stating, "I won't take a salary, at all, for the first year," but that didn't go over well with my husband, so I changed it to, "I won't take more than the median household income for Boston," which is around $53,000, the point being that I wanted to show I was taking the job for what it was, and not for the salary. (The remainder, after taxes, going to the charities of my choice, which would reduce my taxes, I guess, but also allow me to look like an all around good guy.)

It wouldn't have made a difference in the scheme of things (since I lost by a margin of 8-to-1 or something) and didn't seem to make a difference to many voters, so I didn't go with it. There wasn't a lot of media coverage of the race, and people who did care about the race were focused on the experience of the candidates, not their salaries.

Regarding this, while Steve is the first beneficiary of the raise, I don't want anyone to think he arranged it, or that there was anything nefarious about it. The law existed before him, and would be available to any Suffolk County Register (Registrar) - good news for Katie Forde when she runs and beats Steve, in 22 months. (I'm not running.)

I did a lot of research on the role of Register of Deeds and its history. In case you didn't know, the Suffolk County Register existed even before Suffolk County existed! It was created as an office in 1641, two years before Suffolk County was founded.

For the first eighty years, it was an appointed position, by the townspeople (men); around 1720 - 1725, a couple laws were passed that made it an elected position, which it's been every since. (Remember, I proposed turning it back into an appointed position, which some people liked but others didn't, worried that I was recommending myself for a position for life, which I wasn't.)

Originally, the position was a part of the county court system and that's why the pay was tied to that of an associate justice of the Superior Court. - 75%, I guess (I don't remember the specifics but if pressed, I'll find it for you. It's deep in the Mass laws.)

Do I think the Register position is worth $142,000? Well, no, but it is what it is. If you're going to argue it's not worth it, then the discussion should be broader - should county Registers exist at all or should they be streamlined into a couple positions, with county offices remaining open but decision making (and legal responsibilities) turned over to one person?

That's what I believe should happen but if you think the same, feel free to spend the remaining years of your life getting the state legislature to agree.