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Erin Murphy to stay a Boston city councilor
By adamg on Tue, 09/03/2024 - 11:08pm
Lisa Kashinsky reports Democratic voters in Suffolk County have picked Allison Cartwright, who has actual legal and managerial experience, as the next Suffolk County clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court.
Results posted by the Boston Election Department show Cartwright won the city by a roughly 60-40 margin.
Voters can now go back to not knowing or caring about the position, either for November, since there's no Republican candidate, or for as long as Cartwright chooses to keep the job - she will replace Maura Doyle, retiring after 30 years from the job.
Cartwright defeated at-large Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy, who was an elementary school teacher before winning election as an at-large city councilor, a job she will hold at least until the fall, 2025 elections.
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Comments
Always remember the street sweepers
I'm glad this position won't go as a sinecure to a toady who once wanted to declare a "public health crisis" over street sweepers "spreading diseases" from the Mass and Cass corridor onto our fair City Upon a Hill. They say your portfolio is only as good as your worst work, and in my mind at least there was never any coming back from that ignominious incident.
Thankfully
It was disconcerting that a qualified lawyer could lose to a well known politician who clearly lacked the qualifications and was just looking for an easy paycheck. Glad people made the right call.
There was an interview in the Globe with a guy who proudly boosted he votes in every election as his civic duty but since he didn't have time to research the candidates he was voting for Murphy since she, "was an established politician" (paraphrasing). Yuck. If you don't do a little research on the candidates beyond yard signs and endorsements, just don't vote. Civic duty is more then just filling in the bubble.
‘Qualified’
Will someone please list the daily duties of Suffolk County Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court?
Also if someone educated enough, as I certainly am not, can rate the necessity of this ($170,000?) position on a scale of 1 (being
not at all necessary) to 10 (absolutely necessary for the Supreme Judicial Court to function daily).
).
Here's the official definition
In English, that means the clerk oversees emergency matters filed with the SJC, which initially are reviewed by a single justice, she oversees hearings before the SJC involving lawyers accused of doing bad things and she oversees the procedures for admitting new lawyers in Massachusetts and ongoing ethics and other regulations for lawyers in the state.
So
It's a job that 50 years ago would have been done by someone with a high school diploma.
Probably not?
Most clerkships are done by recent law school graduates.
It ain't ova yet
In November I'm writing in Elvira Pixie Palladino
The late Pixie Palladino
She was an out and proud racist.
Funny historical reference but...
...nobody under 55-60 will get it.
Always vote; just blank the ballot
Always vote even if you have no clue who is running for anything.
Just submit a blank ballot. It pushes up the participation rate and does no mischief.
While I'm at it: Never vote for an unopposed candidate; they don't need your vote and it doesn't encourage the one party state.
unopposed candidates
I vote for unopposed candidates if I actively like them/approve of their policies. For the most recent primary, that meant I marked the bubbles for my Congresswoman and state senator, but not the one for my "representative in general court." I've lived in his district for a couple of years, and can't think of anything he's done, good or bad
What I won't do is vote for someone based on no meaningful information about either the candidate or their opponents. Voting against a candidate makes sense, if there's a significant reason for me to oppose them, including policy, experience, or being endorsed by someone who I disagree with or distrust. Bad reasons would be things like having the same first name as someone I don't like, or playing guitar badly, since we're not electing people for a neighborhood band.
we should all be advocating
we should all be advocating for the elimination of this elected office.
Elimination of the election, not the office
The job is necessary - this week we also had someone appointed to this position. What needs to be eliminated is having an election for a job that should be given based on qualifications.
You could make the same
You could make the same argument regarding every other elected position.
Just the technocratic ones
Those positions that involve actually representing people and debating the issues/making laws (read: General Court, Senate, and Governors Council (though this one could probably be eliminated with its duties folded into the Senate, tbh)) should absolutely be subject to the will of the voters. Similarly, I'm fine with cabinet level officerships like Secretary of the Commonwealth and Attorney General being elected, though, tbh, I'd also be okay with making it Governor appointed and Governor's Council/Senate approved.
Those positions that (ideally) only involve rote implementation of law/policy/bureaucracy should absolutely NOT be elected. Bringing politics into it can only possibly hurt the outcome. It's actually not bad here compared to lots of other states where they vote for all kinds of things that shouldn't be put to a public vote, like judges and "coroners."
Positions we currently elect that should be appointed/hired instead:
Register of Probate
Register of Deeds
Clerk of Courts
Surprising
This is surprising. Murphy if nothing else is a relentless self promoter. She never ever misses a photo opp or a community event. Her name recognition has to be among the highest in Boston politics. Cartwright has almost no name recognition.
The progressive endorsements obviously worked for Cartwright, but Murphy had what I thought would be impactful endorsements from conservatives and "moderates". Maybe the Lynch/Collins/Fitzgerald crowd just got back from the Cape Monday night and were too tired to vote.
The best thing is that Nee-Walsh won't be taking a seat on the Council. Murphy is right of center but Nee-Walsh is a right wing extremist.
Right-wing extremist?
Any receipts on that claim?
Sure. Here you go.
"Black Lives Matter set back race relations 50 years"
https://www.universalhub.com/2023/city-council-candidate-claims-black-li...
That established Nee-Walsh as a racist
and I didn't vote for her due to that comment. But I was considering her prior to that incident because her policies did seem generally more progressive than those of some other choices (ie Murphy).
She has been dead to me since she came out against the road diet
https://twitter.com/ErinforBoston/status/1667145969538932736
This is what happens when you
This is what happens when you send all your constituent service requests to the 311 poop hole. The voters remember.