ENDORSEMENT: Frank Crimmins for Governor’s Council

Frank Crimmins for Governor's Council District 2*

The race for Governor’s Council gets little attention, understandably so, given how many other things are are clamoring for our attention. However, the Governor’s Council, an odd, Massachusetts-only holdover from colonial times, matters. It is the primary avenue by which the public has representation in approving judicial nominees.

With some of the interesting characters that appear from time to time in charge of courtrooms in Massachusetts, this is very important. It matters in the abstract and it matters if you ever end up with a civil or criminal matter to deal with. Judges and Clerk Magistrates wield enormous power once they are appointed. Those appointed must be the best available for the job.

The members of the Governor’s Council are supposed to look closely and think deeply about nominees, but with so little attention given to this by the electorate, those on the Governor’s Council are often, it would seem, little more than rubber-stamp extensions of dominant political players in the state – cooperating in doling out judicial appointments as perqs to insider’s who have dutifully played their role in state politics.

This due diligence, and not (as some would suggest) making end-runs around established law, is the job of a Governor’s Councilor.

For this, Frank Crimmins, an independent-minded candidate from Stoughton, is just right. Crimmins has held positions in the judiciary and has also practiced law for many years. His record is good, relevant, and further supplemented by exactly the kind of disposition needed to be effective on the Council, which has often devolved into pointless and unproductive bickering in recent years.

Crimmins knows what’s right and what needs to be done but can deliver that with a smile, and a warm sense of humor calculated to bring a dysfunctional body full of big egos into real readiness for relevance. He is a voice of one, but one likely to help generate a consensus on difficult matters. No matter the governor or the party in charge, Frank will be the grownup in the room, making hard choices and making the right choices on matters that impact vulnerable individuals and the quality of life for all of us in the Commonwealth.

He deserves a chance to make an impact on the Governor’s Council, to bring it into a new era of light and reform. We hope voters will give him that opportunity.

*District 2 includes: Ashland, Attleboro, Avon, Bellingham, Braintree (Pct. 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 4A, 5A, 5B, 6B), Bridgewater, Brockton, Canton, Dover, East Bridgewater, Easton, Foxborough, Framingham, Halifax, Hanson, Holliston, Hopkinton, Mansfield, Medfield, Medway, Milford, Millis, Milton, Natick, Needham, Norfolk, North Attleborough, Norton, Plainville, Randolph, Sharon, Sherborn, Stoughton, West Bridgewater, Whitman, Wrentham