Dems Lock Up Guv. Council, Healey Appoint 2 Insiders to Judgeships

The Governor's Council, the elected panel that vets and confirms new judges in Massachusetts got two new members in Tuesday's election, and will apparently remain entirely in Democrat hands heading into 2025.

New Judges to Approve

With exquisite timing, Governor Healey on Wednesday, announced her appointment of her own deputy legal counsel, Adam Hornstine, for a judgeship, along with Sarah Kim, who works as general counsel to Treasurer Deborah Goldberg. The governor also nominated Ira Grant, a forensic services director at the Committee for Public Counsel Services.

Hornstine, a Harvard Law graduate, followed Healey to the corner office from the attorney general's office, where he was managing attorney in the Constitutional and Administrative Law Division. He also worked at WilmerHale, a firm where Healey previously practiced.

Kim has been Goldberg's general counsel in the Treasury since 2015, with a short gap in the middle of 2022 when she was the Cannabis Control Commission's interim chair. A Villanova Law graduate, she worked from 2014 to 2015 in the Fraud and Financial Crimes Division of the Attorney General's Office.

Grant, a Northeastern Law alumnus, has been with CPCS since 2009, first as an intern, then a trial attorney, staff counsel, and now as forensic services director overseeing forensic litigation support.

At the same time, Governor Healey recommended six individuals to receive pardons. A matter also subject to review by the Governor's Council.

New Governor's Council Member are Non Lawyers

Probation officer Tamisha Civil (D-Stoughton) declared victory Wednesday morning in District 2 over retired judge and town administrator Francis Crimmins (R-Stoughton). The AP called the race for Civil in the early hours of the morning, and as of 10:30 a.m. she held a sizeable 58,000-vote lead with 85 percent of precincts reporting.

Crimmins, who aimed to offer voters "independence" as what would have been the only Republican on the Council had he won, said that he did well in much of District 2 but was `crushed' in Brockton, the largest municipality in the district, and also in Framingham and Natick.

Civil Issues Statement

"I am thankful to every voter and proud to serve the people from day one. Despite the results of our Presidential Election, Massachusetts voters have made it clear that they support a judicial system centered on democratic values, protecting reproductive rights, and criminal justice reform. I promise to stand up to injustice and fight every day to protect the freedoms of everyone in our Commonwealth," Civil said on Facebook.

The district spans from Framingham to Attleboro and Bridgewater, and Civil will be the first councilor from there since Robert Jubinville, after defeating Franklin candidate, Dashe Videira, departed at the beginning of 2023 to take a higher-paying courthouse post.

Former city councilor Eunice Zeigler (D-Methuen) was leading her opponent, Anne Manning-Martin (R-Peabody), by close to 18,000 votes on Wednesday morning with 72 percent of precincts reporting. The AP had not yet called the race, but Manning-Martin took to Facebook to say she believed she had lost the District 5 race in the Merrimack Valley and parts of the North Shore.

Civil holds a master's in criminal justice and leadership from Northeastern University, and Zeigler holds a master's in economic and social development of regions from UMass Lowell.