Former MassGOP Chair Nominated for Judicial Post
By Michael P. Norton
State House News Service
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 6, 2019….Gov. Charlie Baker has nominated former MassGOP chair and Quincy City Council member Kirsten Hughes as clerk magistrate of Stoughton District Court.
Hughes graduated from New York University in 2003 and from New England School of Law in 2008. Since January, she has been working as general counsel and special sheriff in the office of Norfolk County Sheriff Jerry McDermott, who was appointed to his post by Baker.
While serving as Massachusetts Republican Party chairwoman from January 2012 to January 2019, Hughes also worked as an attorney at Palmucci Law. According to her resume on her website, she represented indigent clients on behalf of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and also represented private clients in court matters.
Hughes was part of Scott Brown’s rollercoaster ride through Massachusetts politics, serving as his Senate campaign’s deputy finance director from late 2010 through late 2012. Brown won election to the U.S. Senate in 2010 and lost his seat to Elizabeth Warren in 2012.
From 2004 until 2009, Hughes worked at White & Case in New York City, as a law clerk in the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in Washington D.C., in the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, as a law clerk in Quincy’s Office of Solicitor, and as a legal analyst at Robert Half Legal in 2009.
Hughes will eventually appear before an all-Democrat Governor’s Council. Jennie Caissie of Oxford was the lone Republican on the council this term, but she resigned after Baker nominated her for clerk magistrate of Dudley District Court and her colleagues confirmed her nomination.
Baker’s nomination of Taunton Mayor Thomas Hoye as Register of Probate in Bristol County this year opened up a job opportunity for another top Republican. On Tuesday, voters in Taunton elected five-term Rep. Shaunna O’Connell to succeed Hoye as mayor.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito announced Hughes’ nomination at a noon Governor’s Council meeting. An aide said she was unavailable after the meeting to discuss it.
Councilors Terrence Kennedy and Christopher Iannella declined to comment on the Hughes nomination after Wednesday’s brief council meeting. Iannella said he just learned of it, describing it as coming “out of the blue.”
During the meeting, Iannella, who will chair Hughes’ confirmation hearing, told his colleagues he had not spoken to Hughes about her nomination but expected her confirmation hearing would be held in about two weeks at the State House.
NOTE:
Clerk magistrates are appointed by the governor and serve for life or until they retire.
SEE ALSO: https://www.bostonbroadside.com/republicans/15-million-in-expenditures-up-to-96-spent-on-overhead/
AND, FROM THE ARCHIVES:
Late last year I saw Ms. Hughes on a New England Cable News show. At first I thought she was an actress not a political person. I was surprised to see that she was the leader of the state GOP. She actually stated that she was very successful in leading the state Republicans. She said this despite the fact that the GOP candidates conceded defeat less than an hour after the polls closed. She even criticized Mr. Trump. Now, despite no experience, she will be in charge of a suburban state court. Is Massachusetts a banana republic with snow or what?
Not really news in this commonwealth . Unqualified airheads getting important state jobs because of political connections or bloodlines. It has gotten more blatant though in recent years. On the news this morning is how a Mass State Trooper accused of lewd behavior at a Gillette Stadium concert in June had charges dropped. The political hack judge ruled that the trooper should get alcohol treatment. If he was a plumber or store clerk he would have been sent to MCI Bridgewater for observation. It took months for him to even be arraigned. Then earlier this week we saw arrests in a homicide case in Quincy. The arrested suspects are sons of a Quincy cop. The crime happened in January. The Quincy Police recused themselves of the case. Imagine a police force recusing themselves from fighting crime. Would a third world nation even tolerate that? Then we have the Mass State Police who are now labeled as the most corrupt law enforcement agency in the U.S. . No reforms coming from Gov. Baker’s office. No comments from Attorney General Healey. Then we wonder why young people have little respect or trust in officials.
It is a good job for good wages, let her enjoy it. It seems this publication would rather have a Marxist Democrat-appointed, instead of a woman who was elected as a Republican.
Yes, after another world-wide search for the best candidate, another friend of Charlie’s gets a plum job.
@6768vet: This publication wants to see a qualified person get that court job instead of an unqualified political joker. The appointments of Baker and his little sidekick Polito are just as offensive and questionable as was Gov. Patrick’s. If she wants a good job for good wages then maybe she should try the private sector. Her “leadership” of the MassGOP saw candidates conceding defeat within a half hour of the polls closing. No tv or radio ads to support those candidates. Baker and Polito’s court appointments show that they look at state government as an employment agency for marginal clowns. Non politically connected and qualified citizens need not apply.