GOP SENATORS HAMMER ROLLINS ON HER RECORD
Committee ties, 11-11, over sending confirmation along
Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins’ nomination hearing turned out to be one of the most contentious for any U.S. Attorney pick, and the Senate committee ended up deadlocked as Republicans savaged her over her famous do-not-prosecute list.
Ultimately, the Senate Judiciary Committee vote was knotted up 11-11 along party lines. A few procedural steps would now be required to send her nomination to the full Senate via a “discharge petition.” That petition would require a vote of the full Senate — where Vice President Kamala Harris may need to step in and break a tie.
And that’s just to put the final vote on Rollins’ appointment to the position of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts up for debate.
In the Thursday morning hearing, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in particular panned Rollins’ do-not-prosecute list, going through count by count and expressing dismay that the likes of resisting arrest and shoplifting don’t merit prosecution in Rollins’ office’s eyes.
“If you’re a drug dealer, get yourself to Massachusetts,” Cruz said.
Cruz overextended a bit by claiming that people charged with dealing drugs in Suffolk County never get charged, which isn’t true.
This comes after U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, made the unusual move earlier in September of placing a weeklong hold on the hearing for Rollins.
“She’s put her pro-criminal agenda into practice,” Cotton said in the hearing.
Republicans also cited Rollins’ clash with a fellow motorist in a parking lot last year that led to an ethics investigation. Rollins was eventually cleared by the state attorney general.
Democrats came to her
Rollins, after the fact, said in a statement that she looked forward to the process moving to the full Senate.
defense, noting that all of the current chiefs of police in Suffolk County — Boston, Revere, Chelsea and Winthrop — signed letters backing her, along with multiple Republican-appointed former U.S. Attorneys from the state.
“Rollins’ policies have not resulted in a rise” in crime, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, who chairs the committee.
Rollins, after the fact, said in a statement that she looked forward to the process moving to the full Senate. As she has throughout the process, she touted the fact that Boston is one of the few major cities where crime’s down this year, rather than up.
Democrat U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey both continue to support Rollins, whom President Biden nominated upon their recommendation.
“Today, she took the next step in what ultimately will be her full confirmation, and we expect our colleagues will confirm her swiftly,” the senators said in a joint statement after the hearing.
If Rollins is eventually approved, Gov. Charlie Baker gets to appoint her replacement, who will serve until after the voters pick a new DA in 2022.
Some names that have been bandied about are City Councilor Michael Flaherty, a former Suffolk County prosecutor who led the atlarge field in September’s preliminary election, and Danny Mulhern, Rollins’ current second in command, whom she has vouched for to succeed her if she’s confirmed.
The name of Linda Champion, a former prosecutor who previously ran for DA, also has been floated, as have those of a range of progressive activists. Some people have mentioned Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell, a recent mayoral candidate who garnered just under 20% of the vote, as a possible option, but she is not seeking the position.