City judicial positions the new couples’ retreat
Can someone say “nationwide search?”
Massachusetts is about to get a new district court judge, one Richard J. Sinnott III. After winning confirmation this afternoon by the Governor’s Council, Sinnott will henceforward sit on the Boston Municipal Court, making $165,944 a year for maybe — maybe — 35 weeks of “work” a year.
The press release from Gov. Charlie Baker last month announcing Sinnott’s early retirement into the hackerama mentions the following: “He lives with his wife Eleanor in Charlestown.” Would you care to guess whether Mrs. Richard J. Sinnott III works in the public or the Dreaded Private Sector?
Eleanor Sinnott is a judge on the BMC, which is the same court her husband has just been appointed to, not that Gov. Baker deemed that fact worthy of mention.
Calls this week to the governor’s office inquiring about the odd omission in his press release went unreturned.
Think about this: Two people, a couple, appointed to judgeships on the same court. Just when you thought the hacks on Beacon Hill couldn’t get any greedier. As the old saying goes, it’s one thing to slurp at the trough, but this is licking the plate.
As for Richard Sinnott, he’s been in private practice in downtown Boston for about 25 years. I tried calling his office, but the phone has already been disconnected. He must be pretty confident of being confirmed today.
I’m sure the Sinnotts are decent people. They’re both locals, they have military backgrounds. Mrs. Sinnott’s birth name is Eleanor Ngai Koh. They seem to be Republicans. In 2002, they gave $500 to future Gov. Mitt Romney and in November 2006, he nominated Mrs. Sinnott to a judgeship. It’s funny how often it seems to work out that way, isn’t it? Republican or Democrat, some things in the hackerama never change. Money talks, everything else walks — with a limp.
Before taking early retirement to the bench in 2006, Mrs. Sinnott worked for the state police, which was once run by a guy named Reed Hillman, who later went into Republican politics. Hillman got $500 from the Sinnotts in 2003.
The second Judge Sinnott is 60. He probably would have wedged his snout into the trough earlier, but there was a Democrat governor, Small Deval. But then Tall Deval got in and the Sinnotts are about to add another $165,944 to their annual take.
By the way, that name Richard Sinnott may ring a bell for you. The new judge’s father was Dick Sinnott, the last “city censor” in Boston. Back in 1982, Sinnott filed for a disability pension, claiming he’d never been the same after having to attend two rock concerts in 1982.
The elder Sinnott died in 2003, but I think he’d be very proud of his son and his daughter-in-law, grabbing even cushier jobs in the hackerama than Dear Old Dad’s.
Judge Sinnott and Judge Sinnott have once again proven that once you go hack, you never go back.