Patronage a dirty word for gov – except when it isn’t
Patronage? Favoritism? How dare you suggest such a thing.
This is Gov. Charlie Baker we’re talking about. He’s a choirboy and wouldn’t stoop to such nasty sounding practices.
Baker has a way of denying reality even when presented with abundant evidence of patronage in his administration, especially in the high-paying court branch.
The Baker administration has been treating the clerkmagistrate and judgeship positions as its own personal fiefdom, nominating candidates with close ties to the GOP and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.
But Baker would have none of that. He starts out by lecturing us as to how that could never happen.
“First of all, the way this process works is you go through a blind application process to the Judicial Nominating Committee and no one’s name is on it, and if you can’t get through the blind application process, you don’t go anywhere,” Baker said when questioned about recent appointments. “In addition to that, the JNC does a tremendous amount of legwork around due diligence and qualifications and the Joint Bar (Committee) ultimately has to sign off on your qualifications as well. There are many checks and balances, and the governor’s council eventually has to vote on the candidates. I think the process we have is a good one.”
Just to review: There’s Jen Caissie, a close pal of Polito who is the only Republican on the Governor’s Council, the body that gives the thumbsup or down to judge and clerk-magistrate candidates.
Caissie was nominated by Baker and Polito to be the $152,000-a-year clerk-magistrate of Dudley District Court, months after her husband’s drunken-driving arrest.
Considering that Caissie’s colleagues will decide her clerk-magistrate nomination, there’s a pretty good chance she’ll be approved.
Then there’s Shrewsbury Police Lt. Joseph McCarthy Jr., named as clerk-magistrate of Westboro District Court. McCarthy was youth football coach of Polito’s son in their hometown of Shrewsbury.
No doubt McCarthy was best qualified for the highpaying post. Had nothing to do with his football coaching skills.
And of course who can forget Sharon Shelfer Casey, a longtime friend of Polito’s dating back to law school. Casey recently was fast-tracked for the plum post of clerk-magistrate of Cambridge District Court despite having no experience in the district court.
It’s been quite a few months for Polito’s friends.
But none of this obvious political patronage has any effect on Baker, who would ask us to play dumb and pretend none of those connections mattered.
Same goes for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, where Baker filled the agency with assorted GOP hacks with no apparent qualifications for the jobs.
Patronage is a dirty word for Baker, who repeatedly denies reality — especially now with the clerk-magistrate jobs filled with Polito connections.
“We’ve appointed hundreds of judges, clerk-magistrates, parole board members since we took office, and all of them have received either ‘qualified’ or ‘well-qualified’ positions from the Joint Bar and the Judicial Nominating Committee has done a terrific job managing that process,” he said.
Terrific.