Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Mass. Lawyer’s Weekly Endorsement

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The latest Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly has a well-written endorsement of Patrick and stinging (well-deserved) criticism of Healey.

Mass Lawyers Weekly

Spoiler Alert:

That was news to me that John Adams represented the British soldiers put on trial for the Boston Massacre. One more reason to idolize the man.

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  1. This is beautiful.

    The lieutenant governor proclaims herself a criminal-justice candidate who is tough on crime. Yet nearly everyone associated with the criminal-justice system, be they defense attorneys, prosecutors, police officers or otherwise, understand that the Constitution guarantees the right-to-counsel, and the right to a zealous advocate. Healey no doubt understands this as well, but conveniently ignores it as she paints Patrick a villain.

    Gov. Mitt Romney knows that diminishing the work of attorneys often makes for good politics. He rarely hesitates to criticize lawyers — or judges — if it suits his agenda. But even Romney has never sunk this low, to this crass sort of demagoguery. Healey has become the bully in the schoolyard, poking fun at the overweight children. Look, he’s a lawyer. He must be a second-class citizen.

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    Also, note the Mass. Lawyer’s Weekly NEVER endorses candidates.  Healey was just so far over the top, they NEEDED to endorse Patrick.

  2. And he defended murderers! As those who attended law school will recall, he got one acquittal by referring to his almanac to impeach a witness who said the moon was high in the sky, when it was actually about to set. Lord knows Honest Abe would have been a horrible governor!

  3. I actually submitted a similar “letter to the editor” of the Boston Globe and the Boston Metro on this same issue – but it was not published.  For the benefit of all of u, here it is:

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    Dear Editor,

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    Kerry Healey’s latest campaign advertisement does indeed provoke an important question; however, this question is likely not the one that she intended.  When posing whether Massachusetts should have a governor who has defended killers, I wonder whether Healey has herself forgotten a major history lesson from our very own state.  In 1770, invoking public condemnation and resulting in a substantial loss of business, our very own John Adams decided to defend the accused British soldiers in the Boston Massacre.  By placing the interests of justice and fairness ahead of political opportunism, Adams made the very difficult decision to pursue an unpopular endeavor to protect the rights of the accused and the fairness of the criminal process.  As we all remember, Adams was thereafter good enough to draft our very own state constitution in 1780, guaranteeing the protection of the liberties that we often now take for granted. 
    I wonder whether Kerry Healey and her campaign staff, had they been around at that time, would have made a similar argument, questioning Adams’ ability to serve the public and construct our government: “It is the right of lawyers to defend the British murderers, but do we really want one of them to write our constitution and serve our country?”  It is often the people who make unpopular decisions to defend those whom society despises that are best able to serve the interests of all of us.  I do not believe anyone would say that John Adams did not care about Our Independence when he defended the British soldiers; how can we therefore question Deval Patrick’s ability to serve the Commonwealth by upholding the same virtues?

    • And they printed a similar letter — the more letters they get on a topic the more likely they are to print one, so your voice was heard.

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      • Look at that!  All it takes is a little post to the BMG – and BOOM I was already up in the paper.  I am glad that message could get out!

  4. Not sure if your comment

    That was news to me that John Adams represented the British soldiers put on trial for the Boston Massacre.

    was toungue-in-cheek, but maybe you didn’t see my earlier post pointing to this great essay by Peter Vickery, which made the same point. In fact, it was originally entitled “John Adams: Soft on Crime” but then appeared yesterday in the Daily Hampshire Gazetter under the title “Race-baiting in governor’s contest” — in any case, another good response to this dopiness.

  5. Gov. Mitt Romney knows that diminishing the work of attorneys often makes for good politics. He rarely hesitates to criticize lawyers — or judges — if it suits his agenda.

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    I think the average guy was just convinced that Romney’s doing a great job.

  6. “What would you do if a binch of drunken irishmen and black guys were coming at you with snowballs and rocks?”

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    Why kill the bastards of course.

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    NOT GUILTY

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