Governor Patrick today announced the appointment of Rachel Kaprielian (D-Watertown) as the new Registrar of Motor Vehicles:
Kaprielian succeeds Anne Collins as Registrar of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Collins has accepted a senior staff position in the Executive Office of Transportation.
“Rachel Kaprielian is a skilled and committed public servant who will bring new energy to the RMV,” said Governor Patrick. “She will build on the success and dedication of Anne Collins in delivering the efficient and high-quality service.”
Kaprielian is a highly respected State Representative serving in her seventh term representing Watertown and part of Cambridge. Known as a leader in smart and consumer-friendly policy change, Kaprielian has advocated for a number of issues including municipal and regional betterment, anti-tobacco policies and initiatives, early intervention and care for children, pension reform and job training.
I’m sure Rep. Kaprielian will be a fine registrar. Now, about that open seat … sco?
GOP smearing because her husband has a DUI. While I’m no fan of DUIs and believe that the punishment isn’t severe enough, unless she was in the car with him I don’t really see why it would be appropriate. Oh well.
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p>Personally, I’d like to see MA quietly stop offering the letters “oh” and “el” on license plates, because they look just like zero and one. Since the purpose of the plate is to quickly identify vehicles, eliminating the confusion would make identification easier. Just a nit pick…
Just FYI, she is separated from her husband.
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p>She’s pretty cute.
Here’s a photo I took of Rachel Kaprelian at the celebration outside the state house right after the last gay marriage vote. That’s Denise Provost to the right (the one with glasses on top of her head), the new state rep from Somerville (previously Somerville’s most vote-getting alderman), and I think that’s Jim Marzilli of Arlington behind Denise.
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p>(I don’t know who the guy in the white shirt is, let me know if you do)
Is Rep. David Linksy
Wanna look at the rest of my photos from that day (click on this picture to get to the full set) and help me identify other legislators I didn’t name in the comments?
Slide 23, Senator Harriett Chandler, D-Worcester
Slide 24, Rep. Barbara L’Italien, D-Andover
Slide 25, On the right, Rep. Tom Sannicandro, D-Ashland
Slide 27, Senator Harriett Chandler, D-Worcester
Slide 35, Rep. Alice Wolf, D-Cambridge and the aforementioned Rep. David Linksy, D-Natick
Nice pics!
Now can anyone find out if she’s into 39-year old right-of-center guys from New Hampshire?
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p>Thanks in advance.
had him on 3 DUIs (two combined in one; must have been a hell of a night).
…in order to evade the consequences of Melanie’s Law, i.e., jail time. If O’Flaherty’s gutting of the bill didn’t succeed, at least we can count on judges to gut it for the Beautiful People.
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p>I happen to like Rep. Kaprilian, and I’m glad to hear she’s seperated – but if this seperation turns out to be jsut to make things look good while she takes a job with an obvious conflict of interest – she forfeits any reapect from me. When is she filing? THAT is the question.
I had to rate that, that’s just a bizarre comment to make.
You are implying that she’s going through a sham divorce so she can get a job? That is quite possibly the lowest thing I’ve ever heard you say.
Since I’ve become chair of the Watertown Democratic Town Committee, I’ve had both Democratic election commissioners and now my state rep resign.
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p>Rachel will be great at the RMV, she’s very capable, and I wish her luck in her new position. I will say, though, that this took us completely by surprise. It puts us in a bit of a spot, though, because now we have no one on the ballot. I’ve gotten some conflicting information from the Secretary of State’s office and we’re still trying to sort out our options.
If she filed papers, or does before the deadline, her name will be on the ballot and a local party caucus will be able to choose her replacement if she withdraws after the primary.
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p>I am assuming that Rep. Kaprielian collected signatures for her re-election before this was finalized and that those were submitted to town hall in Watertown for validation.
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p>If there are no names on the ballot, anyone getting 150 write-in votes can win the primary.
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p>Or at least that’s my interpretation of the law (Chapter 53, Section 14). To my mind, a party caucus would be the fairest way of selecting her replacement, so I’d suggest that you pursue that.
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p>In any case, the timing of the Patrick Adminstration on this appointment really is lousy. If they were going to do this, they should have done it when other people could have collected signatures to run.
You’re telling me.
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p>Rachel is the only person who submitted signatures for the 29th Middlesex of any party.
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p>The party caucus option is one that I had only heard of yesterday and most members of my town committee were surprised that such a thing was possible. Like I said, I got some conflicting information from the SoS and I’m now trying to sort out exactly what our options are and decide what is “fair” and what is consistent with democratic and Democratic values.
Although it requires help from the Speaker, it’s probably the most democratic and Democratic.
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p>1. Rep. Kaprielian files her papers with the Secretary’s office and appears as the only name on the ballot.
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p>2. She resigns from the House as soon as possible.
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p>3. Speaker DiMasi then has to call a special election for her current term; he sets the date for the primary to be the same as the regular state primary.
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p>4. Watertown Town Committee and Cambridge Ward 3 Committee members agree to vote for the winner of the special primary as their caucus nominee.
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p>5. On primary day, everyone tells Democratic voters to vote for Rachel Kaprielian on the regular ballot, and the Democrat of their choice on the special ballot.
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p>6. Kaprielian withdraws from the regular nomination.
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p>7. The caucus meets and nominates the winner of the special primary as the regular general election candidate.
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p>This allows the winner of an actual primary election to get the nomination.
I was involved with one to replace Sen. Henri Rauschenbach, who got his signatures and declined the nomination. Representatives from the various town committees listen to potential candidates and elect one, who then apears on the ballot. You CAN do stickers, but you don’t have to. And PLEASE – why make the towns pay for an unnecessary special election?
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p>It’s fun! How often do you get a chance to be in a real, live smoke-filled room? :~)
Talk about an undemocratic process. We shouldn’t let a bunch of activists decide who the nominee is. I mean we all know they won’t be outed after they are put in until they want to.
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p>I ended up with a less than stellar rep through this process.
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p>Let the people vote!
Tell me – since neither Democrat can reach the number needed for nomination – how do you feel about unelected Super Delegates, an animal unique to Democrats?
SCO, I’d say it’s time for a sticker campaign.
Although I do not, as you know, live anywhere near Watertown, Rachel was a strong advocate for a cause that is near and dear to my heart — my autism.
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p>Probably only by coincidence, the main office of AANE (for more info see my blog entry on my joining the Board of AANE) is in Watertown.
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p>In any case, the autism community is losing a wonderful ally in the legislature (another advocate who has been hugely helpful is Barbara L’Italien).
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p>Obviously, we can’t necessarily hope to replace that loss in this seat, and it certainly won’t be a “litmus test” for me (or others, I’m sure) in deciding whom to support to replace her. Still, her absence will be felt, and will make our advocacy work all the harder and more important.
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p>Not to mention all the good work she’s done in other areas. From all I’ve seen, she has been a productive, progressive legislator who has earned the respect of her colleagues.