Rep. Koutoujian is no place holder, and this does, of course, mean a special election in the 10th Middlesex District.
Rep. Koutoujian has, among other leadership activities, chaired an Oxycontin Commission and called for stricter regulation of this drug
In fact, after tenacious work by Koutoujian, five years later stricter regulations were passed after this report was filed, though it took those five years of effort and advocacy and this report
In appointing Koutoujian, Governor Patrick has appointed a mature statesman who has shown the ability to work tenaciously and build strong coalitions. While there have been a string of troubled sheriffs in Middlesex County, hopefully, Koutoujian can build on the good community programs while ensuring professional management of high integrity.
Further, in counties where county government has been abolished, former county offices should, in my opinion, be appointed universally by, and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. This would provide both oversight, and a cost savings.
I’ve said it before and on this blog that I’m a big fan of soon-to-be Sheriff Koutoujian. He’s a great guy that’s done a lot of work for Watertown, even though it’s just a tiny speck of his district. He even handled constituent service for those of us in Watertown who were left without a representative after Rachel Kaprielian was appointed to head the RMV.
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p>In a coincidence, he was slated to be our guest speaker at our Democratic Town Committee meeting at the end of this month. I will have to confirm that his new-found prominence doesn’t cause him to change his plans.
The full term would be six years, until 2016, so either way “the remaining four years” is confusing.
My understanding is that Koutoujian would have to stand for election in 2012 for the unexpired portion of the term which would end in 2016.
I haven’t confirmed this myself, but I was told that there was a resdency requirement for the position. If my understanding is correct, a nationwide search would not have been prudent.
This the same rep who has had all those drunk driving problems and is the poster child for hackdom?
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p>Harshbarger or Sullivan would’ve been my first choice, Kujo my last.
Confused him with a different pol
The Rep with the drinking problem and the DUIs was Kujawski – this is Koutoujian. All they had in common was their party and the first letter of their last name.
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p>Koutoujian is a former prosecutor, and staid family man. He is no hack.
…that he retracted his comment just four minutes (according to the time stamp) after he posted it?