That’s Yvonne Abraham in the Globe a couple days back talking, of course, about the Governor’s Council. As you may know, decades ago the Governor’s Council’s perpetual penchant for shenanigans resulted in the passage of legislation that stripped it of almost all of its powers. Just about the only thing left is, regrettably, the power to confirm judges. Because that’s in the state Constitution, a constitutional amendment would be required to change it, and nobody can agree on where the confirmation power should go.
Anyway, this inevitably results in period flare-ups from the State House’s clown car Council chamber. The latest, as you may have heard, concerns a well-qualified judicial nominee, Joseph Berman, who has been raked over the coals because … wait for it … he was on the board of the New England chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
You probably recall what this is about: several years back, the ADL embarrassed itself by firing Andrew Tarsy, the ADL’s regional director, over whether to recognize the Armenian genocide (the ADL had refused to do so; Tarsy spoke out, and was fired for it). An outcry ensued, and ultimately, the national ADL backed down and changed its position.
Berman was one of the good guys in this dust-up: he used his position within the ADL to vigorously work for change, and he succeeded.
Jeffrey S. Robbins, the chair of the board of the New England Anti-Defamation League, was among those who testified in support of Berman at his nomination hearing last week.
“The assault on Joe Berman is particularly egregious” because Berman was one of the most vocal and effective voices within the organization urging it to acknowledge the massacre as a genocide, Robbins said.
“That’s the kind of courage and principle that should be rewarded, and not penalized,” he said.
But, according to Councillor Marilyn “curling iron” Devaney, that’s not good enough. She thinks he should have resigned, thereby almost certainly accomplishing nothing. And because of that, he might not be confirmed. This is so idiotic that it has even stirred the normally completely non-political Massachusetts Real Estate Law Blog to venturing into politics, with a pointed and well-written blog post urging Berman’s confirmation, even including a sample email to send to the misguided Councillors, complete with their email addresses.
And let’s not even get into the utter stupidity of Councillor Jennie Caissie questioning whether Berman should have done pro bono work for a Guantanamo inmate.
The Globe, the Herald, Mass. Lawyers Weekly, and everyone else in the state with a modicum of sense thinks Berman should be confirmed easily, and thinks that the Council is bringing disgrace upon itself by doing what it’s doing. If Berman’s nomination goes down, let’s hope that the silver lining is that the Council finally goes down with him.
when you need him?
What do we do about judicial confirmations?
http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/2013/11/why-the-governors-council-is-a-must-have-for-massachusetts-justice-long-live-the-governors-council/
Or nothing. We could let the Gov just put ’em on the bench. Confirmation isn’t working well here, nor in the US Senate. Maybe it’s outmoded. Just putting it out there.
I had this as a status update on my Facebook and forgot to repost it with the column here.
“A vestigial organ of our bloated states government antiquated since the Royal Prerogative to appoint magistrates to our Commonwealth was abolished by our revolution and Constitution in 1783”
Glad you beat me to it!
Also to answer EB3s question quite simply actually. Just have the State Senate Judiciary Committee and then the State Senate approve the nominees. The far more complicated Federal Government does not require an entirely unnecessary third legislative branch to handle the judiciary appointments. At the very least it forces our State Senators to do the dirty work the Governors Council is clearly incapable of doing (and it’s the only part of their friggin’ job!). I’m almost at the point David is at, frankly in our state the bench tends to skew towards liberal anyway. The bulk of the judges Weld, Cellucci and even Romney appointed were mostly liberal to begin with and off the MBA list.
And don’t blame me for Devaney, I voted for my under-employed roommate Jesse Shelton as I do every cycle for this position. A Baltimore native and Chicago resident hoping to gain a PhD specializing in Italian Renaissance Humanism, who has visited Boston on one sole occasion, is far more qualified than any of the incumbents. He’s mixes mean cocktails too!
by two capable challengers (who collected, in sum, more than 50% of the vote IIRC). I expect that one or both of them will challenge again.
I voted for the challenger in that primary who had more legal experience. My roommate got my vote in the general. This is one of those offices that should be eliminated, and I would strongly support the Governor being able to appoint most judicial nominees and have the consent of the full State Senate on a straight up or down vote.
Charlie Shapiro, who ran in 2012, has already announced for 2014 against Devany.
That’s part of the reason why she can’t vote for anyone associated with the ADL. It’s still complete poison with members of the Watertown Armenian community, who Marilyn needs if she’s going to survive a 1 on 1 primary challenge.
The GC districts are huge, so one town is a drop in the bucket. Shapiro could get zero votes in Watertown but still win the primary handily by just getting the same vote he and Margulis got last time in the rest of the district. The key thing is getting voters to understand who the candidates are — even reasonably informed voters who are up on the other offices are likely to see the Governor’s Council line and shrug their shoulders, not realizing that the incumbent is a complete ding-a-ling.
and has been for a long time. We should get rid of it. EB3, I agree that it’s idiotic to elect judges (I read this in your post) but there’s no reason that we cannot set up a nominating process that doesn’t rely on the Governor’s Council. As for Berman, he’s a high-quality guy who would be a very good judge. The fact that he’s been torpedoed on this, of all issues, when he was on the correct side of it really proves the point about how useless the council is.
Jennifer Caissie in the 7th District (basically all of Worcester County/Central Massachusetts), who is the only Republican on the council, was unopposed in 2012. According to the state elections database, about 40% of voters in the district just blanked the ballot. I’d say there’s definitely an opening for a challenger, even if it’s only to assure that Democrats have someone to vote for.
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Whoops, I messed up the link to the elections database. Here it is.
Especially these days when legislation is leverged, filibustered, etc. and chairs could just simply not hold hearings having one body dedicated to the confirmation process seems the way to go. If not liking “shenanigans” of various bodies collectively or individual members thereof were grounds for abolishing said body we’d have no government at all. So one Councilor has an ax to grind that may not be justified – there are still seven other votes and just a majority is necessary.
Don’t forget that many state engage in the complete idiocy of popular election of judges. Though the Governor’s Council is often ridiculous, it’s because of the ridiculous people who get elected to it. Part of it seems to be that voters don’t seem to pay attention to whom they’re voting for. But the tiny salary ($26k?) doesn’t exactly encourage good people to serve.
Is clearly not the solution here folks. It’s a part time job filled by nobodies who couldn’t get elected to somewhere important, and it’s a job they clearly are incapable of performing. Let the big boys who get elected to represent us on all the other important issues of state determine this. The General Court isn’t perfect, but it ain’t no Govnah’s council either.
…and nobody expects it to be the primary source of one’s income. Holding the meetings Wednesdays at noon limits it to those who have that kind of flexibility in their schedules. Voters not paying attention is also not a reason to get rid of a body (which I realize you aren’t arguing, but others have in the past here). I have yet to see a compelling reason to fundamentally alter the structure of our government.
Berman isn’t getting the job. Also it’s precisely the prior shenanigans of this body that got it’s powers reduced to this part time capacity. The Cambridge School Committee handles more important business on a regular basis, but the one residual task we left this vestigal body with they regularly fail at.
Electing judges is even more moronic. I’m with David, either let the Governor have his judges (who he selects from the MBA list anyway of qualified and capable people) or differ the nominations to the Senate for approval. Seeing how arbitrary and parochial the political axes to grind were here, I don’t see how they could be any worse in the Senate.
Agency heads and secretaries should be confirmed by them as well. More responsiblity brings more accountability and having those powers stripped by another, possibly jealous branch of the government is not really the most persuasive argument. The Senate is just as capable of grinding axes, but as they say politics ain’t beanbag. More to do means more to report and more fodder for public critique and familiarity with our system. I don’t know if Berman gets the job or not until it happens. The diary refers to one Councilor who has objected.
Christopher, I know that your affection for all olde things colonial endears the Governor’s Council to you and causes you to oppose its abolition, but for God’s sake, try to keep some perspective. The GC had a lot of confirmation power up to the 1960s – exactly of the sort you propose, in fact. Result: an enormous scandal that landed a couple of them in prison and legislation that stripped away all their power, save what is expressly set forth in the Constitution.
Some of what was adopted in the 1600s was a good idea; some was not. I trust you wouldn’t care to revive other, less savory aspects of the original document such as limiting the Governor’s office to Christian property owners. This one belongs in the dustbin of history along with those.
The stockades look cool at Old Sturbridge and Plimouth Plantation
But we wouldn’t bring them back either. This is a vestigial organ. If the other 48 states work fine without it then we can to.
…but Maine and New Hampshire both have Governor’s Councils and NH’s in particular is quite powerful.
But apparently 47 is correct. I knew NH had one, thought VT and ME got rid of theirs.
That GC was abolished by referendum in 1975. It had consisted of seven members, often defeated candidates of the legislature’s majority party and were not elected, so I’m not sure how they got their positions.
The practical arguments I have made stand up just fine on their own. I disagree that their power should have been stripped on account of a couple of bad actors, and no I don’t believe in religious tests for office – that is completely irrelevant to this discussion. I still haven’t heard a compelling case for abolition or have figured why you have such a vendetta against this body.
A council made up of below average citizens elected via ludicrous districts to perform a menial task it routinely and laughably fails at undermining the very independent judiciary it comports to defend is beyond defensible. It’s a damn shame. Expanding powers and salaries is a terrible reform as was shown by the fact that the council was stripped of authority and perks precisely due to past corruption in the first place.
They key question to ask is, is this a governmental function that is so soecial it really requires a third legislative branch? If that is the case the evidence should point out that the Governors Council is more professional, more specialized, taken more seriously by the voters, treated more seriously by it incumbents than a state legislator-but the evidence shows the precise opposite is the case.
They are tasked solely with vetting without having to worry about legislating as well. What objective test of failure is there – outcomes you don’t like? As far as I can tell it is functional, certainly moreso than the US Senate has been of late. If members are corrupt they can and should be impeached, but again, I’ve heard no argument you cannot at least sometimes apply to other parts of government. We’ve had successive Speakers face prison time – do we abolish the House or that office? Do we abolish the Presidency because Nixon so badly screwed up? What about the Illinois governorship? The Councilors I’ve known take their jobs very seriously and I think the voters would take them more seriously if they were MORE consequential rather than less. I looked at the Constitution and was reminded that originally the General Court chose nine Councillors from among the Senators, who would then vacate their Senate seats. I suppose direct election was considered a reform at the time it changed. For me those who propose amending the Constitution are the ones with the higher burden. It may not be a way we would create a government from scratch, but there are also more pressing matters than abolition.
Devaney and Caissie make Joe McCarthy look honest and Dan from Waltham look smart.
It’s not functional if it can’t ascertain basic facts about eminently qualified nominees and goes on ill informed ideological witchhunts. Devaney’s borders on anti-semitism, and as someone who has joined me in defending Steve Grossman from attacks for his leadership of AIPAC, surely Mr. Berman deserved better than to be dragged through the mud for being associated with the ADL. Especially when he was one of the good guys in it’s little dust up.
And to go after someone for defending Guantanamo inmates reeks of ignorance and a desire on the part of that Counselor to thwart due process. These are the sacred guardians of the public’s trust in it’s judiciary? Give me a break. This is a failure of the office. The Middlesex County Commission ended up being a body in charge of 6 hospitals and a psych ward and it still managed to have a bloated patronage payroll and failed miserably at running the few responsibilities it has. This Council should go the way of the County Commission and the dodo before it.
…neither you nor the column said anything that couldn’t be said about the behavoir of certain members of Congress, mostly of the “Tea Party” persuasion. Don’t like the incumbents? That’s your prerogative, but vote them out rather than abolish the body. I’ve noticed the taboo against primarying doesn’t seem to exist for the Governor’s Council, which is fine with me.
Well, we’ll just have to disagree on that one.
Charlie Pierce commented on this situation too and he doesn’t hold back. Check the comments for a reply from Governor’s Councilor Patrick McCabe, defending Caissie’s questioning of Berman about Guantanamo.
Correction: Patrick McCabe appears to be a candidate for the GC, not a member.
He’s actually a former candidate who ran in 2012 and lost to Robert Jubinville; nowadays he maintains a blog tracking the meetings of the Council.
So we have this body that has one useful purpose, and used to have more power but lost most of it. Now they persist because of a few old statutes (and likely because, as elected officials, they have allies who are also elected officials).
We do have County Commissioners, who don’t do much. Maybe they could ratify the judges? Then we could scrap the council. I’m not seeing how they have special independence that other officials don’t have. But I agree that having the Senate do it is a bad idea.
As a longtime middlesex county resident I can attest to the fact that we dissolved our county commission government and lo and behold we are doing just fine. Ideally we’d appoint the few officials we still elect (clerk of courts, registrar of probate, registrar of deeds, sheriff, DA).
Sorry, but BlueMassGroup has misled its readers.
In 2007 – 2008, over a dozen Massachusetts cities and towns –Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Medford, Newburyport, Newton, Northampton, and others – cut their ties to the ADL’s so-called No Place for Hate program. The (MMA) Massachusetts Municipal Association, representing all the state’s municipalities, did the same.
The reason? They learned that the ADL, which purports to be a human rights organization, was working with Turkey, a well-known violator of human rights, in trying to defeat the Armenian genocide resolution in Congress, and essentially denying the factuality of the Armenian genocide (www.Armenian-Genocide.org). The ADL was, they knew, in no position to lecture to students or anyone else about bigotry, genocide, or “hate.”
This shameful behavior had been reported in the Jewish and Israeli media for some time. It is documented, using actual excerpts, in the “Press Kit: A History of Opposing Recognition of the Armenian Genocide”: http://www.noplacefordenial.com/2007/08/press-kit-history-of-lobbying-against.html. It explains the collusion between the Turkey, ADL, AJC, AIPAC, JINSA and others. It’s a must-read though unpleasant.
On August 21, 2007, ADL head Abraham Foxman issued a written statement that purported to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. It was, in actuality, carefully and consciously drafted to make sure that the Armenian genocide could not fit the U.N. Genocide Treaty’s definition of genocide. (Actually, the man who coined the word “genocide” in the 1940’s, Raphael Lemkin, said that he became interested in the topic because of the Armenian events.) Read why the ADL statement was dishonest: http://npfdinfo.blogspot.com/ .
The ADL has never withdrawn its terribly insulting and disgraceful statement of August 21, though it has since tried mightily to obfuscate it. Armenian and human rights advocates have also never accepted that ADL statement. Significantly, cities and towns felt the same way: they continued to cut ties to the ADL’s No Place for Hate after August 21, 2007.
The ADL continues to oppose the Armenian genocide resolution as recently as 2012. Please see: http://www.armenianlife.com/2012/08/31/the-anti-defamation-league-is-a-bully-who-defames-the-armenian-people/
I should note that several Jewish American organizations support the Armenian resolution.
Joseph Berman has been an ADL National Commissioner since 2006. One must assume that he knew about the ADL’s stance against Armenian Americans then and even before then. Mr. Berman claims that when this issue arose in the summer of 2007 and became international news, he tried to get the ADL to somehow change its stances. We really don’t know. We are asked to take his and the ADL’s word for it. In any case, he is still a National Commissioner, and the ADL has not changed its stances.
Now Mr. Berman, a leading official of the ADL, wants to be a judge where he will hear cases involving human rights and perhaps even Armenian Americans.
Question: Do you believe that you got the full story from Yvonne Abraham’s column, and from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald editorials? You do not. They didn’t want you to. Neither does the ADL. They’re powerful institutions which believe themselves to be above everyone else. God help you if you get in their way.
If you wish to read a pretty good article on the other side of this issue, try this (“Judicial Nomination Exhumes ADL Fiasco – Councilors Condemn Complicity in Denial): http://www.armenianweekly.com/2013/11/24/judicial-nomination-exhumes-adl-fiasco-councilors-condemn-complicity-in-denial/