Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Romney Breaks Judicial Nominating Pledge
In February, the Fraud Governor said that "the citizens of Massachusetts deserve to have a squeaky-clean process that has no room for politics and favors." He wiped away the regional commissions that nominate judges and centralized the heavily politicized operation in one 21-member group to make recommendations instead.
Then he broke his own word. The "process" the Fraud Governor used to compile the list of a dozen or so names sent to the White House recently for the opening on the U.S. District Court in Boston involved 1) no application, 2) no formal interviews, 3) no consultation with the state or local bar associations, and 4) no advertising of the vacancy created when U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Keeton announced he was stepping down. Romney and his chief lawyer Daniel P. Winslow (the hack former counsel of the Republic State Committee) compiled a list with virtually no input from the citizens or most attorneys who will appear before the new judge. "It was just Dan Winslow going eenie, meenie, minie, moe - who should I pick? An insider's game." (source: Boston Herald, 4/29/03)
Among the luminaries picked over by Romney were:
-Jeffrey Locke, the former Republican district attorney of Norfolk County and son of Republican State Senator David Locke;
-Brackett B. Denniston III, who was was chief legal counsel to former Govs. Weld and Cellucci;
-Justice Janis M. Berry of the state Appeals Court Appeals Court, failed Republican candidate (1992) for Attorney General, and attorney to GOP fund-raiser Alexander "Sandy" Tennant;
-Superior Court Judge David A. Lowy, a former assistant counsel to Weld and the husband of former Massport chief Virginia Buckingham (who was chief of staff to former Gov. Cellucci, and press moll to former Gov. Weld.) (sources: Boston Herald, 4/1/03; Boston Globe, 4/1/03; Boston Globe, 4/13/03)
Globe 4/1 Globe April 13
Fine picks, FG. Not a hack among them.
The sound you hear is just another squeaky-clean Romney promise, down the drain.
