A bit of a surprise. Former Springfield City Councilor and Mayor Mary Hurley says she is not running for re-election for Governor’s Council. She had won three terms on the Council which is responsible for confirming judges.
"I have been lucky enough to have had great friends all throughout my life from grammar school through law school, and in my professional life from attorney to mayor to judge—and now as Governor’s Councilor for western Massachusetts. Working with Charlie Baker and Karyn Polito and my colleagues on the Governor’s Council has been an amazing experience.
In 2014, when I retired from the District Court judgeship, I thought I was done with work. However, I knew firsthand how short we were in judicial positions: eight in the District Court, three in Probate Court, three in Juvenile Court and three in Superior Court. This meant people were not having their day in court in a timely way. As Martin Luther King said, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied.’ That is when I decided to run for Governor’s Council to do something about that. In the first three years I was able to get over 20 new judges and clerks"
Hurley, a retired Judge, has been sharply critical of the lack of judges appointed to the western Mass bench. She has maintained for years that the region was under represented and the district court system in particular was one of the busiest in the state.